‘Fool Around With Older Guys?’ ET Releases Clips of Morgan Freeman

Morgan Freeman has been accused of sexual harassment and inappropriate behaviour at the workplace.

Twitterati have gone into a frenzy after actor Morgan Freeman’s sexual harassment allegations surfaced.

(Photo: AP)

After Morgan Freeman was accused of sexual harassment and inappropriate behaviour by eight women in an explosive ongoing investigation by CNN, ET released archival clips of its own, where the 80-year-old actor can be seen making disgusting remarks towards female entertainment reporters.

During the promotion of his film, London Has Fallen in 2016, Freeman sat down for an interview with ET correspondent Ashley Crossan, and asked her if she was married and if she “fooled around with older guys”. All this, while the cameras were rolling.

In another clip from 2015, Freeman comments on the appearance of author and activist Janet Mock, who served as an ET special correspondent around the release of Freeman’s film, Five Flights Up.

During the interview, Freeman says, “I don’t know how you all manage to do that all the time. You got a dress halfway between your knee and your hips, and you sit down right across from me and you cross your legs,” he continued.

In a statement to ET, Mock talks about the encounter, “This interaction is an exhibition of the casual nature at which men in positions of power believe that everything belongs to them, including women’s bodies as they’re merely just trying to do their job.”

“For me, as a young woman of color, who is a reporter and a fan of popular culture, I was deeply disappointed that someone who was seen as America’s grandfather was susceptible to such disturbing behavior and felt comfortable enough to do that as cameras were rolling, and that he could take claim of my body and look at it before even looking into my eyes.”

Here’s the clip:

Entertainment journalist of CNN, Chloe Melas, who co-authored the investigative piece on Freeman, says she has also been subjected to inappropriate behavior by Freeman when she interviewed him for Going in Style.

Melas, who was six months pregnant at the time, said Freeman shook her hand, not letting go, in a room with his co-stars Arkin and Caine. According to Melas, he “repeatedly looked her up and down, saying more than once a variation of, ‘I wish I was there.’” She says he also said to her, “You are ripe.” And on-camera, too, he said, “Boy, do I wish I was there”.

Freeman, in a statement, apologised soon after CNN published its report. “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 apologise to anyone who felt uncomfortable or disrespected - that was never my intent.”

Scores of women on sets described Morgan’s inappropriate behaviour and his fixation on the way they dressed to CNN.