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Liam Neeson calls allegations against Dustin Hoffman 'childhood stuff'

Action film star was being interviewed on the Late Late Show on RTE when he was asked about the ongoing scandal in Hollywood

Roisin O'Connor
Saturday 13 January 2018 12:01 GMT
Liam Neeson calls allegations against Dustin Hoffman 'childhood stuff' on Late Late Show

Liam Neeson was supposed to be the good guy on the Late Late Show. Fans on social media joked that he might beat up Sean Spicer backstage.

But during a controversial episode of the show, it was Neeson who somehow managed to upset fans by commenting on the ongoing sexual harassment scandal in Hollywood.

When he was asked about #MeToo movement, his first response was to refer to the exposure of men abusing their power in Hollywood as "a bit of a witch hunt".

“There's some famous people suddenly accused of touching some girl's knee, and suddenly they're being dropped from their programme," he said, referring to the dismissal last year of US radio host Garrison Keillor.

Asked about allegations against actors such as Kevin Spacey and Dustin Hoffman, it was pointed out by host Ryan Tubridy that he seemed "on the fence".

“When you're doing a play and you're with your 'family', other actors, technicians," Neeson said, ”you do silly things, and it becomes kind of superstitious if you don't do it every night, you think it's going to jinx the show. I think Dustin Hoffman was... I'm not saying I've done similar things to what he did - apparently he touched some girls' breasts - but it's childhood stuff."

Hoffman was in his 40s when he allegedly harassed the 16-year-old schoolmate of his daughter Karina, Cori Thomas. His attorney called the accusations "defamatory falsehoods".

In response to the allegations made by writer Anna Graham Hunt, who claimed Hoffman groped her on the set of Death of a Salesman in 1985 when she was 17, he said: “I have the utmost respect for women and feel terrible that anything I might have done could have put her in an uncomfortable situation. I am sorry. It is not reflective of who I am.”

Tubridy did not challenge Neeson when he appeared to imply Hoffman's alleged behaviour was due to his "superstition" as an actor.

"There is a movement. It's healthy and it's across every industry. The focus seems to be on Hollywood at the minute. But it's across every industry," Neeson added.

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