Actor Griffin Newman regrets working in Woody Allen film, donates movie salary: ‘I believe he is guilty’
Griffin Newman. Image: Amazon Studios
Actor Griffin Newman has expressed regret for working with director Woody Allen on a new untitled movie.
The upcoming movie also stars Selena Gomez, Elle Fanning, Jude Law and Diego Luna.
The 28-year-old wrote on Twitter that he believes Allen is guilty for sexual abuse allegations against his daughter, Dylan Farrow, when she was was seven.
He also shared that he “donated his entire salary to RAINN”, the United States’ largest anti-sexual violence organization. Its first ever national spokesperson, singer-composer Tori Amos, was a survivor of sexual assault.
Newman took a month debating if he should take the “one-scene role”, and found himself “deeply regretting” his decision when he accepted it.
“I’ve spent the last decade struggling as an actor, and learned to sideline my views because the thought of closing any doors was terrifying,” he said. “It was an educational experience for all the wrong reasons. I learned conclusively that I cannot put my career over my morals again.”
Recent events, particularly accounts of Harvey Weinstein’s decades-long sexual violence and manipulation against women, encouraged him to come clean. Weinstein was one of Allen’s backers even after the director’s reputation was smeared.
“I had been feeling this way for the last month, but the awful continuance [of] revelations of the last week compounded my guilt ten fold,” he said
Newman continued, “To anyone who thinks I took the easy way out by taking the job THEN denouncing it, I assure you that is the worst combination of choices.”
‘I know who I want to believe’
On Twitter, netizens welcomed his candor, calling it “refreshing” and “sincere.”
Still, others questioned why he thought Allen was guilty, which the actor clarified in another series of tweets.
Woody Allen. Image: INQUIRER.net stock photo
He said working with Allen did not convince him of his guilt; it was Farrow’s 2014 open letter published in New York Times.
In her account, Farrow writes, “For as long as I could remember, my father had been doing things to me that I didn’t like,” including making her go to bed with him while he was only in underwear and breathing on her “naked lap.”
“People ask me for evidence of his guilt. I don’t have any. I just read [the open letter] and know who I want to believe,” said Newman.
He also called for people to commend sexual abuse survivors instead of him. “I’m not looking to be celebrated. I advise everyone to signal boost survivors or those who made the right choice the first time instead.”
Since Weinstein’s allegations, in a BBC report, Allen has described the situation as “tragic for the poor women that were involved, sad for Harvey that [his] life is so messed up.”
Allen claimed to have no knowledge of Weinstein’s behavior, saying, “No one ever came to me or told me horror stories with any real seriousness.”
He also cautioned against a “witch hunt atmosphere… where every guy in an office who winks at a woman is suddenly having to call a lawyer to defend himself.”
Allen’s estranged son Ronan Farrow interviewed 13 survivors of Weinstein’s sexual abuse which was was published in The New Yorker. He has also stood by his sister Dylan’s account on being molested by their father. JB
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