John Oliver grills Dustin Hoffman over harassment allegations

Actor reacts angrily after being taken to task over allegations of sexual harassment

TV host John Oliver yesterday hammered Dustin Hoffman about allegations of sexual harassment and the actor fired back with a ferocious defence, as a seemingly benign screening became an explosive conversation about Hollywood sexual misconduct.

“This is something we’re going to have to talk about because . . . it’s hanging in the air,” Oliver said to Hoffman at the discussion, an anniversary screening of the film Wag the Dog. He was alluding to an allegation made by Anna Graham Hunter last month that Hoffman groped her and made inappropriate comments when she was a 17-year-old intern on the set of the 1985 TV movie Death of a Salesman.

“It’s hanging in the air?” Hoffman said. “From a few things you’ve read, you’ve made an incredible assumption about me,” he noted, adding sarcastically, “You’ve made the case better than anyone else can. I’m guilty.”

Oliver, the host of Last Week Tonight, was moderating a 20thanniversary screening panel in New York on behalf of the Tribeca Institute, with stars Hoffman, Robert De Niro, producer Jane Rosenthal and director Barry Levinson on the stage. About halfway through the hour-long talk, Oliver brought up the issue to Hoffman, saying he found the actor’s statements about the matter wanting. Nearly the entire rest of the dis- cussion was then dominated by Oliver, Hoffman and the subject of sexual harassment.

Hoffman had offered a conditional apology at the time of the allegation, and yesterday he underscored an “if” included in that statement, noting several times that he didn’t really believe he had done anything wrong. He said that he had not engaged in groping, that he didn’t recall meeting Graham Hunter and that all his comments on set were simply how members of “a family” talked to one another.

“I still don’t know who this woman is,” Hoffman said. “I never met her; if I met her, it was in concert with other people.”

Oliver dismissed that as insufficient, then cited Hoffman’s response at the time of the allegation that the actor’s behaviour on set was “not reflective of” who he really is.

“It’s ‘not reflective of who I am’ — it’s that kind of response to this stuff that pisses me off,” Oliver said. “It is reflective of who you were. If you’ve given no evidence to show it didn’t [happen] then there was a period of time for a while when you were creeper around women. It feels like a cop-out to say ‘It wasn’t me’. Do you understand how that feels like a dismissal?”

Several times, however, Oliver sought to move on and talk about the film, but Hoffman returned to the subject of harassment, growing testy as he said Oliver was not keeping an “open mind” while unquestionably believing accusers.

“Do you believe this stuff you read?” Hoffman asked.

“Yes,” Oliver replied. “Because there’s no point in [an accuser] lying.” “Well, there’s a point in her not bringing it up for 40 years,” Hoffman said.

“Oh, Dustin,” Oliver said disapprovingly, putting his head in his hand.

Oliver said: “This isn’t fun for me. [But] there’s an elephant in the room because, this particular incident, a conversation has not been had.”

He noted that the film they were gathering to discuss, Wag The Dog, dealt with sexual misconduct by a powerful man.

Rosenthal then said of the film, “It wasn’t produced by Weinstein or Miramax . . . Kevin Spacey wasn’t starring in it. Let’s look at real sexual criminal predators.” “That’s a low bar,” Oliver retorted. The back-and-forth mainly centred on the Graham Hunter allegations, and also at times invoked an accusation by Hoffman’s The Graduate co-star Katharine Ross that he had groped her on the set of the classic film. It did not manifestly address another claim, by the writer Wendy Riss Gatsiounis, that Hoffman had propositioned her inappropriately in a pitch meeting in 1991.

The showdown happened as sexual harassment issues continue to roil the entertainment world, with a growing number of men falling under suspicion and being held to account, often publicly. The exchange, however, marked a rarity in the postHarvey Weinstein era, which has seen accused harassers generally offer short statements in response to allegations, if they respond at all. Very few have engaged in long public conversations about it, and almost none have sounded as defiant as Hoffman did.

The conversation grew increasingly angry as it wore on. When Hoffman began talking about his long career, Oliver interjected with, “Oh, Jesus.”

“So now I can’t even finish a sentence?” Hoffman asked.

Hoffman also cited Tootsie as evidence of his feminist bona fides.

“I would not have made that movie if I didn’t have an incredible respect for women,” Hoffman said. “The theme of the movie is he became a better man by having been a woman.”

He went on to say to Oliver: “It’s shocking to me you don’t see me more clearly. That you go by a couple of things you read.”

Oliver said that he considered not addressing the subject at what was intended as a genial chat but then decided he bore an obligation.

“I can’t leave certain things unaddressed,” the host said. “The easy way is not to bring anything up. Unfortunately that leaves me at home later at night hating myself.”

Hoffman said to Oliver: “Keep a kind of open mind if you can, John.” “I’m trying,” Oliver said.

“Well, I’m trying harder than you are,” Hoffman shot back.

Tensions did not cool throughout the session.

“You weren’t there,” Hoffman said to Oliver about the Salesman set.

“I’m glad [I wasn’t],” the host replied.

It’s shocking to me you don’t see me more clearly. That you go by a couple of things you read. Dustin Hoffman The easy way is not to bring anything up. Unfortunately that leaves me at home later at night hating myself. John Oliver