A woman who worked with Dustin Hoffman as a production assistant in the 1980s accused the actor of sexually harassing her when she was 17, leading Hoffman to issue a public apology.
Anna Graham Hunter wrote about a string of allegedly inappropriate encounters with the actor in an essay published Wednesday by the Hollywood Reporter. She said she met him in 1985 on the set of Death of a Salesman, a TV movie she worked on as a high-school senior. Hoffman, then in his late 40s, played the lead role.
"He asked me to give him a foot massage my first day on set; I did," Hunter wrote. "He was openly flirtatious, he grabbed my ass, he talked about sex to me and in front of me."
Once, when Hunter asked for Hoffman's breakfast order, he allegedly told her he'd "have a hard-boiled egg... and a soft-boiled clitoris," leaving her "speechless" and in tears, she wrote. She also said he "felt my ass four times" during a walk to his limo, forcing her to slap his hands away. He allegedly asked her if she had "sex over the weekend like I told you," talked about breasts in front of her, and teased her in vulgar terms about a run-in with Warren Beatty: "You might as well have undressed yourself," Hoffman allegedly said. "You were saying, 'Fuck me, fuck me, Warren.'"
In a statement to the Reporter, Hoffman apologized to Hunter, though he didn't confirm or deny the accusations against him.
"I have the utmost respect for women and feel terrible that anything I might have done could have put her in an uncomfortable situation," Hoffman wrote. "I am sorry. It is not reflective of who I am."
Hoffman is just the latest Hollywood scion to face allegations of sexual harassment and assault after dozens of women accused Harvey Weinstein of preying on them, a string of incidents they say date back decades. More accusations against actor Kevin Spacey have come to light following allegations the star tried to "seduce" a 14-year-old in 1986. Netflix has since announced it's halted production on House of Cards, which stars Spacey, and that its sixth season will be the show's last. And on Wednesday, six women publicly accused producer Brett Ratner of sexual harassment and assault, including Olivia Munn and Natasha Henstridge.
The Weinstein revelations opened up a floodgate of accusations against other men in Hollywood, Washington, and beyond, bringing a growing number of stories like Hunter's to light each day.
"At 49, I understand what Dustin Hoffman did as it fits into the larger pattern of what women experience in Hollywood and everywhere," Hunter wrote in the Reporter. "He was a predator, I was a child, and this was sexual harassment. As to how it fits into my own pattern, I imagine I'll be figuring that out for years to come."
Follow Drew Schwartz on Twitter.
from VICE http://ift.tt/2lEe32r
via cheap web hosting
No comments:
Post a Comment