Woody Allen: ‘As I say, I’m a big advocate of the Me Too movement’

On Location with Untitled Woody Allen Project

On Sunday night, Woody Allen gave an interview to an Argentinian news show called Periodismo Para Todos. As you may know, Woody doesn’t actually give that many interviews – I would say he probably averages about one interview a year, possibly two if he really wants to “promote” one of his films or projects. Part his media-shyness is just… what he’s been doing for many years. He doesn’t like giving interviews. But part of his more recent media-shyness is because any time he speaks to anyone on the record, they ask him about Dylan Farrow and whether he’s a child molester. Well, Woody was in a chatty mood. He shared his thoughts on Dylan’s accusations, and his thoughts on #MeToo.

On the re-emergence of Dylan Farrow’s accusation in the #MeToo era: “I mean this is just so crazy. 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. 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.”

On the #MeToo movement: “I think in any situation where anyone is accused of someone unjustly, this is a sad thing. I think everybody would agree with that … Everyone wants justice to be done. If there is something like the Me Too movement now, you root for them, you want them to bring to justice these terrible harassers, these people who do all these terrible things. And I think that’s a good thing. What bothers me is that I get linked with them. People who have been accused by 20 women, 50 women, 100 women of abuse and abuse and abuse— and I, who was only accused by one woman in a child custody case which was looked at and proven to be untrue, I get lumped in with these people.

He considers himself an advocate for #MeToo: “As I say, I’m a big advocate of the Me Too 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, I should be the poster boy for the Me Too 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.

[From Quartz]

Dylan Farrow has detailed the circumstances around her case several times now – Woody Allen was never been proven innocent, and no one involved in the investigation ever came out and said that Dylan was lying. Her story has never been disproven. The prosecutor declined to prosecute Woody because he thought Dylan was much too fragile to testify, even though there was likely enough evidence to build a case. The authorities have not been looking at Dylan’s case for 25 years – it was investigated the one time and dropped because of Dylan’s age.

Now, do I think that Dylan’s story “belongs” within the #MeToo movement? She’s tried to make it so, and in doing so, Dylan has approaches this is by attacking the people (mostly the women) who have worked with Woody over the years, even before she even told her story publicly in 2014. I think Dylan’s story IS a #MeToo story, but personally, I’ve been uncomfortable with how she wields her story to malign women in the industry, some of whom have been victimized and abused by other men. Now, all that being said… Woody’s argument is bulls–t. It’s amounts to the same dumb thing that months-old New York Times op-ed claimed, which is that Woody has only been accused of molesting ONE person, and everybody knows you get one “freebie.” It’s awful.

'Untitled Woody Allen Project' filming in New York

Photos courtesy of WENN.

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55 Responses to “Woody Allen: ‘As I say, I’m a big advocate of the Me Too movement’”

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  1. INeedANap says:

    His films are all about fetishizing young, barely legal women. Aside from his personal life I have a hard time watching his films and typically avoid them. I am not sure how you can be an advocate for the #MeToo movement when you so clearly malign women over 25.

    • Jay (the Canadian one) says:

      He’s an obvious creep who’s done many real life offences. I believe Dylan. The Soon-Li thing is just wrong. I’d love for Mariel Hemingway to speak up in retort to his claim of never being inappropriate with his cast.

      Indicting him on his fictional work is a bit tricky though. One presumably wouldn’t call for jail time for the creators of the Saw movies based on the twisted fantasies they put on screen. And yes I know his characters are supposed to be proxies too. (To be clear, I don’t like Woody Allen’s work either. I’ve never wanted to watch any of it.)

      Anyway I’m just saying that his real life offences are the more compelling criticism, no matter how twisted his fictional work.

  2. jferber says:

    Frigging hypocrite. His two adopted daughters look like mini Soon Yi and Dylan. Not just super-weird, but creepy as hell, as if he’s assembled the next generation of girls to molest. Psychologically, that speaks volumes to me–his obsession with the original girls is reproduced by him like a predator Frankenstein.

    • adastraperaspera says:

      I interpret his acquisition of these two young girls as an arrogant, in-your-face gesture. They are teens now. My guess is that he has most likely not abused them, so their purpose in life will be to insist on his innocence.

  3. Pineapple says:

    “I’ve always had a wonderful record with them.” Grown women. The problem was never with grown women. The problem was with children. Ask your wife, who used to be your daughter.

    • Maum says:

      This. 1000%

    • Erinn says:

      I started typing something very similar, and couldn’t quite express it without a lot of cursing. You nailed it, Pineapple.

    • lucy2 says:

      Yeah that sums it up pretty well.

      I also find it hard to believe it was just Dylan. I believe her and her story alone should be enough, but when’s the last time you heard of a predator like that only doing it once?

    • Eleonor says:

      Said the man who married his stepdaughter.

    • Anika says:

      Actually, in Mariel Hemmingway’s autobiography, she writes of being sexually propositioned and harassed by him when she was 16 years old, as a young actress working on the movie Manhattan with him. He kept attempting, fairly persistently, to get her into bed, “wooing” her w friendship and apparent adoration—until she finally firmly drew the line on the man who charmed her with his wit and mind, and firmly said no, she would never sleep with him. Right after that, he dropped her entirely, ignored her for the rest of the making of the film, and for life. He was creepy around many very young women then and I have no doubt he still very much wishes he could get away with being so today. (Maybe he still does?) As for Dylan—every time he speaks up, he is calling her a liar, rubbing salt over the many wounds he has already indelibly inflicted on her. What a truly cowardly, soulless, terrible man.

  4. Mira says:

    Stfu, Woody Allen. And go away. Forever.

  5. Chef Grace says:

    Who is this guy that so many people keep standing by him? I don’t understand.
    He molested Dylan. End of story. He should be in jail and listed as a pedophile. But no, he is carrying on and still accepted.

    • NameChange says:

      So we are supposed to believe Moses over Dylan, who actually lived the abuse? Bye, Felicia.

    • EOA says:

      I believe Dylan, the actual victim who actually knows what happened to her.

    • Amelie says:

      I don’t disbelieve Dylan but there are so many conflicting accounts of what happened that day, it’s really hard to know what to think. I believe the period following Mia and Woody’s separation was contentious and probably traumatized all the kids in the house. Whatever actually happened to Dylan that day was obviously incredibly traumatic. Sometimes I’ve wondered if maybe it was actually a male sibling that molested her instead but Mia convinced her to accuse Woody… But I’ve always believed Woody Allen is a sketchball, and the fact he married a barely legal aged girl proves that.

      I also don’t find it hard to believe Moses’ account of Mia being verbally, emotionally, and physically abusive. I always have found her weird, the way she went about and collected adopted children with disabilities like they were trophies of some kind. A lot of them are no longer in touch with her, one committed suicide, one ODed on drugs, and one died of heart failure (which was apparently due to a pre-existing medical condition). She came from a pretty dysfunctional family herself so I’m not surprised she passed on the cycle of abuse and dysfunction. I always found both Mia and Woody to be incredibly shady. It just sounded overall like such a dysfunctional household.

      It just seems like a lot of kids in that household came out of it very messed up and I don’t believe it is solely Woody Allen’s fault.

    • JOANA says:

      So we should believe in Moses (REALY JENFEM) THAT THE MOST STUPIDY ANSWER. WOMEN ABUSE CHILDREN .
      MIA FARROW WAS A PEDOPHILE TO.

    • Lizabeth says:

      Thanks for the link, Jenfem. I don’t have an absolute opinion about whose story is true, but I do remember the McMartin and the Little Rascals Daycare abuse trials from the 1980s. Along with telling therapists they’d been regularly abused (admissions that often came after leading questions were posed by parents and therapists) many children also reported that while at daycare they’d witnessed adults digging up corpses, had been taken up in hot-air balloons, watched rabbits being killed, and had been thrown in shark-infested waters. I find some of the evidence from Dylan’s case just about as fantastic. For example, if Mia had warned the two nannies she feared Allen might sexually abuse the child/children 1) why go out & leave him with the children for so long? 2) if the nannies who were present knew Dylan wasn’t wearing underpants under her dress that day as they later claimed to know, why didn’t one of them get her a pair to put on? If they’d been warned of possible sexual abuse? Was no underwear a regular practice in the household? 3) How did Allen manage to slip away to the crawl space with Dylan with TWO nannies present?

      Like the investigations in those cases, I think the original Allen/Farrow investigations were botched for a number of reasons. And I don’t think it’s possible to undo that damage now and find the truth one way or the other. Certainly training for abuse investigators has changed alot since this situation & the daycare situations occurred. And there is a greater realization of the effects a couple’s disintegrating relationship can have and a realization just how vindictive spouses/partners can be and involve the children. And after all, at one point “experts” said children could never be pressured to say abuse occurred if it did not. There were also ridiculous tests for abuse (“wink” test, for example)

      If the allegation against Allen is not true, I suspect Dylan doesn’t realize that as once implanted, false memories feel as real and as upsetting as real memories. Whatever happened, I hope she can one day find some sort of peace.

      • Sandy says:

        Did those children really still believe & promote their fabricated stories decades later???

      • Lizabeth says:

        Those cases went to court @Sandy. People were convicted but convictions were later reversed. And as a result of those cases, the way suspected victims of child abuse are interviewed has changed completely since then. According to Dylan, she is speaking out because Allen was never charged.

        If you are asking if research has shown implanted false memories can be very long-lasting, the answer is yes. They can be as durable as actual memories.

    • minx says:

      Moses hated WA for years and then suddenly changed his tune. I don’t find him particularly credible.

      • holly hobby says:

        That pervert has Moses on his payroll. Obviously he is financing his lifestyle because what is Moses doing for a living?

  6. Mira says:

    This interview is so… disturbing. So first, he thinks that men are to be held accountable only when 50, 60 or 100 women acuse them. Second, he genuinely believes that he should get a cookie for not harassing, abusing, etc. the women he works with. WTF? And the list goes on. He sickens me.

  7. STRIPE says:

    Sure, Jan.

    I don’t mean to be flippant but I just have run out of words for this “man”

  8. Morning Coffee says:

    The quote that jumped out at me: “I’m a man with a family and my own children.” Um….douchebag…..Dylan is also your child. Ugh…I just can’t with him.

  9. Melania says:

    This man is disgusting and gross.

  10. Rebecca says:

    “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.”

    That’s because you prefer children Woody.

  11. Lesanne says:

    Perverted little dweeb, take your sick self and go away.

  12. Margo S. says:

    But he didn’t just molest one person. He fell in love with his girlfriend’s daughter when she was a teenager… Just good grief. He’s a freak of nature! Look at him! So effing creepy!!!

  13. EOA says:

    The fact that so many people accept his false narrative that Dylan’s accusations were “disproven” is depressing.

    • holly hobby says:

      He’s working the same Orangino/Hitler magic. Say it enough times it becomes true. People should just flat out call them liars.

  14. Babs says:

    What was this prosecutor thinking by not building a case against Woody back in the days. Now Dylan’s words are forever doubted and she will probably never make peace with what happened to her. Way to shield an innocent, prosecutor.

    • Agapanthus says:

      They did have a case. It was only dropped because they felt it would be too traumatising for Dylan to go through with it. I have read the papers. So, Woody, you are a liar- the case was not found to be “untrue” as you only too well know.

  15. Lala says:

    Woody needs to go and sit his frail, narrow tail DOWN somewhere…and thank ALL THE GAWDS…that things turned out the way they did…cause if it were up to me…ESPECIALLY after reading all the legal documents…I would have devoted my life to shaming him from here to eternity…and beyond…

  16. ilove6kies says:

    Good god. I just threw up all over my phone. Disgusting.

  17. Marty says:

    He is a very sick man. Acting like the world doesn’t know he married his SO’s daughter, 🤢.

  18. Alisha says:

    I am not mad at Dylan for coming for the celebrities that work with Woody. Don’t we all do the same thing, ask the same questions, when a post about Cate, or Kate, or Scarlet comes up? Perhaps the reason she targets them is because they are outspoken defenders of Woody, and because some (like Kate) also have daughters. I’m sure it feels like a betrayal on some level to her.

  19. JOANA says:

    I WISH THIS TYPE O NEWS COULD BE FAIR FOR BOTH SITUATIONS.
    IF WE GIVE ATTENTION TO DYLAN FARROW WE SHOULD GIVE TO ABUSE SUBJECT OF MOSES FARROW WHAT IS SAYING.
    ITS NOT CORRECT THAT DYLAN FARROW SHOULD SAY THAT MOSES FARROW IS LYING BECAUSE WOMEN ARE ABUSERS TO AND LIARS TO.
    I HAVE MY DOUBTS ABOUT WA.

    • deets says:

      This your first rodeo? Cap lock is the button on your left.

      You can believe Moses about his abuse and Dylan about hers. They aren’t mutually exclusive.

  20. Ocho says:

    None of these things seem to describe an individual supportive of the MeToo movement:

    1. This bit about his first wife Harlene Rosen:

    “Rosen had been sexually assaulted outside her apartment. According to Allen, the newspapers reported that she had been “violated”. In [an] interview, Allen said, ‘Knowing my ex-wife, it probably wasn’t a moving violation.’ In [another] interview on The Dick Cavett Show, Allen repeated his comments…” Wikipedia

    2. He dated a 17 year old high school student when he was 41. This “relationship” was the basis for “Manhattan”.

    3. According to Kathy Griffin, she was sitting next to Allen at a dinner party and he said: “And now I have to watch my friend Bill Cosby get railroaded.”

    4, 5, 6 and infinity. Dylan

  21. littlemissnaughty says:

    Shut the f*ck up you crusty Muppet. Samantha Bee’s lovely words about Nazi Barbie come to mind.

  22. Elena says:

    “Everyone came to the conclusion that it was untrue”

    That is so weird to say. If you didn’t do something, wouldn’t you be shouting “I DIDN’T DO IT! IT’S NOT TRUE! I never did it!”

  23. MellyMel says:

    “But you know I, I should be the poster boy for the Me Too 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. ” That’s because you like children…

  24. Incredulous says:

    Dissociating language – “I was investigated, the conclusion is that it is untrue” not “I’m innocent” plus “Won’t someone think of the falsely accused?” plus “Look at all these women I didn’t molest or marry”

    Boo this man.

    Also, revile him.

  25. Cee says:

    So, I watched this live because I could, and because this interview seemed so… out of left field.
    Jorge Lanata did not press him too much, which is why this interview happened. Allen decides to grant an interview to a foreign country’s highest rated political TV show? We don’t talk about Allen or Dylan’s story. The media doesn’t report on it because it’s none of our concern. I know about it, as some other argentinians do, because we read foreign media. So yeah, Allen decided to do some PR knowing full well he was not gonna be pressed on his abuse of his daughter.

  26. minx says:

    Disgusting gnome.

  27. Rhonda says:

    Mariel Hemingway suggested he acted inappropriately when she worked with him. https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2015/03/woody-allen-mariel-hemingway-manhattan

    • lucy2 says:

      Anyone surprised? No? I wonder how many others had similar experiences but were to afraid to speak against him.

  28. Valerie says:

    “I think everyone would agree with that” LOL blatant manipulation. This is exactly what someone with a history of abuse and manipulation would say.

  29. Pandy says:

    Mariel Hemingway’s autobiography claims he tried to seduce her when she was barely 18 …

  30. holly hobby says:

    Of course he never molested the actresses in his movies. That’s because they are all “too old” for his tastes.

    No he was not exonerated. The prosecution declined to go further with the case because it was obviously too distressing for Dylan to go through with the trial.

  31. Burdzeyeview says:

    Yea he would be a good poster boy…..for pedophiles. I hope there’s a special place in hell for this little fucker.

  32. Lilith says:

    One word sums up my thoughts on Woody Allen’s comment:

    Bullsh*t.

  33. paddingtonjr says:

    Unfortunately, because Woody was never charged and Dylan never testified, there will always be a question as to guilt. I understand why the prosecutors decided not to go forward, but now those who work with him can say he wasn’t guilty and those who believe Dylan can say he did it. Even if you believe he’s innocent of molesting Dylan, his behavior towards women and his relationship with Soon-Yi are disturbing. For 12 years, he was Soon-Yi’s de facto stepfather and the (adopted/biological) father of three of her half-siblings. It was an inappropriate relationship any way you look at it.

    He doesn’t get sympathy because he’s a father and has been married to Soon-Yi for 20 years. It doesn’t matter how many women he molested, harassed or assaulted; one is too many. I know Mia isn’t perfect either, but Woody just needs to go away. The only way that will happen is if people stop working with him and people stop watching his movies.