Gets slammed

LOS ANGELES: Liam Neeson has defended veteran actor Dustin Hoffman, saying that the campaign against sexual harassment in Hollywood is becoming “a bit of a witch hunt”.

Hoffman has been accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women he worked with. The actor had offered an apology to the first woman, who interned on the set of his 1985 TV film Death of a Salesman. In a statement, he said the behaviour was “not reflective of who I am.” But he has not commented on the other accusations.

In an interview with an Irish talk show, Neeson said, “There is a bit of a witch hunt happening, too. There’s some people, famous people, being suddenly accused of touching some girl’s knee or something, and suddenly they’re being dropped from their program or something.” Neeson specifically spoke about the allegations against Garrison Keillor.

He said he was “on the fence” in relation to some of the allegations that have emerged against Hoffman and appeared to dismiss breast groping as “childhood stuff ”.

“The Dustin Hoffman thing, I’m on the fence about that.because when you’re doing a play and you’re with your family, other actors, technicians, 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.”

“Apparently, Hoffman touched another girl’s breast and stuff. But it’s childhood stuff what he was doing,” Neeson said. Neeson, however, acknowledged that the wider movement against