**Trigger warning: This article contains discussions of sexual abuse**
Director Woody Allen calls cancel culture ‘silly’ after addressing the abuse allegations made against him by adopted daughter Dylan Farrow.
The director debuted his latest film, Coup De Chance, at the Venice Film Festival which received a three-minute standing ovation, Variety reports.
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However, protests broke out on the red carpet, with one protester telling The Hollywood Reporter that they were demonstrating against 'the rape culture of this festival, which celebrates men accused of assault, while we have an epidemic of femicide in our country'.
Back in 2021, Farrow was part of an HBO docuseries, Allen v Farrow, which covered the 32-year-old's claims that she was molested by the director.
Though he didn’t appear in the mini-series, Allen has gone on to publicly deny the accusations in various interviews - also calling the series 'a hatchet job riddled with falsehoods'.
No charges have been made against him.
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In an interview with Variety, the 87-year-old director addressed the allegations, also adding that he finds cancel culture 'silly'.
When asked about whether he feels he's been ‘cancelled’, Allen said: “I feel if you’re going to be cancelled, this is the culture to be cancelled by. I just find that all so silly.
“I don’t think about it. I don’t know what it means to be canceled.”
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The Annie Hall filmmaker also said there was 'no merit' to the accusations made against him.
“My reaction has always been the same,” he continued, saying: “The situation has been investigated by two people, two major bodies, not people, but two major investigative bodies.
“And both, after long detailed investigations, concluded there was no merit to these charges, that, you know, is exactly as I wrote in my book, Apropos of Nothing. There was nothing to it.”
He added that he thinks the reason 'it lingers on' is because people 'like the idea that it lingers on'.
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"But why? Why? I don’t know what you can do besides having it investigated, which they did so meticulously." he said.
"One was less than a year and the other one was many months. And they spoke to everybody concerned and, you know, both came to the exact same conclusion."
When asked if he had seen Dylan or his son Ronan Farrow since, he replied: "No. Always willing to but no, no…"
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Allen was first accused of alleged sexual abuse by Farrow in 1992, who was just seven at the time.
It happened after her mom Mia Farrow separated from the filmmaker, who then went on to marry her adopted daughter Soon-Yi Previn.
Though there was investigations made at the time by both New York State Child Welfare and Connecticut prosecutors – both were ultimately dropped.
UNILAD has reached out to Dylan Farrow and Allen for further comment.
If you have been affected by any of the issues in this article and wish to speak to someone in confidence, contact The Survivor’s Trust for free on 08088 010 818, or through their website thesurvivorstrust.org
Topics: Sexual Abuse, Celebrity, Film and TV
Katherine Sidnell