Hollywood A-lister suggests the treatment of some celebrities, such as Garrison Keillor, has been excessive
Liam Neeson has described the wave of sexual misconduct allegations that have swept the entertainment industry as “a bit of a witch-hunt” and appeared to dismiss breast groping as “childhood stuff” in an interview on Irish television.
Speaking on The Late Late Show on RTE, the Hollywood A-lister said “there’s some people, famous people, being suddenly accused of touching some girl’s knee, or something, and suddenly they’re being dropped from their program, or something”.
The Late Late Show (@RTELateLateShow) Liam Neeson on the wave of sexual harassment allegations against high profile men in Hollywood #latelate pic.twitter.com/NzT0rWXf25
The French actor Catherine Deneuve drew sharp criticism this week when she also used the term “witch-hunt” to describe the chain of events since allegations of serial sexual assault were made against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein last year.
Asked what he thought of the sweep of allegations in his industry, Neeson said: “It’s a bit of a witch-hunt.”
Neeson, one of Hollywood’s most bankable and respected stars, referred to the recent case of the writer and broadcaster Garrison Keillor to illustrate his point.
Keillor was fired by Minnesota Public Radio late last year over allegations of “inappropriate behavior with an individual who worked with him”.
Neither MPR nor Keillor’s accuser publicly disclosed the details of the allegations that led to his dismissal..
In The Late Late Show interview, Neeson echoed Keillor’s version of the events that led to the allegations against him, which framed them as a well-intentioned misunderstanding.
Garrison Keillor: the downfall of a beloved figure accused of misconduct Read more
Keillor told a local newspaper following his dismissal: “I put my hand on a woman’s bare back. I meant to pat her back after she told me about her unhappiness and her shirt was open and my hand went up it about six inches. She recoiled. I apologized. I sent her an email of apology later and she replied that she had forgiven me ... We continued to be friendly right up until her lawyer called.”
Asked how he felt about Kevin Spacey and Dustin Hoffman, actors who have been accused of multiple counts of sexual misconduct, Neeson said he was “on the fence” about allegations against Hoffman, saying that what he had been accused of was “childhood stuff”.
Discussing the allegations against Hoffman, Neeson said, “when you’re doing a play and you’re with your family – other actors, technicians – you do silly things ... and it becomes kind of superstitious, if you don’t do it every night you think it’s going to jinx the show”.
Dustin Hoffman has been accused of sexual assault by multiple women, of exposing himself to a minor and of sexual harassment.
Neeson was quick to distance himself from Hoffman’s alleged behaviour, saying: “I’m not saying I’ve done similar things to what he’s done.”
PlantainTapiocaChips on January 13rd, 2018 at 13:38 UTC »
Taken 4: Taken to Court
everyone_is_blue on January 13rd, 2018 at 12:36 UTC »
yeah but it's a witch-hunt at fucking Hogwarts
abicbrook on January 13rd, 2018 at 11:21 UTC »
A few years ago, in my first year of uni, I was raped by someone who I thought was a friend. I never talk about it to anyone but Reddit is kind of a safe space where people don't know who I am so I feel more comfortable to talk about it here. I still struggle with it years later. I never went to the police but I've had therapy for it. This person was in my social circle and he made me feel as if I'd brought it on myself, even though I'd literally said no during plenty of times and was covered in bruises the morning after. I had a boyfriend at the time and that relationship broke down as even though he had seen the bruises and the guy who did it even admitted down the phone that I'd said no- he still saw it as cheating.
I must say though I hate #metoo. Anyone could do it and it doesn't show the severity of what happened. If you're going to come forward with #metoo I think you should at least talk about the experience. A girl who I lived with had put it as her Facebook status and I asked her about it because she knew about what had happened to me and she had the audacity of saying that 'people catcall' her. I didn't take part in it because I didn't want to talk about it.
I think every case is individual and I can understand why a lot of people take years to speak up about this. Sexual assault and rape is a grey area- it's not black and white and that can be super confusing for the victim at the time. But someone touching your knee once or being overly flirty and making you feel uncomfortable in my eyes is not sexual assault. Yes it's something that's brought upon you that you don't like but things like that happen every day. I'm not saying it's right and hopefully one day that'll change- it's the culture we're in and maybe this is the start of that culture changing. But I don't think anyone's career should be ruined because they touched someone's knee. We just have to teach the next generation that this isn't okay.
Edit: thank you for the responses. Im probably going to stop responding and looking at comments now as I'm getting a bit upset. I shouldn't have made a comment in the first place. Im not gatekeeping sexual assault. To those who have a problem with my comment please remember that things read differently online to in person and I'm sure that if we sat down with each other you'd probably get where I'm coming from. All sexual assault is awful and disgusting and yes the metoo campaign has probably helped a lot of people I just think that it's diluted with people who haven't got a clue about sexual assault. Overall I think a lot of people need educating on the subject and that this changes in the near future. I never want anyone to feel less than. I actually mentor people in my city who have been through sexual assault and rape so I am sympathetic to anything no matter how small or big- maybe my friend was a bad example again it's because she had previously bragged about being catcalled which is what annoyed me. Sorry to anyone I've offended. Thanks. Bye.
Edit 2: after getting my emotions together and reading some of the comments. I get what people are saying. I'm 23 years old and maybe my comment was made to rashly. I didn't think this comment would blow up. You've all educated me and I want to thank you for that. I wasn't trying to make any victims voice smaller but I can see that in my post that I was even though I didn't mean to. I'm truly sorry for any offence I've caused. Any form sexual harassment or assault is wrong. After reading a lot of the comments I can see how the metoo campaign has helped and maybe if that campaign was around before I had my experience maybe it wouldn't have happened. I have a lot of conflicting feelings and even though my experience was only 3 years ago I still get confused and have to check myself. I'm truly sorry for any offence I've caused and just want to repeat that any circumstance where any gender feels endangered is NOT okay. Thank you for all your time. It's been an educational experience.