Bekritiseerde Liam Neeson noemt #MeToo een heksenjacht
Liam Neeson heeft een storm van kritiek over zich heen gekregen op social media nadat hij in een interview zijn mening gaf over de #MeToo-discussie. Neeson twijfelt of alle beschuldigingen wel waar zijn. Neeson promoot op dit moment zijn nieuwste film The Commuter. In een interview met Ierland’s The Late Late Show zei Neeson het volgende:
“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.”
Als voorbeeld noemt Neeson de Amerikaanse radiopresentator Garrison Keillor, die zijn eigen radioshow verloor na beschuldigingen van onwenselijk bedrag. Neeson vervolgde:
“I was reading recently about him, and he was listening to a sad story of a female friend of his, and the end of this, he put his hand to her back… it was her bare back. He immediately took his hand away and apologized,” Neeson said. “She said don’t worry about it, forget about it… He emailed her because he was concerned… Months later, he gets a call from a lawyer… saying he inappropriately touched this lady, and he was dropped, like that.”
Hoewel Neeson erkende dat de aantijgingen jegens Harvey Weinstein serieus zijn, weet hij niet zeker of de beschuldigingen van seksuele intimidatie tegenover Dustin Hoffman wel kloppen:
“The Dustin Hoffman thing… I’m on the fence about that. When you’re doing a play and you’re with your family, other actors… you do silly things. It becomes kind of superstitious, if you don’t do it every night you think it’s going to jinx the show. I think Dustin Hoffman… I’m not saying I’ve done similar things, apparently he touched a girl’s breast, but it’s childhood stuff.”
Deze opmerking van Neeson viel in het verkeerde keelgat bij heel veel mensen. Op social media krijgt hij dan ook een hoop boos commentaar.
Liam Neeson fans everywhere as he opens up on the #MeToo campaign. #LateLateShow pic.twitter.com/tzSJ1H4ZYH
— Niall McGarry (@MrNiallMcGarry) January 12, 2018
Don’t work with Liam Neeson, ladies. https://t.co/C6Z7LOEjms
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) January 13, 2018
Liam Neeson: witch hunt is a term for false accusations against the vulnerable by the powerful, so it’s not an accurate description of holding privileged men in power accountable for their actions.
A witch hunt never ends. We just want men to stop abusing their power.
— Melinda Byerley (@MJB_SF) January 13, 2018
Liam Neeson on the #LateLate suggesting that Hoffman might simply rub a co-star’s breasts in superstition before a performance.
A grope for good luck as it were. ‘Childhood stuff’.
Yeah, if there’s a line to be drawn Liam, I don’t it’s there. https://t.co/d5AHH1BPsE
— Luke Benson (@Mr_LukeBenson) January 12, 2018