And everyone's talking about it...
When Casey Affleck picked up the Oscar for Best Actor at the Academy Awards last month, the focus wasn’t on him, it was on last year’s Best Actress winner and presenter of the award, Brie Larson, instead.
Casey’s Oscar win was a controversial one, with the actor being the subject of two sexual harassment lawsuits in 2010, something that Brie made her thoughts on perfectly clear when presenting his award.
Proving that actions speak louder than words, Brie, an advocate for sexual assault survivors, who won her Best Actress Oscar last year for portraying a rape victim in Room, looked noticeably displeased as she announced him as the winner. She then stood sternly, with her hands by her sides, as the rest of the room applauded him, choosing very obviously not to clap.
Her feelings were made even clearer as the pair walked off silently together, bypassing the presenter-winner tradition of sharing a hug backstage, with Brie then going on to embrace her good friend and 2017 Best Actress winner, Emma Stone instead.
While it was speculated that Brie’s reaction was due to Affleck’s controversial past, it was only recently that the actress confirmed it as intentional.
‘I think that whatever it was that I did onstage kind of spoke for itself,’ Brie told Vanity Fair when asked about the subject. ‘I’ve said all that I need to say about that topic.’
The two separate sexual harassment allegations filed against Affleck were made by producer, Amanda White, and cinematographer, Magdalena Gorka, who both complained about his behaviour on the 2010 mockumentary, I’m Still Here. Their allegations included Affleck making inappropriate innuendos, comments, advances, physical threats and in one case allegedly making a crew member flash his penis at a female crew member despite her objections.
Despite settling both lawsuits, Affleck has denied the allegations, telling Variety, ‘People say whatever they want. Sometimes it doesn’t matter how you respond. I guess people think if you’re well-known, it’s perfectly fine to say anything you want. I don’t know why that is. But it shouldn’t be, because everybody has families and lives.’
