Since the surge of sexual misconduct allegations that started with The New York Times' Harvey Weinstein expose from last October, the #MeToo Movement has continued to gain traction with many coming forward to share their stories of sexual harassment and assault. While the campaign began to raise awareness about the widespread nature of sexual misconduct—which to many would be a good thing—some have dismissed #MeToo as persecutive in nature.
Liam Neeson went on Ireland's The Late Late Show to promote his new movie The Commuter, but he ended up chiming in on the movement. "There’s a bit of a witch hunt happening too. There are some people—famous people—being suddenly accused of touching some girl’s knee or something, and suddenly have been dropped from their program or something."
Some of the "famous people" Neeson's refers to are Minnesota Public Radio's Garrison Keillor, who was fired because of "inappropriate behavior," and Dustin Hoffman, who has been accused of sexual assault and harassment by a number of women. But Neeson dismissed Hoffman's wrongdoings as merely "childhood stuff."
"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, technicians—you do silly things and it becomes superstitious. If you don’t do it every night you think it’s going to jinx the show," Neeson said.
It should be noted, however, that Hoffman's misconduct extends far beyond what most would deem "silly." In a guest column for TheHollywood Reporter, his former Death of a Salesman Broadway co-star Kathryn Rossetter outlined the nightly sexual harassment she suffered from Hoffman. Before Rossetter, Anna Graham Hunter—a then-teenage production assistant—also came forward and accused Hoffman of groping her on the set of the play's movie version.
