The Me Too movement, an international movement against sexual harassment and assault has empowered women to speak out about their #metoo stories. This happened after The New York Times published an explosive report in October 2017 detailing decades of sexual harassment allegations against movie mogul, Harvey Weinstein. Dozens of women came forward with their own accusations and within a week Weinstein was fired from his company, expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and was charged yesterday, May 25 with rape, several counts of sexual abuse and sexual misconduct. Was released on $1 million bail. Weinstein, who denies the charges against him, has been ordered to wear an ankle monitor and is forbidden from traveling beyond New York and Connecticut until his next court date.
Similar accusations have also engulfed Bill Cosby, Russell Simmons, R Kelly... powerful men in politics; President Donald Trump and business men.
This time around, 80 years old, Oscar award winning actor, Morgan Freeman, one of Hollywood's biggest stars, with a movie career that spans nearly five decades is in hot water. He is been accused by eight women of sexual assault.
CNN has the inner scoop:
Eight different women accused Academy Award-winner Morgan Freeman of inappropriate behavior and harassment. According to the months-long investigation, the women mostly worked in production on Freeman’s films, at his production company Revelations Entertainment, and covered his movies as entertainment journalists.
One woman, who was a production assistant on Freeman's movie Going In Style during the summer of 2015, alleges she dealt with his harassment for several months.
"[He] kept trying to lift up my skirt and asking if I was wearing underwear," she told CNN. "Alan [Arkin] made a comment telling him to stop. Morgan got freaked out and didn't know what to say."
Another woman, who was a senior member of the production staff on a 2012 film, alleged the now-80-year-old actor harassed her and numerous other female employees.
“He did comment on our bodies... We knew that if he was coming by ... not to wear any top that would show our breasts, not to wear anything that would show our bottoms, meaning not wearing clothes that [were] fitted,” she said.
On May 24, Freeman issued a short statement to news outlets. He said:
“Anyone who knows me or has worked with me knows I am not someone who would intentionally offend or knowingly make anyone feel uneasy. I apologize to anyone who felt uncomfortable or disrespected—that was never my intent.”
On the night of May 25, the actor released a longer statement via his publicist:
“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.
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.
I admit that I am someone 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.
But 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.”
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