Dylan Farrow ripped into Hollywood and the media for ignoring sexual assault claims against her father, filmmaker Woody Allen, in a blistering op-ed published Thursday.
In the op-ed for the Los Angeles Times, Farrow — sister of reporter Ronan Farrow and one of Allen’s three adopted children from his marriage to actress Mia Farrow — questioned why Hollywood continued to reward the Oscar-winning filmmaker with work after dozens of prominent figures in the movie business have been accused of sexual assault and had their careers derailed.
In a 2014 article in the New York Times, Farrow claimed Allen abused her while she was just seven years old in the attic of their home. Allen was never prosecuted for the alleged assault and has vigorously denied the claim.
Allen, now 82, has continued to work in Hollywood, releasing a six-part television series with Amazon last year and directing this year’s film Wonder Wheel, which stars Kate Winslet, Jim Belushi and Justin Timberlake.
“Why is it that Harvey Weinstein and other accused celebrities have been cast out by Hollywood, while Allen recently secured a multimillion-dollar distribution deal with Amazon, greenlit by former Amazon Studios executive Roy Price before he was suspended over sexual misconduct allegations?” Farrow wrote in Thursday’s op-ed.
Farrow went on to write that Allen’s “pattern of inappropriate behavior” with her, including alleged repeated unwanted touching and “constant grooming,” was witnessed by family members and friends. Farrow also wrote that a Connecticut prosecutor announced at the time that he had probable cause to charge Allen for a crime, but ultimately declined in order to prevent an “exhausting” trial for the then-young Farrow.
“It is a testament to Allen’s public relations team and his lawyers that few know these simple facts,” Farrow wrote. “It also speaks to the forces that have historically protected men like Allen: the money and power deployed to make the simple complicated, to massage the story.”
“In this deliberately created fog, A-list actors agree to appear in Allen’s films and journalists tend to avoid the subject,” she added.
Farrow also specifically singled out for criticism several actresses who have worked with Allen, including Winslet, Blake Lively and Greta Gerwig.
“It isn’t just power that allows men accused of sexual abuse to keep their careers and their secrets. It is also our collective choice to see simple situations as complicated and obvious conclusions as a matter of ‘who can say?'” Farrow concluded. “The system worked for Harvey Weinstein for decades. It works for Woody Allen still.”
Allen is currently in production on his next film, tentatively titled A Rainy Day in New York. The film made headlines last month when Page Six reported that the film — which stars Jude Law and Elle Fanning — contains a plot line about an older man’s sexual relationship with a teenager.
In October, filmmaker Judd Apatow questioned why actresses continue to work with Allen in the wake of the allegations.
“It is sad that he is obsessed with all these young actresses and none of them run when offered the job,” Apatow wrote on his Twitter account.
Allen himself weighed in on the allegations against disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein in October, calling the dozens of claims against Weinstein “tragic for the poor women that were involved.”
“You also don’t want it to lead to a witch hunt atmosphere, a Salem atmosphere, where every guy in an office who winks at a woman is suddenly having to call a lawyer to defend himself,” he said. “That’s not right either.”
The director later issued another statement, calling Weinstein a “sick man.”
Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.