Matthew Weiner has denied the sexual-harassment accusation made against him by former “Mad Men” writer Kater Gordon. “The allegations are not true, and [this] is a very important topic and a topic that I have devoted — it has been an obsession of mine, in my work and in my life, for like 92 hours of the show,” he said while promoting his novel “Heather, the Totality” yesterday, according to Entertainment Weekly.
“We wanted people to be having this conversation. It’s great that we’re having it,” Weiner added. “It’s a very serious issue.”
The event was moderated by “Orange Is the New Black” creator Jenji Kohan, who asked Weiner why Gordon would make an untrue claim. He responded that he didn’t “want to speak to someone else’s character.”
“I will say this, that I have hired dozens of women over the years and dozens of people and I am a demanding boss and, I am…especially in the early years it was hard to do it,” Weiner continued. “I had a lot of stress — and you know this — it’s very lonely and I got better at it for sure. When I think back on it, if I had to do it, to letting people go and being mad about having to re-write everything, you’re just angry a lot of the time, but you want the show to be great, and it’s kind of what you do.”
“So I guess if I had to do it over again, I would do it differently,” he added. “The person I am now would definitely do it differently. But I also just want to thank the people who I worked with over the years for all their support because they know how important this is to me and they know the kind of person that I am.”
BREAKING: #MadMen creator Matthew Weiner addresses sexual harassment allegations by writer @katergordon. TV writer/producer @martinoxon tweeted her support for Kater today, saying she believes her. Hear from Weiner here…more on @FOXLA tonight at 10p: pic.twitter.com/rInuQrYkVu
— Zohreen (@Zohreen) November 18, 2017
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