Woody Allen: “I am a Big Advocate of the #MeToo Movement”

Infamous movie star and director, Woody Allen, is back in the headlines with controversial statements made to Argentinean news program “Periodismo Para Todos.” Allen, 82, stated that he believes he should “be the poster boy for the #MeToo movement.” The claim, apparently, arises from the fact that Allen has 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.”

In the interview, which also covers his response when asked about the resurfaced allegations by Dylan Farrow, Allen was supportive of the efforts of the #MeToo movement, weighing in on the fact that justice has to be served to “these terrible harassers, these people who do all these terrible things.” Yet, an edge of frustration is also expressed: “What bothers me [Allen] is that I get linked with them.” Indeed, during the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, Allen’s scandalous past has resurfaced in the media. He is of course referring to Dylan Farrow’s 2014 letter to the New York Times, and the accusation in 1992 that Allen had sexually abused Farrow, as discovered after her mother, Mia Farrow, took her to see a pediatrician.

When asked about Dylan’s case being brought up again, Allen said: “I mean this is just so crazy, this is something that has 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.”

While threatened by a wave of potential downfall, Allen remains a working professional. His next film, A Rainy Day in New York, is set to be released later this year, and stars Elle Fanning and Timothée Chalamet. While heavy criticism of Allen has been building for a number of years, nothing seems to have stopped his productivity and output. For those who have been following his career and personal life, perhaps the opportunity to analyze the artist’s legacy as a whole will only surface after the end of his illustrious professional career.