Perhaps about the only thing more shocking than these sudden, but devastating claims calling out Morgan Freeman’s allegedly creepy behaviour, is the general reaction to it. If the #MeToo and Time’s Up campaigns lulled any of us into thinking that victim shaming had ended, the response to this should set the record straight. Turns out scorn and derision reserved only for those alleged perpetrators who have not played liberal, likeable characters onscreen.
Morgan Freeman in The Shawshank Redemption
The man who once played God onscreen, has been accused by several women of workplace sexual harassment. 16 people spoke to CNN about the inappropriate comments and behaviour exhibited by Freeman. Eight are women who have experienced alleged harassment at his hands directly, and eight are witnesses to various incidents which include standing too close and staring, asking women to twirl, staring pointedly at their breasts, commenting on well-fitted clothes, as well as unsolicited touching.
The report is co-authored by Chloe Melas who said she too was at the receiving end of his inappropriate comments when she interviewed him for the film, Going in Style (2017).
A production assistant on the sets of the same film claimed that Freeman not only rubbed her lower back on numerous occasions, he also constantly kept trying to ‘lift her skirt and asking if she was wearing underwear’. His Going in Style co-star Alan Arkin eventually told him to stop, that he ‘freaked out and didn’t know what to say’, she reportedly told CNN.
One of the witnesses, who once worked at Revelations Productions, claimed that he saw Freeman once walk up to an intern at work and start rubbing her shoulders. Clearly uncomfortable with his behaviour, she had to ‘wriggle out of his grasp’. His story was corroborated by another former colleague who said he had narrated the incident to others at work.
In short a lot of women have come forward to claim that Oscar winner Morgan Freeman frequently engages in verbal sexual harassment at the workplace and otherwise. In response to the allegations, a statement released by The Shawshank Redemption actor, said: “Anyone who knows me or has worked with me knows I am not someone who would intentionally offend or knowingly make anyone feel uneasy. I apologize to anyone who felt uncomfortable or disrespected — that was never my intent.”
After the news broke, a lot of people (including women) responded with disbelief, because clearly it’s a problem if women complain, and a problem if they do not.
Wait. Where is this staunch support and vehement refusal to believe the accusations coming from? Morgan did not refute the claims in case nobody’s noticed. Or have we actually confused the characters Freeman has played, with the man he actually is?
In classic victim-blaming tactic, a lot of people happen to think that women use harassment as a way to get ‘fame’. Here’s the thing though, since it is unlikely that anyone would be able to name the Bill Cosby accusers, all of the Weinstein or Kevin Spacey victims who were *not* already famous, or even the women in Freeman’s case, it is perhaps safe to say that that’s not the motivation here. Also, notice how they’ve straight up refuted the idea that claims could possibly be true, because they are tired of the #MeToo campaign. Tired of women complaining that they’ve been sexually harassed not horrified at how widespread the problem is? Wow.
In case you were wondering, this is how predators get away with being exploitative, this is why victims do not come forward and this is exactly how rape culture thrives.
