In a recent panel discussion with Rolling Stone for the upcoming 20th anniversary screening of the movie Wag The Dog, Late Night host John Oliver brought up the sexual harassment allegations surrounding Dustin Hoffman, pressuring him to speak on the subject.
In recent weeks leading up, three woman have come forth in the media to say that Hoffman had in fact allegedly groped them and said inappropriate things on-set during filming. Anna Grahame-Hunter, a 17-year-old intern on the set of 1985’s Death of a Salesman claims Hoffman groped her and made inappropriate comments, while writer Wendy Riss Gatsiounis also claims inappropriate comments made toward her during a 1991 pitch. Hoffman’s Graduate co-star Katherine Ross claims that he groped her during a screen test of the film.
Hoffman, in the interview, played down the question. He apologizes using words including ‘if’ and ‘might’ and concluded that he never really knew the alleged victim, referring to Hunter, let alone that she was only 17. Hoffman continued to reiterate that working on a film for hours, they have to blow off some steam and that all that was said was merely harmless banter between “family.”
Oliver continued to press him, not accepting his apology as sincere in an effort to get Hoffman to talk more about what happened that night. Even when he tried to steer the conversation back to Wag the Dog, Hoffman continued to defend himself to little avail in the eyes of Oliver.
For the full interview panel discussion, see the video below.
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