WORLD Casey walks out on Oscars
OSCAR-WINNING actor Casey Affleck has pulled out of this year’s Academy Awards amid a string of sexual harassment allegations.
Affleck has given organisers an awkward dilemma, because his 2017 Best Actor win for Manchester By The Sea meant he was entitled to present the Best Actress award at March’s ceremony.
Brie Larson famously refused to clap after presenting Affleck with his statuette in what was perceived to be a silent protest against him.
Later she said her action “spoke for itself”.
Affleck’s decision to forgo the Oscars comes as the antisexual harassment movement, embodied by the #MeToo and Time’s Up campaigns, shows no sign of abating.
An Oscars spokeswoman confirmed Affleck would not attend, saying: “We appreciate the decision to keep the focus on the show and on the great work of this year.”
According to Deadline, Affleck wanted to avoid distracting from the performances of those nominated and was in a no-win situation.
Affleck’s reputation has been tainted over the past few years after two women came forward accusing him of sexually harassing them on the set of 2010’s I’m Still Here, which he directed.
Both cases were settled out of court for an undisclosed amount. In one of the suits, a female colleague claimed she was “exposed to so much degradation and exhaustion that she vomited”, due to Affleck’s alleged behaviour.
Most damaging was the claim that one of the women, director of photography Magdalena Gorka, woke one night during shooting to find Affleck, who was married at the time, had sneaked into her bed while she slept.
“When she woke up, Affleck was curled up next to
I BELIEVE THAT ANY KIND OF MISTREATMENT OF ANYONE FOR ANY REASON IS UNACCEPTABLE AND ABHORRENT.
CASEY AFFLECK
her in bed wearing only his underwear and T-shirt,” the lawsuit said.
“He had his arm around her, was caressing her back, his face was within inches of hers and his breath reeked of alcohol.”
Speaking in the days after his Oscar win last year, Affleck said: “I believe that any kind of mistreatment of anyone for any reason is unacceptable and abhorrent. Everyone deserves to be treated with respect in the workplace and anywhere else.”