Despite all of his denials, this is kind of awkward.
Hollywood director Woody Allen reportedly has claimed that he should be the “poster boy” for the #MeToo movement, according to The Wrap. Allen recently did an interview with Argentinian news program Periodismo Para Todos and spoke about how proud he is of the #MeToo movement, despite allegations of pedophilia against the director.
Here’s some of what Allen said, as reported by The Wrap:
I’m a big advocate of the #MeToo movement. I feel when they find people who harass innocent women and men, it’s a good thing that they’re exposing them. But you know, I should be the poster boy for the #MeToo movement. Because I have worked in movies for 50 years. I’ve worked with hundreds of actresses and not a single one — big ones, famous ones, ones starting out — have ever ever suggested any kind of impropriety at all. I’ve always had a wonderful record with them.
To his credit, the interviewer — Jorge Lanata — didn’t let Allen off the hook and actually asked him about the allegation against him concerning the possibility of the molestation of his adopted daughter Dylan Farrow in 1992.
“This is something that has been thoroughly looked at 25 years ago by all the authorities and everybody came to the conclusion that it was untrue,” Allen said, according to The Wrap. “And that was the end and I’ve gone on with my life. For it to come back now, it’s a terrible thing to accuse a person of. I’m a man with a family and my own children. So of course it’s upsetting.”
Even though the #MeToo movement has taken on a life of its own, would anyone want Woody Allen as the movement’s “poster boy,” if you take his questionable past into account?
#MeNeither