Even at 81 years old, Woody Allen is still creepy.
He often casts himself as leading man in his own movies, opposite a beautiful young actress playing his love interest. It’s downright gross.
And he’s been super creepy for years. After dating Mia Farrow for a decade, the actress found nude pictures of her 21-year-old adopted daughter, Soon-Yi Previn, taken by Allen. The couple split, and Previn, 46, and Allen are now married.
There’s more. During the messy Allen-Farrow divorce, there were allegations of sexual abuse of one of Farrow’s other children, Dylan, when she was seven years old. While Allen was never criminally charged, presiding Justice Elliott Wilk wrote that “credible testimony … prove[s] that Mr. Allen’s behavior toward Dylan was grossly inappropriate and that measures must be taken to protect her.”
And yet, Allen keeps right on working, making mediocre movies and being acclaimed as an artist of the highest degree.
But his scandals follow him everywhere. This week, when Allen was in Hamburg to perform in a jazz concert, two topless female activists stormed the stage to draw attention to the accusations from Dylan.
“Stop the culture of silence!” shouted the activists, the New York Times reported.
“The women stormed the stage and started shouting. Their torsos were painted with messages in the style of the women’s rights organization Femen, a collective that is devoted to overthrowing patriarchy and that is known for highly visible protests against sex tourism, abortion restrictions and female genital mutilation, among other issues,” the Times wrote.
Mr. Allen and his band did not seem particularly rattled by the disruption, as evidenced by video clips of the concert, posted on YouTube. After security personnel removed the women, the band continued with their concert, according to a local news publisher, SHZ.
Later, Mr. Allen issued a short statement calling the protest “stupid,” SHZ reported. He has declined interview requests about the case, and said in his 2014 essay that it was “my final word on this entire matter.”
Here’s the video.
Femen later released a statement to the press:
Although the incident occurred decades ago, Dylan (now 31) is still suffering the consequences. Woody Allen is not just the neurotic and charming director, actor and musician, but a father who likes to stick his finger in his daughter. We’d like to remind the world, and jazz fans, of that fact.
OK, gross.
Speaking to Salon, Dylan Farrow approved of the protest. “I don’t know what people think of me, or what they assume about my life, but I don’t wake up every morning with a devilish grin and tented fingers wondering how I can make Woody Allen’s life miserable,” Farrow said. “What I do know is that he escaped justice for what he did to me, and these moments are the equivalent of prison for him.”
The Mary Sue, a pop culture website, this week published a story titled: “Why Are People Still Excited to Work With Woody Allen?” The story is scathing.
There are always going to be people who brush away allegations of abuse against powerful and respected with “innocent until proven guilty” protestations. (See also: Johnny Depp, Bill Cosby, Roman Polanski.) But those same people have to own up to the fact that they read the firsthand account of his adopted daughter Dylan Farrow and choose not to believe it. (Or that it’s out on the internet waiting to be read and they choose not to.) The same goes for the damning details put on public record during his 1992 custody case with Mia Farrow. They also have to admit they don’t know how statutes of limitations work.
And that’s their right. It’s also our right to think that’s a lazy, bullshit excuse that only serves to hurt victims of abuse and enable their abusers. To say the man’s alleged crimes and his work can be kept separate is a still a choice to support the man, both financially and by keeping his reputation untarnished. It’s a choice to value an artist whose work you don’t want to stop enjoying over his accuser. It’s disappointing when actors we respect make that choice.