Ronan Farrow slams Woody Allen's Hollywood supporters
Ronan Farrow has spoken out before against his estranged father, Woody Allen, but this time the TV personality is also taking aim at the Hollywood actors and decision-makers who support the prolific director.
Farrow has written a column for The Hollywood Reporter condemning Allen just as the director's film, "Cafe Society," opens the Cannes Film Festival. He also recalled his father's behavior around his sister, Dylan Farrow, claiming that Allen would force Dylan to suck his thumb.
Farrow name-checked several stars who have worked with Allen recently, like Louis C.K. and Miley Cyrus, in addition to the cast of "Cafe Society," which includes Kristen Stewart, Blake Lively, Steve Carell and Jesse Eisenberg, saying they are helping "to create a culture of impunity and silence ... It sends a message to victims that it's not worth the anguish of coming forward." Farrow recalled that one actor once said to him, "It's not personal."
The "Today" correspondent talked about how he initially struggled with his sister Dylan's decision to come forward to allege that Allen had assaulted her when she was a child, saying that he asked her not to speak out because he was afraid of the backlash his family would face.
"But when Dylan explained her agony in the wake of powerful voices sweeping aside her allegations, the press often willing to be taken along for the ride, and the fears she held for young girls potentially being exposed to a predator -- I ultimately knew she was right," he wrote.
Farrow explained that he has always believed his sister's allegations, and said that he himself remembers being disturbed by Allen's behavior around Dylan: "Even at 5 years old, [I] was troubled by our father's strange behavior around her: climbing into her bed in the middle of the night, forcing her to suck his thumb -- behavior that had prompted him to enter into therapy focused on his inappropriate conduct with children prior to the allegations."
The TV host took journalists to task as well, saying that they may be afraid they will be blacklisted by Allen's powerful publicist if they write negative stories about the director.
Farrow also blamed himself for perpetuating the culture of silence. He recalled a 2014 interview he did with Bill Cosby's biographer, who omitted rape allegations from his book about the disgraced comedian. Farrow said that he did not press the biographer about the omission after his producers discouraged him from doing so.
"Reporters covering Cosby have been forced to examine decades of omissions, of questions unasked, stories untold," wrote Farrow. "I am one of those reporters -- I'm ashamed of that interview." He concluded, "It's time to ask some hard questions."