Diane Keaton Ignites Backlash After Defending Woody Allen

Diane Keaton defended Woody Allen, causing a firestorm on Twitter Monday.

“Woody Allen is my friend and I continue to believe him,” the 72-year-old Keaton wrote on Twitter. “It might be of interest to take a look at the 60 Minute interview from 1992 and see what you think.”

She included a link to Allen’s 60 Minutes interview from 1992, in which he defended himself against the allegations he molested Dylan Farrow when she was seven years old. Allen has repeatedly denied the allegations and was never charged with a crime. However, several actors have now expressed regret over working with him and vowed to never do so again in light of the #MeToo movement.

The tweet instantly drew critics on Twitter.

The allegations against Allen came back into the spotlight in 2014, when Dylan published an op-ed in the New York Times. In that letter, Dylan called out Keaton.

“What if it had been your child, Cate Blanchett? Louis CK? Alec Baldwin? What if it had been you, Emma Stone? Or you, Scarlett Johansson?” Dylan wrote. “You knew me when I was a little girl, Diane Keaton. Have you forgotten me?”

Keaton, who won an Oscar for Allen’s Annie Hall and also starred in his Manhattan, previously told The Guardian in 2014 that she believed Allen. She said she did not resent being mentioned in the letter as she did not really know Dylan or Mia Farrow’s children.

“I have nothing to say about that,” Keaton told The Guardian when asked about the molestation allegations. “Except: I believe my friend.”

Since the #MeToo movement gained steam last fall, Farrow has been more outspoken about the allegations.

“Why wouldn’t I want to bring him down?” Farrow told CBS This Morning earlier this month. “Why shouldn’t I be angry? Why shouldn’t I be hurt? Why shouldn’t I feel some sort of outrage that after all these years, being ignored and disbelieved and tossed aside?”

Actors have also expressed regret for working with him and say they will never do so again. It was reported last week that his new film, A Rainy Day In New York, might not even be released by Amazon.

Photo credit: Instagram / @Diane Keaton