The magnitude of sexual harassment allegations rocking the film industry is fully revealed when an innocuous film screening in Manhattan turns into a heated discussion in zero time.
This is what happened at the 20th anniversary screening of Wag the Dog, when HBO host John Oliver questioned actor Dustin Hoffman over allegations of sexual misconduct against him.
Early in November, Anna Graham Hunter, a writer in Los Angeles, said Hoffman sexually harassed and groped her on the set of Death of a Salesman, in 1985. At the time, Hunter was a 17-year-old intern.
In response to the accusations, Hoffman had said:
“I have the utmost respect for women and feel terrible that anything I might have done could have put her in an uncomfortable situation.
“I am sorry. It is not reflective of who I am.”
“This is something we’re going to have to talk about because … it’s hanging in the air,” Oliver asked Hoffman during the Q&A featuring the actor, Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and director Barry Levinson.
“It’s hanging in the air?” Hoffman replied. “From a few things you’ve read you’ve made an incredible assumption about me."
“You’ve made the case better than anyone else can. I’m guilty," he added.
But Oliver didn't let go, and referred to the statement Hoffman released after the allegations surfaced: “You’ve made one statement in print. Does that feel like enough to you?”
To which the actor replied: "“First of all, it didn’t happen, the way she reported."
Then, the discussion heated up. The late night host picked on the last line of Hoffman's statement -- "It is not reflective of who I am" -- to reflect on the general responses that many people accused of sexual misconduct gave:
“It’s that part of the response to this stuff that pisses me off. It is reflective of who you were. You’ve given no evidence to show that it didn’t happen, then there was a period of time for a while when you were a creeper around women. It feels like a cop-out to say, ‘Well, this isn’t me.’ Do you understand how that feels like a dismissal?”
Hoffman, though, doesn't agree and replied saying "It's difficult to ask that question, you weren't there", to which Oliver counter-replied "I'm glad".
"You've made a very quick judgement," said Hoffman. "You’ve put me on display here."
After several minutes of arguing, during which Hoffman said Oliver is not keeping an "open mind, the host read a line from Hunter's column in The Hollywood Reporter and all hell broke loose.
“Do you believe this stuff you read?” Hoffman asked.
"I believe what she wrote, yes," the host replied. "Because there's no point in her lying."
"Well, there’s a point in her not bringing it up for 40 years,” Hoffman replied.
"Oh, Dustin," Oliver said.
You can watch parts of the discussion on this Washington Post video:
Topics John Oliver Celebrities
