Woody Allen has hit back at Hollywood stars who denounce him, saying it is “like everybody suddenly eating kale”.
Some big names, including Mira Sorvino, Greta Gerwig, Colin Firth and Rebecca Hall, have distanced themselves from the director they previously worked with.
They did so after the #MeToo movement brought a renewed focus on allegations that the Oscar-winning film-maker sexually assaulted his adoptive daughter, Dylan Farrow, which he vehemently denies.
Allen told the Guardian: “It’s silly. The actors have no idea of the facts and they latch on to some self-serving, public, safe position.
“Who in the world is not against child molestation?
“That’s how actors and actresses are, and (denouncing me) became the fashionable thing to do, like everybody suddenly eating kale.”
He added: “You can give them the facts over and over. But the facts don’t matter. For some reason, emotionally, it’s important for them to buy into the story.”
In 2018, Dylan Farrow said she felt she had been ignored over the sexual assault allegation against her adoptive father.
She told CBS show This Morning: “All I can do is speak my truth and hope … that someone will believe me instead of just hearing.”
Allen, who is promoting his new film, A Rainy Day In New York, recently told the Mail On Sunday that he did not care about being shut out of the Hollywood establishment.
“You don’t make a movie to win an award. Mozart never composed a symphony thinking about a trophy,” he said.