Morgan Freeman apologized to “anyone who felt uncomfortable” but did not deny eight allegations of sexual misconduct made against him on Thursday.
“Anyone who knows me or has worked with me knows I am not someone who would intentionally offend or knowingly make anyone feel uneasy. I apologize to anyone who felt uncomfortable or disrespected — that was never my intent,” a representative for Freeman told The Hollywood Reporter.
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Freeman’s statement comes after eight women accused the actor of misconduct in a CNN report, describing multiple troubling incidents throughout his career.
Multiple women who worked with the star on some of his films claim that he committed various sexually inappropriate acts against them, such as trying to lift one production assistants skirt repeatedly.
The skirt-lifting incidents took place on the set of the recent film Going In Style, and it reportedly became so bad that Freeman’s co-star “Alan [Arkin] made a comment telling him to stop.” The woman then added, “Morgan got freaked out and didn’t know what to say.”
Another woman, who worked on the crew of 2012’s Now You See Me, told CNN that 80-year-old Freeman harassed not only her, but a number of other women on set as well.
“He did comment on our bodies,” she said. “We knew that if he was coming by … not to wear any top that would show our breasts, not to wear anything that would show our bottoms, meaning not wearing clothes that [were] fitted.”
In all, CNN spoke with a total of 16 people concerning Freeman’s behavior, eight of whom detailed personal incidents of what they defined as sexual harassment or inappropriate behavior. All 16 people interviews provided information that helped outline what appears to be a pattern of harassment behavior, the news outlet reports.
CNN’s entertainment reporter Chloe Melas, who co-authored the report, was the only victim who spoke on the record.
CNN’s investigation into Freeman came after Melas claimed to have experienced harassment from him during a press junket interview for Going In Style. At the time of the interview, she was six months pregnant, and alleged that Freeman shook her hand and repeated a variation of, “I wish I was there.” She also claimed that he said to her, “You are ripe.” He reportedly made those comments in a room full of people that included his co-stars Arkin and Michael Caine.
Cameras were rolling and recorded Freeman telling her, “Boy, do I wish I was there.” His other alleged comments were not caught on film. Melas reported the incident to CNN HR, who then reached out to the HR department at Warner Bros., the film’s distributor. Both CNN and Warner Bros. are owned by Time Warner.
Melas said that Warner Bros. informed she it was unable to corroborate her account because “only one of Freeman’s remarks was on video and the Warner Bros. employees present did not notice anything.”
Freeman’s business partner, Lori McCreary, is alleged to have witnessed at least one incident, in which Freeman made some disparaging comments about a female who was seeking a job with the Producers Guild of America, of which McCreary is co-president.
