Woody Allen should hang his head

I WRITE in response to the debate about allegations made against Woody Allen by Mia and Dylan Farrow in an HBO series recently released by Showmax.

During a 12-year relationship, Woody Allen had a son with Mia Farrow and later co-adopted two of her many adopted children (Moses, a boy, and Dylan, a girl). In addition, he (who admittedly never lived with Mia and rarely slept over) visited Moses and Dylan at Mia’s home on most days and started doing so several years before the adoptions took place.

Consequently, he was “for all intents and purposes” to most people’s minds Mia’s commonlaw husband when he in 1992 was caught having a sexual relationship with her 21-year-old adopted daughter, Soon-Yi Previn (a vulnerable, reclusive first-year college student who had been abandoned by her South Korean mother before being brought to America at the age of 7 by Farrow and her former husband, famed composer Andre Previn).

Under the circumstances, Allen should have issued a grovelling apology but instead argued that he was not Soon-Yi’s legal stepfather and for many years had had almost nothing to do with her.

This greatly exacerbated the impact of his actions while also making it clear to anyone with more than half a brain that Allen is indeed selfish and heartless enough to have molested 7-year-old Dylan, who almost 30 years later insists the allegations were not a figment of her imagination.

Allen should hang his head in shame while thanking his lucky stars for a criminal justice system that ensures the rights of people with deep pockets are always vigorously defended.

Also, according to the HBO series, Allen in 1992/1993 repeatedly refused to submit to a lie-detector test that could have cleared his name.

This is not how one would expect an innocent man to react to allegations made by someone he supposedly loves dearly.

TERENCE GRANT | Cape Town