Woody Allen Thinks He ‘Should Be the Poster Boy for the Me Too Movement’

By Kirsten Chuba

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Despite being the subject of criticism in the Me Too era, Woody Allen believes he should be the “poster boy” for the women’s movement because no actresses have accused him of any wrongdoings.

In a new interview with Argentinian news outlet  Periodismo Para Todos,  the director says he’s a “big advocate of the Me Too movement,” and goes on to explain, “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.”

Allen’s daughter Dylan Farrow has publicly alleged for years that he sexually abused her as a child, which Allen has repeatedly denied. In the interview, Allen also says that “any situation where anyone is accused of something unjustly, this is a sad thing.”

He stressed that it bothers him to get compared to abusers like Harvey Weinstein.

“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,” Allen said. The claims against the filmmaker were investigated in the early ’90s and he was later cleared. 

He further addressed Farrow’s allegations and the recent backlash he’s faced, saying, “This is something that had 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.”