Casey Affleck gave an intensely uncomfortable interview about the #MeToo movement and the allegations of sexual misconduct against him
- Casey Affleck gave an interview to the Associated Press in which he publicly addressed for the first time the allegations of sexual misconduct raised against him by two women in a 2010 civil lawsuit, regarding his alleged behavior on the set of his 2010 film, "I'm Still Here."
- Affleck settled the suits for an undisclosed amount in 2010, and the allegations resurfaced when he was nominated for (and subsequently won) the Oscar for best actor in 2017 for his performance in "Manchester by the Sea."
- In the interview, Affleck said that the fact that he had been "involved in a conflict that resulted in a lawsuit is something that I really regret," before giving an indirect admission about how he had conducted an "unprofessional environment" on the set of the film.
Casey Affleck gave an uncomfortable interview to the Associated Press in which he addressed the #MeToo movement in relation to the civil lawsuit he settled in 2010 that included allegations of sexual misconduct.
Affleck apologized and said he had some culpability in the situation, but stopped short of admitting to the sexual harassment he was accused of.
The interviewer, Lindsay Barr, asked Affleck pointedly about whether the rise of the #MeToo and Time's Up movements had changed his perspective of his alleged misconduct on the set of his 2010 film "I'm Still Here," where two women accused Affleck of sexual harassment.
According to the complaints filed in 2010, one woman alleged that Affleck crawled into bed with her without her consent while she was sleeping, while another woman alleged that Affleck pressured her to stay in his hotel room and "violently grabbed [her] arm in an effort to intimidate her into staying" when she refused. The women also said that Affleck was verbally abusive and instructed a male crew member to expose himself to one of them.
Affleck settled the suits for an undisclosed amount in 2010, and the allegations resurfaced when he was nominated for (and subsequently won) the Oscar for best actor in 2017 for his performance in "Manchester by the Sea."
In the interview, Affleck said that the fact that he had been "involved in a conflict that resulted in a lawsuit is something that I really regret," and that he wished he "had found a way to resolve things in a different way," before giving an indirect admission about how he had conducted an "unprofessional environment" on the set:
"I was a boss. I was one of the producers on the set. This movie was (shot in 2008, 2009) and I was one of the producers. And it was a crazy mockumentary, (a) very unconventional movie. The cast was the crew and the crew was kind of the cast and it was an unprofessional environment and, you know, the buck had to stop with me being one of the producers and I have to accept responsibility for that and that was a mistake. And I contributed to that unprofessional environment and I tolerated that kind of behavior from other people and I wish that I hadn't. And I regret a lot of that. I really did not know what I was responsible for as the boss. I don't even know if I thought of myself as the boss. But I behaved in a way and allowed others to behave in a way that was really unprofessional. And I'm sorry."
Watch the interview below: