Don't equate 'horrific' assault with 'misplaced compliments or humor': Morgan Freeman
May 26, 2018
NEW YORK: Morgan Freeman, the famed actor recently accused of sexual harassment, issued a follow-up statement Saturday morning, apologising again but also raising caution over what he said was equating "horrific incidents of sexual assault with misplaced compliments or humor".
"I am devastated that 80 years of my life is at risk of being undermined, in the blink of an eye, by Thursday’s media reports," he said, as per a statement published by journalist Yashar Ali.
"All victims of assault and harassment deserve to be heard. And we need to listen to them. But it is not right to equate horrific incidents of sexual assault with misplaced compliments or humor."
Earlier, on Friday, CNN published an exposé, stating that sixteen people — eight of whom claim they were victims — described to the publication a variety of troubling behaviour on production sets or on promotional tours over Morgan's career.
The cable television network quoted a young production assistant who says Morgan harassed her over a period of months in the summer of 2015, while she was working on his bank heist comedy Going in Style.
The production assistant also accused Freeman of touching her repeatedly, resting his hand without permission, and frequently making comments about her appearance.
In his latest statement, the The Shawshank Redemption actor said he admitted to being a person "who feels a need to try to make women—and men— feel appreciated and at ease around me".
"As a part of that, I would often try to joke with and compliment women, in what I thought was a light-hearted and humorous way.
"Clearly I was not always coming across the way I intended. And that is why I apologized Thursday and will continue to apologize to anyone I might have upset, however unintentionally," he added.
However, Freeman then went on to assert that he did not indulge in creating or encouraging "unsafe working environments".
"I also want to be clear: I did not create unsafe work environments. I did not assault women. I did not offer employment or advancement in exchange for sex.
"Any suggestion that I did so is completely false," he said.
The allegations against Freeman, a revered actor, left many people around the world in shock — something that actress Rose McGowan addressed through a tweet.
"I know your idols are falling, I know it hurts to be disappointed, but imagine if that person you thought you knew from his image sexually harassed you.
"Stay the course, we will be better for this societally. The conversation must be had," she wrote, adding the hashtag '#MorganFreeman'.
McGowan was one of the first women to publicly accuse the Hollywood producer of rape last year, which led to the MeToo movement.
"Any suggestion that I did so is completely false," he said.
Freeman is the latest in a litany of Hollywood celebrities and other high-profile public figures accused of sexual misconduct since revelations about alleged serial abuser Harvey Weinstein sparked the #MeToo movement last year.
The disgraced Hollywood powerbroker — accused of staring at women's breasts, asking a woman how she felt about sexual harassment and asking women to twirl for him — was arrested and charged Friday with rape and sex crimes on two women, nearly eight months after his career imploded in a blaze of assault accusations.
The New York Police Department announced in a brief statement Weinstein was "arrested, processed and charged with rape, criminal sex act, sex abuse and sexual misconduct for incidents involving two separate women."
The arrest marks the first time criminal charges have been brought against the twice-married, shamed former titan.
