Woody Allen has dismissed cancel culture as "silly" during his comeback at the 80th Venice International Film Festival.
The 87-year-old controversial director made an appearance at the prestigious film festival to showcase his 50th film, Coup de Chance.
However, the decision to feature Allen was not taken lightly by moviegoers as in recent years, the filmmaker has been embroiled in controversy after Dylan Farrow, his then-seven-year-old adoptive daughter with Mia Farrow, accused him of sexually abusing her when she was a young child.
The allegations gained substantial media attention in 1992, but no charges were ever brought against Allen, and to this day, he has vehemently denied the allegation.
The allegations resurfaced in 2014 after Farrow, 38, penned an open letter in 2014 on The New York Times’s website, as well as in a 2016 opinion piece for The Los Angeles Times, and a 2018 interview with CBS.
While Allen was never persecuted for the serious claims, many stars of his films revealed that they regretted working with him during the wake of the #MeToo movement.
In addition to this, Hachette canceled the publication of his memoir, and his 2019 film, A Rainy Day in New York, was not released in the US.
On Saturday (September 2), the Midnight in Paris director debuted a romantic thriller at the Venice Film Festival and was met with a five-minute standing ovation after the second screening.
Earlier that day, the once-loved director opened up to Variety about whether he felt that he had been "canceled" and stated that he finds it "all so silly".
"I don’t think about it," he continued. "I don’t know what it means to be canceled. I know that over the years everything has been the same for me. I make my movies. What has changed is the presentation of the films."
He also spoke about the #MeToo movement and said: "I think any movement where there’s actual benefit, where it does something positive - let’s say for women - is a good thing," adding, "It’s silly when it’s not really a feminist issue or an issue of unfairness to women."
"When it’s being too extreme in trying to make it into an issue when, in fact, most people would not regard it as any kind of offensive situation," he concluded.
Furthermore, the interviewer invited the Annie Hall director to address the child abuse allegations detailed in the 2021 miniseries Allen v. Farrow, and he responded that his reaction to the claims has "always been the same".
"The situation has been investigated by two people, two major bodies, not people, but two major investigative bodies. And both, after long detailed investigations, concluded there was no merit to these charges," he explained.
Once again, Allen restated his innocence and said: "There was nothing in it. The fact that it lingers on always makes me think that maybe people like the idea that it lingers on."
He also revealed that has not seen Dylan or her brother, Ronan Farrow - who has supported her account - in recent years.