Ever since the Harvey Weinstein scandal broke towards the end of last year, Hollywood has been doing its best to reshape its image. The Time's Up movement has seen hundreds of celebrities voice their support for gender equality both in and out of the film industry, and the #MeToo campaign saw hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of people worldwide sharing their experiences with sexual assault or harassment.
However, in light of this, several prominent Hollywood figures have found themselves under fire for their own inappropriate or aggressive behaviour.
Kevin Spacey was infamously outed as an alleged sexual predator, and the likes of Ed Westwick and James Franco were forced to face up to similar allegations. Most recently, Morgan Freeman has also come under fire for supposedly behaving in a lewd way on several occasions - and yet he still has many people in his corner defending him.
While it may seem sudden, though, Hollywood has had suspicions of abuse within its ranks for a long time. Just take a look at Woody Allen: people have been accusing him of assault for more than 25 years.
Despite the criminal allegations levelled against him, though, Allen seems to believe that he is a "poster boy" of good behaviour in the film industry.
In an interview with Argentinian news program Periodismo Para Todos, which came out on Monday, he is reported to have said:
"I’m a big advocate of the #MeToo movement. I feel when they find people who harass innocent women and men, it’s a good thing that they’re exposing them.
"But you know, I should be the poster boy for the #MeToo movement. Because I have worked in movies for 50 years. I’ve worked with hundreds of actresses and not a single one — big ones, famous ones, ones starting out — have ever ever suggested any kind of impropriety at all. I’ve always had a wonderful record with them."
He then went on to allude to the negative criticisms he has faced over his career.
"I think in any situation where anyone is accused of something unjustly, this is a sad thing," he said. "I think everybody would agree with that… Everyone wants justice to be done. If there is something like the #MeToo movement now, you root for them, you want them to bring to justice these terrible harassers, these people who do all these terrible things. And I think that’s a good thing."
He continued:
"What bothers me is that I get linked in with them. People who have been accused by 20 women, 50 women, 100 women of abuse and abuse and abuse– and I, who was only accused by one woman in a child custody case which was looked at and proven to be untrue, I get lumped in with these people."
This prompted the interviewer to ask him if there was any truth to the case against him, in which he was famously accused by his adopted daughter, Dylan Farrow, of sexual abuse. She was just seven years old at the time.
"Of course not, I mean this is just so crazy," Allen said. "This is something that has been thoroughly looked at 25 years ago by all the authorities and everybody came to the conclusion that it was untrue. And that was the end and I’ve gone on with my life. For it to come back now, it’s a terrible thing to accuse a person of. I’m a man with a family and my own children. So, of course, it’s upsetting."
Last month, Allen's son, Moses Farrow, defended his father in a blog post. He described his sister's story as "a discredited allegation", and accused his mother - Mia Farrow - of "brainwashing" her child.
Moses has made similar statements before and, when he published the same sentiments in a book in 2017, Mia said: "Moses has cut off his entire family including his ex-wife, who was pregnant when he left. It’s heartbreaking and bewildering that he would make this up, perhaps to please Woody. We all miss and love him very much."
Dylan Farrow continues to maintain that her account is true.
