Since the Harvey Weinstein accusations have been brought into attention, we have seen the courage of many brave Women and Men come forth with their stories about their accounts with the sexual predators in their workplace. Therefore, it is not odd to open the Twitter app on your phone and be confronted with yet another celebrity being accused of alleged sexual misconducts. However, I do not believe anyone saw this individual being the poster boy of the new slew of sexual harassment allegations.
Hollywood has been a goldmine of sexual predators who were until a couple of years ago were carefully hidden from the limelight. Recently, we have seen the MTV Catfish co-host, Nev Schulman is accused of sexual misconduct. Schulman has since denied all allegations made by Ayissha Morgan, who appeared on the very show. MTV, on the other hand, has taken the proper procedures and has suspended production of the show is pending due to an investigation. If you do not know much about Nev Schulman, you need to realize that he is an avid fighter and comrade of the MeToo movement as well as an activist of the #NeverAgain movement. It is upsetting to even think that someone I admired and shared similar values with could have such a different side to them. Just when you lost all hope in men. We are hit with yet another celebrity being accused that we could never believe. MORGAN FREEMAN.
News reported by CNN of Morgan Freeman accused by eight women of inappropriate sexual misconduct and harassment while other women witnessed the alleged incidents in question. It was said to have happened during the summer of 2015 of the production of “Going In Style”. The production assistant alleges that she was a victim of several unwanted advances both verbal and physical. This brought into light another statement from a production staff who stated similar events.
As reported by CNN through their investigation, they spoke to 16 individuals. Many of who have stated that Freeman has over a decade behaved in the same way. Although, none of them officially reported him, because they feared for their jobs. However, several others that were contacted by CNN denied any such allegations and had nothing but praises for Freeman and his work ethic.
This investigation conducted by CNN led Freeman to release the following statement “Anyone who knows me or has worked with me knows I am not someone who would intentionally often or knowingly make anyone feel uneasy. I apologize to anyone who felt uncomfortable or disrespected…that was never my intent.”
The allegations surfaced on the internet soon after it was announced that Freeman would be giving the voice of the Vancouver’s SkyTrain and bus announcements this summer. Collectively, all of Vancouver might have rejoiced but that did not last long. As soon as CNN released the cover story of Freeman, Vancouver Translink has decided to pause the VISA ad campaign in the wake of the allegations and has stated that they will be coming up with further details. However, not to fret Seth Rogen has graciously volunteered to be the voice of TransLink and it doesn’t hurt that he is also from Vancouver.
Freeman has issued a second statement on Friday in which he states that “80 years of his life is at risk of being undermined due to the allegations—- all victims of assault and harassment deserve to be heard but it is not right to equate horrific incidents of sexual assault with misplaced compliments or humour.” Further stating that he will continuously keep apologizing for his unintentional remarks because he did not mean any harm. He closes his statement with a strong stance on how he does not create an unsafe work environment. He did not assault or offer employment on the basis of sexual favours and that any reports stating otherwise are false.
This just goes to show that everything is not what it seems. There are two sides to everything and everyone. Sometimes we are shown things that we would much rather not see and we choose to see what we want to. I would much rather believe that all these allegations against Morgan Freeman are false BUT let’s face the facts. No individual would intentionally go on record to accuse another of such grave allegations if there were no truth to it. Let’s not live in denial like I did when I first heard the news. Let’s be progressive and expect that if the allegations are true Morgan Freeman is held accountable. What we need is for all of them accused of these types of sexual misconduct allegations be truly held accountable.
