Eight women have come forward accusing Morgan Freeman of inappropriate behaviour and sexual harassment.
In the illuminating report published by CNN, Freeman has been accused of a consistent pattern of touching without consent and making inappropriate comments about women’s bodies.
This behaviour has allegedly taken place throughout his career on the sets of films, at his production company Revelations Entertainment, and at press junkets.
Eugh.
The accusations range from constant ogling and verbal harassment to incidents like that recounted to CNN by a woman who worked as a production assistant on Going in Style in 2015. She said that Freeman “kept trying to lift up my skirt and asking if I was wearing underwear”.
The woman added that eventually their co-star Alan Arkin “made a comment telling him to stop” and “Morgan got freaked out and didn’t know what to say”, which goes to show the power of other men’s complicity in allowing this behaviour to continue.
Yep.
Another production assistant who worked on The Dark Knight claimed to witness Freeman’s inappropriate behaviour.
“Morgan did things in a way that an older, more established person can get away with because they have that power,” she told CNN. “They can’t be replaced, but you can be replaced very easily – that’s just kind of the dynamic on set.”
In a statement, Freeman 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 apologise to anyone who felt uncomfortable or disrespected – that was never my intent”.
Ok.
In the wake of the sexual harassment allegations against Freeman, TMZ has reported that the Screen Actors Guild bosses are considering stripping him of the Life Achievement Award given to him in January this year.
Morgan Freeman receiving Life Time Achievement Award
While it can feel shocking when men with such wholesome reputations are added to the growing list of men in the entertainment industry to be accused of sexual misconduct, let this be a reminder that the #MeToo movement is not about a few Bad Men.
Yep.
Men like Harvey Weinstein might fit the bill for the stereotypical depiction of The Creep (I stand by that), but the problem we are facing is not that there are a few creepy men sprinkled about who can be easily identified. The problem is that we have a culture that enables all kinds of men to abuse their power.
Certified creep vibes.
Throughout his career Freeman has mostly played figures oozing sympathy, integrity, authority and gravitas – most famously in his role as God in Bruce Almighty. This is how his personal character is perceived, but his alleged misconduct shows that abuse of power is deeply normalised for men across the board.
In short, in case this hasn’t been made clear over the last year: even idolised men we’re convinced are ‘good’ can turn out to be part of the problem.