Freeman is a legendary actor that had a peak streak of well-celebrated films between 1989 and 2008; “Glory,” “Unforgiven,” “The Shawshank Redemption,” “Seven,” “Million Dollar Baby,” and “The Dark Knight.”
Controversy erupted last year when the 81-year-old actor was MeToo’ed. However, it seems like the story against Freeman didn't stick, with even the Screen Actors Guild having considered revoking Freeman’s lifetime achievement award last year, but after careful investigation, deciding not to.
Things are starting to look up for the actor as he has now been cast in the much-anticipated sequel for “The Hitman’s Bodyguard.'“ Good for him. I hate to see such a timeless actor being dragged down in the mud like this.
The reporter in the accusatory CNN article , Chloe Melas, was also one of its accusers, which is an ethical violation in journalism. She should have been involved in the reporting but as the source rather than the writer. CNN got away with that one, but they seem to be breaking the ethical rules of the field every day these days. One of the accusers, Tyra Martin, has also come out and said she was misrepresented in the story and was not a “victim” of Freeman’s. [Freeman's lawyer sent a letter to CNN]
Melas’ story is flawed, it has to do with, in her own words, Freeman “victimizing” her with a joke that didn’t even seem to be directed towards her.
Suffice to say, this was a very shady affair to begin with.
The whole thing began with a video which had Michael Caine joking around that he never ask a woman if she's pregnant or not because he’s made that mistake in the past and that the woman was not pregnant — Freeman then made the snarky remark that he wished he was there to witness the moment. Melas automatically thought that Freeman's comments were directed towards her.
I don’t want to claim that the #MeToo movement is a "witch hunt" because, well, it isn’t, but this and the Aziz Ansari stories are the token definition of “witch-hunting,” having nothing to do with the movement but just a way for its accusers to get back at the male involved for having done them wrong in ethical ways, rather than unethical.
The short version: "Woman Unknown" was a compromise. The jury deadlocked over "Possible Love" and "NAZA," not able to com to terms, fell back on their #3, May el-Toukhy's film.