Ryan Seacrest May Get Cold Shoulders on Oscars Red Carpet

Many of Hollywood’s biggest stars are wondering how to interact with Ryan Seacrest on Sunday evening, as he returns to host his 12th red carpet show at the Oscars amid accusations of sexual misconduct.

Seacrest is accused of sexual harassment and misconduct in the workplace by one of his former stylists. He has vehemently denied the accusations while espousing support for the Me Too movement and the Time’s Up campaign. Still, one of the key tenets of these movements is to listen to women and believe them, which leaves many Hollywood icons wondering how to proceed with Seacrest.

Some actresses spoke to reporters at a VIP Pre-Oscar fundraiser for Global Green on Friday. When asked how she and her colleagues would greet Seacrest on the red carpet, Lea Thompson said simply, “I imagine a lot of people will skip him.”

Thompson, best known for portraying Lorraine McFly in the Back to the Future trilogy, went on to say that actresses don’t want to have to do the awkward dance of meeting Seacrest for the first time on camera.

“That’s the problem with that, just because of that. They’ll just be like, ‘I don’t really want to deal with this today,’” she said, according to a report by DailyMail.

Reporters pointed out that Seacrest hasn’t been “criminally charged,” but Thompson said that it would still be easier to avoid him for now.

“It’s a sticky deal and it’s very difficult, it’s all very difficult for everybody; for men, for women. Any kind of change in the sexual politics is always difficult,” she said.

Thompson added that, as far as she’s concerned, all of the outrage that has “bubbled” up over sexual misconduct can be traced back to President Donald Trump.

“Our Commander in Chief has gotten away with everything, so it’s frustrating,” she said.

Constance Marie, the actress who played Angie Lopez on George Lopez, spoke out as well. She said it’s up to each actress individually to decide how to handle an accused man.

“…the circumstances of each allegation, the circumstances of every person that is accused, every thing they are accused of doing, it’s all different and I think that we have to weigh them all individually,” she said.

“I mean it is a big movement and it’s wonderful that it’s happening, it’s leveling the playing field and it’s changing the industry but each person has to be dealt with singularly – in each individual case,” Marie added.

When asked if the red carpet on Sunday is the time and place activists to take a stand against Seacrest, she answered, “I don’t know if that’s the place to do it. I think there are other places to voice your opinion.”

“I would be hard pressed to see anybody do that on Sunday,” Marie continued. “I would be really shocked. I think people have a little more decorum and probably wait until the right time but I don’t think the red carpet would be the right time to do it.”

Marie added that “everyone is innocent until proven guilty.”