Woody Allen has weighed in on the Harvey Weinstein scandal, telling the BBC that it’s “sad for everybody involved” and that he hopes it doesn’t lead to “a witch-hunt atmosphere, a Salem atmosphere, where every guy in an office who winks at a woman is suddenly having to call a lawyer to defend himself.”
Allen, whose new movie “Wonder Wheel” just premiered as the closing-night selection at the New York Film Festival, has been accused of molesting his former stepdaughter Dylan Farrow.
“The whole Harvey Weinstein thing is very sad for everybody involved,” Allen said. “Tragic for the poor women that were involved, sad for Harvey that his life is so messed up. There’s no winners in that. It’s just very, very sad and tragic for those poor women that had to go through that.”
“You don’t want it to lead to a witch-hunt atmosphere, a Salem atmosphere, where every guy in an office who winks at a woman is suddenly having to call a lawyer to defend himself. That’s not right either,” he continued. “But sure, you hope that something like this could be transformed into a benefit for people rather than just a sad or tragic situation.”
Allen has worked with Weinstein on more than one occasion and says that “no one ever came to me or told me horror stories with any real seriousness. And they wouldn’t, because you are not interested in it. You are interested in making your movie. But you do hear a million fanciful rumors all the time. And some turn out to be true and some — many — are just stories about this actress, or that actor.”
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