One of the things I cannot understand is why people – mostly men, mostly older – have decided to become evangelists for actor and director Woody Allen. Famous for producing artistic movies like “Annie Hall” and “Midnight in Paris,” Allen has been lauded for his ostensibly original, ostensibly talented movies.
To be frank: I don’t care about Allen’s movies. Here’s why.
In 2014, the New York Times published an open letter by Allen’s daughter, Dylan Farrow. In the letter, Farrow detailed her sexual assault by Allen. This assault has been an open story for decades; at the time, Farrow was seven years old.
In the face of Time’s Up, she tweeted her disappointment that Allen is apparently an exception to Time’s Up for so many in Hollywood. Farrow wrote, “No predator should be spared by virtue of their ‘talent’ or ‘creativity’ or ‘genius.’”
On Feb. 9, New York Times columnist Bret Stephens published a defense of Woody Allen alleging that Farrow is at best delusional and at worst lying. According to Jezebel, Farrow responded by tweeting, “To presume I invented this story & convinced myself of it is no less insulting than calling me a liar. I’ve consistently stated the truth for 25 years, I won’t stop now. It’s Stephens’ right to doubt me if he so chooses but his incredulity doesn’t change what happened that day.”
There is a breadth of evidence that Allen molested Farrow. Jezebel reported that Farrow’s babysitters and tutor witnessed inappropriate behavior, a Connecticut state attorney said at that time he had probable cause to try Allen, and a judge awarded custody to Farrow’s mother, Mia Farrow, because of the danger Allen posed.
Stephens also glossed over Allen’s marriage to his stepdaughter. As reported by PageSix, Allen married stepdaughter Soon-Yi Previn in 1997. They allegedly began a relationship in the late 1980s. It’s odd that people continually, perpetually try to overwrite Allen’s history of being inappropriate with young women and girls when there is a literal marriage certificate as evidence.
That’s not even where the evidence of Allen’s inappropriate attractions ends. Recently, the Washington Post reported on Allen’s private notes. Inside were reams of creepy notes describing the attractiveness of teenage girls, such as a 16-year-old character who is described as “a flashy sexy blonde in a flaming red low cut evening gown with a long slit up the side.”
Allen molested his daughter, married his stepdaughter, and has an extensive history of creepiness toward underage girls. Yet Hollywood still forgives him.
Actors like Justin Timberlake and Kate Winslet, who still support Allen, want to support Time’s Up, but only when it’s convenient. Not when standing with a woman who experienced horrifying sexual assault at a very young age means losing the artistic “genius” of her abuser and father.
It’s long past time to stop supporting Woody Allen.
