It is sad to say that, in the year 2022, there are still actors who feel the need to loudly make ridiculous statements to justify working with writer/director Woody Allen.
Riverdale actress Gina Gershon and Ferengi leader Wallace Shawn were asked about working with Allen on his 2020 film, Rifkin’s Festival, which is only now getting limited release in theaters and on VOD.
WGN’s Dean Richards asked the two about the actors who have expressed regret about working with Allen and the allegations of sexual assault from Dylan Farrow.
“It serves no one to keep great artists from working, even the alleged victims, right?” Gershon said in response to the question. “It makes me a little sad that that’s how you lead this whole talk, talking about all that controversy instead of talking about what an incredible artist he is. And for me as an actress, I mean, he’s been inspiring me ever since I can remember. So I was really thrilled to work with him.”
She added that her feeling is that the incident is “a family matter.”
Shawn claimed that he familiarized himself with the case and believes that Allen is innocent. “I feel that Woody Allen is an innocent man, and it’s an injustice that we’re even talking about this,” he said. “The legal system has decided he’s innocent, so now it’s in the court of public opinion.”
Even among defenders, it is rare to hear someone this well known and beloved to just straight up say “he’s innocent,” but Shawn has said it.
“It’s up to each one of us to study the case if you want to get into it,” he added. “But I think the more you study it, the more you see that either he did what he’s accused of or he didn’t, either she is strangely mistaken about what she sincerely believes or he is strangely someone who wildly committed a very unlikely crime. And I think he didn’t do it.”
Not wanting to leave the conversation without stepping into it a bit more, Gershon also stated: “I find in this world we’re living in right now, it’s a little bit tricky to even talk about it, because things are pulled apart and put on social media and clickbait, and no one is safe. It’s sad, and that’s the world we’re living in right now. Because really, I always thought in this country you’re innocent until proven guilty, because if the opposite were true, we’d all be canceled, basically.”
Well, if you believe we are all innocent until proven guilty in reality rather than theory, then you haven’t studied much Black American history.
It is always disappointing to see actors I like step in it severely, and in the case of Woody Allen it is even more upsetting to see the “he’s a genius” defense get thrown into the discussion, as if we don’t have a long history of artistic “geniuses” also being sexual predators.
Shawn’s statements in this interview are just really disturbing, especially when he tells Richards that everyone “has their strange personal life” and “most of your listeners and viewers have strange things in their background.”
Marrying your ex-girlfriend’s adoptive daughter, making you the brother-in-law to your own children, is not just a “strange thing.”
One of the the things I realized in watching Allen v Farrow is that the reputation of Mia Farrow being “unhinged” or “vindictive” is so powerful that even people who should know better can ignore something that is clearly suspect.
I just feel sorry for Dylan Farrow who once again has to have very public figures call her a liar in order to defend working with her alleged assaulter.
(via USA Today, image: Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
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