# Morgan Freeman accused of sexual harassment **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 24, 2018, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morgan-freeman-accused-of-sexual-harassment/814734 "2018-05-24T15:24:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2018, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morgan-freeman-accused-of-sexual-harassment/814734/21 "2018-05-24T23:25:11Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > [Moderating] > > Two threads, one with a lot of discussion but a vague title and a link-only OP, the other with only a little discussion but a clear title and content in the OP. What’s a mod to do? > > Hm, will this work? King Solomon has nothin’ on you. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morgan-freeman-accused-of-sexual-harassment/814734/22 "2018-05-25T00:46:35Z")
I’ve got to wonder about someone like Freeman. He’s been around for decades and has been allowed to act this way without consequence. When allegations came out about others was he sitting at home worried for the other shoe to drop or did he lack enough self awareness to know he was wrong? ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morgan-freeman-accused-of-sexual-harassment/814734/23 "2018-05-25T00:49:07Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > It may not be a perfect solution, but the idea that we’re just going to gradually get better doesn’t fly with me. It is reality. That is exactly how this stuff will get better( if it does, I’m hopeful ). No sweeping, comprehensive reform is really possible to effect a total cultural shift of this sort. It will come in dribbles and drabs, with the occasional moderate breakthrough like the #Meto movement. It was ~46 years from the Stonewall Riots to legalized gay marriage in this country and _that_ was a startlingly fast transformation. I don’t think I have to remind you how long it took a black president to become palatable to a voting majority. ETA: Nothing wrong with agitating for more and faster change, of course. That is how things change in the first place. I just wouldn’t hold my breath is all. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morgan-freeman-accused-of-sexual-harassment/814734/24 "2018-05-25T00:51:39Z")
> [@Inigo\_Montoya](#): > > Nothing shocks me anymore. > > Well, if Mike Rowe gets called out one day I will lose all hope. It seems entirely possible. He sometimes has real chemistry with his subjects and you wonder if there’s maybe a date or two once the episode is shot. I’m dead certain he’s gone dancing with one in particular. Dancing is off limits now? ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morgan-freeman-accused-of-sexual-harassment/814734/25 "2018-05-25T00:52:33Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > It may not be a perfect solution, but the idea that we’re just going to gradually get better doesn’t fly with me. There hasn’t been a social advance that came about without some major pain and major change in policy and practice. Right now the little guys and gals have virtually no power if they are harassed or abused. Something needs to change, in a major way, such that they feel 100% empowered to come forward, without fear of professional consequence, as long as they’re being truthful. Perhaps my point was unclear but it wasn’t that change should be gradual; it is that the removal of a handful of predatory offenders (by the farcical method of shutting down the entertainment industry for months and instituting some kind of behavior policing agency with plenary powers of fines and dismissals or otherwise) does not address the more systemic problem. One of the facets of the #MeToo movement that has received only incidential coverage is the fact that predators like Harvey Weinstein and Bill Cosby didn’t act all on their lonesome in assaulting dozens of women across decades; they had a coterie of helpers, fixers, and apologists that allowed them to act with virtual impunity by helping to isolate potential victims and put them in situations where they would be vulnerable, attack their credibility after the assault to prevent them from complaining or testifying, and assuring the public that these favored people would never commit such henious crimes even as it was public knowledge to the point of being the butt of jokes outside of the entertainment industry that both Weinstein and Cosby were serial predatory offenders. And many of those helpers were women, some themselves victims of abuse or fearful for their careers if refusing to facilitate and cover up for their bosses. Forcing light on ‘lesser’ offenders like Dustin Hoffman or Ben Affleck for acting with crass indifference or casually groping women is well-deserved, but as wrong as that behavior is (and as much as they should be forced to demonstrate contrition for it) there is a large silent presence of facilitators who make it possible for serial predators to act out indefinitely, and as long as it remains acceptable to participate in any way, there will be predators who will make use of it. Hence, some kind of fantasy clean sweep of the actual predators themselves, as desireable as it would be, is insufficient to achieve any lasting change. People (and not just women) have to feel not only ‘empowered’ but responsible to come forward when they are made witness to abuses and accountable for just turning a blind eye or actively covering up for bad behavior, and not just in the entertainment industry but across society as a whole. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morgan-freeman-accused-of-sexual-harassment/814734/26 "2018-05-25T01:10:33Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Dancing is off limits now? This is why I don’t kid around with cops–I can never tell if they’re messing with me back, or if I’ve just been an unfathomable dork. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Major\_Major\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@Major\_Major\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Major_Major_1)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morgan-freeman-accused-of-sexual-harassment/814734/27 "2018-05-25T03:23:12Z")
I feel bad for black people at this point - they’ve had two of their most wholesome idols (cosby and now freeman) revealed to be sex fiends. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morgan-freeman-accused-of-sexual-harassment/814734/28 "2018-05-25T06:59:20Z")
Why, Morgan Freeman accused of sexual harassment? My, my. Isn’t that _[something](https://xkcd.com/462/)_. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morgan-freeman-accused-of-sexual-harassment/814734/29 "2018-05-25T07:17:51Z")
> [@Major\_Major](#): > > I feel bad for black people at this point - they’ve had two of their most wholesome idols (cosby and now freeman) revealed to be sex fiends. What with Michael Jackson and the Juice, they’re probably well used to it by now. I hope Obama isn’t next. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morgan-freeman-accused-of-sexual-harassment/814734/30 "2018-05-25T07:24:38Z")
> [@Major\_Major](#): > > I feel bad for black people at this point - they’ve had two of their most wholesome idols (cosby and now freeman) revealed to be sex fiends. Just because Freeman played God doesn’t mean he’s generally considered wholesome. “Crotchety, conservative old man” is more the image. I think, based on what I’ve read, lots of Black people were largely over Cosby (if not\* The Cosby Show\*, a separate thing) _before_ the sex scandal - his cluelessness about the zeitgeist from the late 90s on (the Pound Cake Speech in 2004, for instance) made him irrelevant to them. So for some, I think there’s some _schadenfreude_. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morgan-freeman-accused-of-sexual-harassment/814734/31 "2018-05-25T11:57:10Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Perhaps my point was unclear but it wasn’t that change should be gradual; it is that the removal of a handful of predatory offenders (by the farcical method of shutting down the entertainment industry for months and instituting some kind of behavior policing agency with plenary powers of fines and dismissals or otherwise) does not address the more systemic problem. One of the facets of the #MeToo movement that has received only incidential coverage is the fact that predators like Harvey Weinstein and Bill Cosby didn’t act all on their lonesome in assaulting dozens of women across decades; they had a coterie of helpers, fixers, and apologists that allowed them to act with virtual impunity by helping to isolate potential victims and put them in situations where they would be vulnerable, attack their credibility after the assault to prevent them from complaining or testifying, and assuring the public that these favored people would never commit such henious crimes even as it was public knowledge to the point of being the butt of jokes outside of the entertainment industry that both Weinstein and Cosby were serial predatory offenders. And many of those helpers were women, some themselves victims of abuse or fearful for their careers if refusing to facilitate and cover up for their bosses. > > Forcing light on ‘lesser’ offenders like Dustin Hoffman or Ben Affleck for acting with crass indifference or casually groping women is well-deserved, but as wrong as that behavior is (and as much as they should be forced to demonstrate contrition for it) there is a large silent presence of facilitators who make it possible for serial predators to act out indefinitely, and as long as it remains acceptable to participate in any way, there will be predators who will make use of it. Hence, some kind of fantasy clean sweep of the actual predators themselves, as desireable as it would be, is insufficient to achieve any lasting change. People (and not just women) have to feel not only ‘empowered’ but responsible to come forward when they are made witness to abuses and accountable for just turning a blind eye or actively covering up for bad behavior, and not just in the entertainment industry but across society as a whole. > > Stranger I agree with all of this, and I think drastic change is needed to solve this problem. The status quo is unacceptable – regular workers and striving young performers in Hollywood, right now, have no recourse if they are harassed or abused, except for hoping the media might latch onto their story, and even then, their career in Hollywood is likely to be destroyed if they publicly tell their story. I don’t know if an independent agency is the only way, but if you’re worried about the potential for abuse with an independent agency, I’m far more worried about the present abuse that is rampant, with no recourse or hope for victims. Hollywood isn’t going to fix itself on its own. And while this is, of course, a much larger societal problem, this is how societies fix these sorts of problems – institutions and organizations within that society make changes to their policies and practices. Hollywood as an industry is a particularly visible institution, and has the potential to greatly influence broader society. If you don’t like my idea for big and drastic change to the industry, then what do you propose? Just hoping for society to change isn’t good enough, IMO. Big changes in policy and practice are needed, and industries and institutions need to be figuring this out on their own and not waiting for societal changes to sweept them along. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morgan-freeman-accused-of-sexual-harassment/814734/32 "2018-05-25T14:48:15Z")
So, accusations have been made and people are assuming his guilt. Isn’t that sad? I thought the US and the UK held to the presumption of innocence until proven guilty. From the CNN article linked above: > [@](#): > > Eventually, she said, "Alan [Arkin] made a comment telling him to stop. " but CNN is running the story without confirmation: > [@](#): > > A representative for Arkin said he was not available for comment. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morgan-freeman-accused-of-sexual-harassment/814734/33 "2018-05-25T14:55:54Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Just because Freeman played God doesn’t mean he’s generally considered wholesome. “Crotchety, conservative old man” is more the image. > > I think, based on what I’ve read, lots of Black people were largely over Cosby (if not\* The Cosby Show\*, a separate thing) _before_ the sex scandal - his cluelessness about the zeitgeist from the late 90s on (the Pound Cake Speech in 2004, for instance) made him irrelevant to them. So for some, I think there’s some _schadenfreude_. As Richard Pryor said of Cosby, “Have a Coke and a smile and shut the fuck up”. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morgan-freeman-accused-of-sexual-harassment/814734/34 "2018-05-25T16:04:46Z")
So now everyone and his uncle is scouring past videos of Morgan Freeman interviews to find the least bit of impropriety. [So far this is all they came up with.](http://uk.businessinsider.com/entertainment-tonight-reveals-questionable-behavior-morgan-freeman-2018-5?r=US&IR=T) > [@](#): > > Old video footage of Morgan Freeman making suspect comments to female reporters has been republished after he was accused of sexual harassment. > > Entertainment Tonight published footage which shows Freeman asking one correspondent whether she would “fool around with older guys,” while a second shows Freeman commenting intently on his interviewer’s legs. For fuck’s sake, the old guy still has a libido. Shoot him already. This isn’t Weinstein, it’s penny-ante stuff. And anyway it’s for the reporters concerned to say if they were offended, not some hack at ET. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morgan-freeman-accused-of-sexual-harassment/814734/35 "2018-05-25T16:19:24Z")
It’s possible for something to not be “Weinstein” and still no longer be acceptable. Old lechers are just going to have to get used to that. I have a libido, but I don’t make gross comments to every attractive woman I see. And AIUI, this was \*started \*by a reporter with personal experience of Freeman’s behaviour. CNN [link](https://edition.cnn.com/2018/05/24/entertainment/morgan-freeman-accusations/index.html) (also in OP): > [@](#): > > Three entertainment reporters who spoke to CNN said Freeman made inappropriate remarks to them during press junkets, which are publicity events for journalists who cover new films, typically attended by the movie’s biggest stars. > One of the three, CNN entertainment reporter Chloe Melas, the co-author of this article, says she was subjected to inappropriate behavior by Freeman more than a year ago, when she interviewed him at a press junket for “Going in Style.” ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morgan-freeman-accused-of-sexual-harassment/814734/36 "2018-05-25T16:26:11Z")
No one has said he’s the same as Weinstein. That doesn’t mean sexual harassment (which I think is a pretty fair characterization of the multiple allegations, including many corroborated by witnesses in the article) isn’t unacceptable and well worth criticizing. Along with any enablers, including anyone who dismissed or ignored a complaint by one of the accusers. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morgan-freeman-accused-of-sexual-harassment/814734/37 "2018-05-25T16:30:04Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > So, accusations have been made and people are assuming his guilt. Isn’t that sad? I thought the US and the UK held to the presumption of innocence until proven guilty. This holds for courts of law, not message board discussions, and not article-writing. > [@](#): > > From the CNN article linked above: > > but CNN is running the story without confirmation: CNN reported facts – the facts of what several people told them, including multiple allegations corroborated by witnesses. All these people (or the reporters themselves) could be lying, or CNN could be run by pig-demons from Hell brought to Earth to make Freeman’s life miserable, or they could be honestly reporting the facts of what they were told by multiple witnesses/survivors/accusers. The last seems to me to be by far the most likely explanation for the existence of the article, but I will refrain from calling for criminal penalties of Freeman before he were to be convicted of breaking the law by a jury of fellow citizens. For now I’m comfortable saying “he’s probably a sexual harasser, and that’s terrible and needs to stop”. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8dc957/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morgan-freeman-accused-of-sexual-harassment/814734/38 "2018-05-25T16:42:25Z")
Somebody stop me from making a Sleazy Reader joke. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morgan-freeman-accused-of-sexual-harassment/814734/39 "2018-05-25T16:59:28Z")
Wasn’t this the guy who got into a car accident while driving his 20-something mistress around that he was cheating on his wife with? Can’t say I’m surprised ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morgan-freeman-accused-of-sexual-harassment/814734/40 "2018-05-25T17:00:05Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > I agree with all of this, and I think drastic change is needed to solve this problem. The status quo is unacceptable – regular workers and striving young performers in Hollywood, right now, have no recourse if they are harassed or abused, except for hoping the media might latch onto their story, and even then, their career in Hollywood is likely to be destroyed if they publicly tell their story. I don’t know if an independent agency is the only way, but if you’re worried about the potential for abuse with an independent agency, I’m far more worried about the present abuse that is rampant, with no recourse or hope for victims. Hollywood isn’t going to fix itself on its own. And while this is, of course, a much larger societal problem, this is how societies fix these sorts of problems – institutions and organizations within that society make changes to their policies and practices. Hollywood as an industry is a particularly visible institution, and has the potential to greatly influence broader society. If you don’t like my idea for big and drastic change to the industry, then what do you propose? Just hoping for society to change isn’t good enough, IMO. Big changes in policy and practice are needed, and industries and institutions need to be figuring this out on their own and not waiting for societal changes to sweept them along. Wait, you mean to tell me that the police won’t do their job? If the police won’t do their job why would this new pseudo-law enforcement group be any more empowered? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morgan-freeman-accused-of-sexual-harassment/814734.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/morgan-freeman-accused-of-sexual-harassment/814734.md?page=3)