Woody Allen Is A Scumbag (rant)

The BBQ Pit
241

Dylan’s words did have a ring of truth about them. I agree.

However, when you think about how the older brother Moses talks about growing up with Mamma Mia as being akin to living in a cult, where the object of worship was fervent Woody-hating, it makes sense to me. It makes sense that Mia was crazy, incensed that Woody and Soon-Yi were together and determined to do anything possible to keep Woody from having any custodial rights. So she concocted a story and convinced poor little Dylan that it happened, and Dylan grew up inside this Woody-hating cult where the pivotal feature of her young life was “You were molested by your father.” Every bit of acting out by an emotionally disturbed young girl was explained over and over as “You were molested, that’s why you’re skipping school, cutting, using drugs, acting inappropriate, etc.” It’s entirely plausible that the only thing that was ever wrong with her was having a crazy mom that messed with young Dylan’s understanding of reality, that’s bound to jack a kid up.

Dylan grew up mired in talk of child molestation, likely went through tons of therapy about it, which would no doubt include reading/hearing stories of other molestation survivors, handily cementing in her head the mantra Mia had been reciting for years. Why wouldn’t the adult Dylan telling what she believes to be her truth have some veracity to it?

242

Absolutely. Where I think you’re a bit out of line is in scolding other posters, not to mention society at large (“what’s wrong with this world”), for callousness because they happen not to share your gut opinion.

You’re not helping your case here. The reason some people have told you to shut the fuck up is because your denunciation of child molesting combined with your uncritical endorsement of molestation accusations brought by a complete stranger against an unpleasant celebrity who’s also a complete stranger is making you come across as rather witch-hunty.

243

Sarahfeena, you really are a fucking idiot.

I have personal experience of someone close to me being accused of molesting a little girl. The accusations were completely unfounded, but once made, impossible to throw off. You complain about the onus of proof being on the victim. Can you imagine how fucking difficult it would be to prove you are NOT guilty of such a crime?

Yes, child sexual abuse is an horrific crime. Perps should be locked away and/or treated to ensure kids are safe from future assaults.

But you know what? False accusations also ruin lives. Crazy mothers with axes to grind know the surest way to fuck up their partner’s future is to say they’ve touched the kids. Works wonders. :rolleyes:

I have no idea whether Woody Allen is a child molester or not. I am thankful that our modern legal system has such checks and balances in place that the court of public opinion doesn’t mete out punishment on the basis of ‘gut feelings’.

Oh, for the record, it was my ex husband who was accused of kiddy-diddling. Investigations were undertaken and he was exonerated, but that didn’t stop the ‘gut feeling’ brigade (like yourself) treating him like a leper. He committed suicide back in 1998.
In 2008, the child he was accused of molesting admitted to me that her mother made the whole story up, and that she was encouraged to continue the lie to protect her mother.

Yeah. It sucks.

244

You have to ask yourself why Allen, at 57 years old and in the midst of a bitter, mud-slinging custody dispute, would have chosen that particular moment to molest his adopted daughter for the first and only time ever alleged.

He was in a house full of people who hated him, as he described it - visiting the kids in their Connecticut home after recently dropping the bombshell that he was in a relationship with Farrow’s adult adopted daughter. She was understandably peeved about that and the entire household received him as if he really were a child molestor.

With all the kids present, and Mia, and the entire household staff - maid, cook, driver, etc., while fighting for custody of his kids, and battling acccusations of impropriety with Sun-Yi, would he really pick that moment to sneak upstairs and molest Dylan?

At the same time Mia was going full “Kramer vs. Kramer” on him; videotaping the kids statements to use against him in court, and systematically telling them all that he was a child molester because of the Sun-Yi relationship.

Nevertheless of course the allegations triggered a full investigation by the state police, who brought in an investigative team from the Yale-Newhaven hospital and conducted a thorough 6 month long investigation. This included physical and psychological examinations, reviews of all relevant facts, reviews of Allen’s psychiatrist’s notes going back for years, interviews with Allen, Farrow, Dylan - all in all, a whole lot more first-hand information than any of us will ever be privy to, and they concluded the accusation was false.

This recent piece by a filmmaker who did a documentary on Allen reveals all kinds of weird shit about Farrow including the fact she was screwing her ex, Sinatra, then 71 years old, while in their relationship (their age difference being just slightly less than that of Allen and Sun-Yi). She allowed Allen to raise a son he believed was his own. She is even today a staunch friend and advocate of Roman Polanski, a CONVICTED child rapist. The film montage shown at the awards show during which she unleashed her now famous Tweet was made with her full blessings and involvement - she was tweeting as though the award was a slap in the face to her daughter and all victims of abuse when in fact she helped create it.

At 24 she got pregnant having an affair with composer Andre Previn, 40 who was married. His wife had a complete emotional breakdown over the affair, was institutionalized and received electroshock therapy. As long as the Farrow camp is waving the flag on behalf of all the victims of his improper relationships they should probably also light a candle for the late Dory Previn.

In fairness to Sarahfeena, here is another piece that kind of sums up what I think she’s been trying to say. Despite all of this, it is still POSSIBLE that Dylan is telling the truth and her voice could be ignored due to so many things that make it hard to believe. I doubt it, but it is possible.

245

From that article -

We are sending the message that accusations need to be backed up with evidence, and that the benefit of the doubt goes to the accused. That applies no matter how horrific the crime they are accused of - in fact, it applies far more the more horrific the crime is.

Child abuse is disgusting, I’ve seen the lasting and devastating effects it’s had on several people I know and love. But that doesn’t mean I could support the conviction and punishment of those they accuse based solely on their word.

I don’t know what the solution is, how it can be prevented, but acting on unproven allegations is not the answer.

246

Right. She’s saying it’s better to believe the victim and be wrong than to believe the accused and be wrong.Philosophically that may be true if you don’t take into account the ruined life and reputation of the wrongly accused.

But either way she did get the full benefit of the doubt. A big investigation was done on her behalf based solely on her word. Even though the investigation concluded the accusation was false and she was probably being coached his image has been forever smeared by the mere accusation.

It really didn’t help matters that what made her so mad at him to begin with was hooking up with her adopted daughter. Totally legal and in the context of their relationship not even necessarily creepy, but it fed right in to the narrative Mia was creating of him being a skeevy old pervert.

Karmas a bitch - at 24 she ‘stole away’ Andre Previn from his older wife, leaving her in a mental hospital connected to electroshock machines while they got married and adopted a little girl named Sun-Yi. And 21 years later that very same girl became the younger woman that her own lover left her for. Really kind of poetic. Put the whole thing to a Django Reinhardt soundtrack and it would make a good Woody Allen movie.

247

I fully support there being an investigation in these cases, that is hopefully obvious. What I don’t support is the view that the existence of an accusation and an investigation proves anything.

I will also point out that there have been other investigations into Allen, when he’s been allowed to adopt children subsequent to this, and they presumably have concluded that he’s not a risk to them.

248

The only thing that’s changed in 20 years since the time it was fully investigated and dismissed is Twitter. Now with a well-timed Tweet she can do more to tarnish his image than ever before.

I wouldn’t be surprised if he sues her eventually. That article linked above says he doesn’t use the internet at all and has no clue how big of a shitstorm their tweets made. Since he’s already been cleared of the accusations, what they are doing is straight up slander if they have no new evidence to present and his lawyers are probably begging him to sue.

But what would it do for his image then, if he had to name his adopted daughter in a lawsuit to squelch accusations of child molestation? People who wanted to believe it would just say the rich and powerful have won again and the system is biased against the victims.

249

Forgot to mention something. “Recovered memories” are bullshit, too.

250

After reading through all this latest stuff one thing seems so striking to me. In his whole life no one else has ever accused Woody Allen of molesting them, or inappropriate behavior, or being a nasty man or anything. I find that amazing. If he were in fact nuts enough to molest a child, as someone pointed out, in a houseful of people who hated him, with a lot of people around, surely he would have been at least accused of doing something with someone else. Most child molesters are not known for their self-control.

Also, people being what they are, claiming to have been molested/insulted/attacked by a famous person is a way to get attention, so (especially in Hollywood) wouldn’t one expect some claims like this to have surfaced? Thinking of all this, I have to say that while I began reading this thread at least a little bit believing Woody Allen is in fact a scumbag, I don’t think so any more. I think he’s a guy who got caught up in a media blitz and who is not very media savvy so has no idea how to manage it or even that there’s something to manage. It’s too bad.

The fact that he was approved as an adoptive parent twice since all this transpired is pretty telling too.

251

First Post on a new page!!!

I molesting ur page 6! I molesting ur page 6 like a motherfuck!

252

You know that it depends how you have your page views set. This is not page 6 for me; it’s page 2.

253

Statements like this are rather insulting to all those who were abused and then went on to live good and happy lives. Yes, it’s a horrible thing to do to a child, it does have life-long consequences, but it doesn’t mean the child is then condemned to an unrelenting hellish existence. You imply the victims are somehow broken beyond repair. Most of them aren’t, they get on with their lives despite the hurt. What “ruins” the lives of molested children, much like what “ruins” the lives of raped adults, is the attitude of other people towards them which adds an unnecessary layer of trauma over the already present hurt. That, too, contributes to the silence and the hiding and the denial.

254

Well, now that I’ve molested it.

And actually, I never knew we didn’t all see the same page breaks- and I’ve been here for over 10 years! D’oh!

255

Broomstick, I absolutely agree with this. I was raped a long time ago and the attitudes of some people that I would be Scarred for Life was quite insulting to me. Granted, I was not a child, but on the other hand, children are more resilient than we think. If everyone around you tells you this is Awful, then it is. If they tell you you’ll be OK, then more than likely you will be.

256

No, children don’t “just make this stuff up” but adults can and do ask leading questions in some situations. That’s why victim statements need to be taken by an objective third party, NOT an angry mother editing the video interview.

It’s the difference between asking a young child “Show me on this doll where daddy touched you” vs. pointing to a particular part of the doll and saying “Daddy touched you there, didn’t he?”

The fact Mia herself videotaped her daughter’s statement raises my suspicions. What she should have done was paid for a trained person to conduct and tape the interview with the child.

257

While I wasn’t sexually molested, I was seriously *physically *abused as a child. I’m 51 years old and I still have issues with the physical damage it caused.

However, it seriously fucking pisses me off when people try to tell me how (mentally, emotionally) damaged and crippled for life I am supposed to be because of it. Those people can go swallow liquid sodium after smearing phosphorous on their genitals. They aren’t helping anyone.

And anyone who claims that children don’t make shit up knows fuck all nothing about children and their voice in this debate causes far more damage than good.

So, Sarafeena? BulkApothecary.com will probably fit your needs. Or rather, my needs for you to shut the fuck up about shit you’re off your nut about.

258

In show business, people talk. When a famous person has personality issues, it comes out. For example, Hitchcock subjected his female leads to physical and emotional abuse and took revenge on them if they spurned his advances.

Cyndi Lauper has a reputation of being rude and demanding.

I have never heard anyone who has worked with Woody Allen speak of him in anything other than positive terms. There’s no actual reason to believe he is an unpleasant jerk.

259

Thirded - and I was violently raped as a child.

I did have some therapy as an adult, but certainly wasn’t a broken shell of a human being before that.

260

Different people seem to react to abuse differently.

But I would speculate that Mia’s mission to use the abuse as a weapon against Woody probably did not help Dylan.

FWIW, I would quibble with the notion that there was a “power imbalance” in a case like this (and it’s overstated in general). All power is only based on connections to other people. Dylan Farrow as a little kid may have had very little direct power of her own, but she was well connected to Mia Farrow, who had and has quite a lot of power. (This latest firestorm broke because a personal friend of Mia lent Dylan use of his NYT-connected blog for her column.)