A lot of Hollywood A-Listers are being accused of sexual misconduct and assault right now and while it's often said that there's no smoke without fire, it's clear that not all of these claims are on the up and up. Recently, Ant-Man and The Wasp star Michael Douglas was contacted by The Hollywood Reporter and Variety in regards to stories they plan on running about accusations aimed at the 73-year-old.
It's said that Douglas pleasured himself in front of a former employee over thirty years ago but when you hear his side of the story, it definitely sounds like there may be more to this than meets the eye.
"I got a message from my attorney that The Hollywood Reporter wanted to do a story about an employee that worked for me approximately 32 years ago. She claims that, One, I used colorful language in front of her, not at her, but that I used colorful language. Two, she claims that in conversations I had in front of her, on the phone, that I spoke raunchily, or dirtily with friends of mine, in private conversations. I fired her eventually, for the work she was doing, but Three, she claims that I blackballed her from the industry and stopped her from getting another job. And then, Four, she claims that I masturbated in front of her."
The actor goes on to say that the accusation is "a complete lie, fabrication, no truth to it whatsoever" and points to this former employee taking advantage of the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements because she's disgruntled over the fact that he fired her all those years ago (which does make sense).
"I pride myself of being so supportive of the women’s movement. My mother was an actress, and I myself married to an actress [Catherine Zeta Jones] and have been supportive of this movement wholeheartedly, through all my years. I was forced to look over my past. I’ve had up to 20 female executives who worked at my company in different areas over the years. Over 20 producers I partnered with on pictures have been women. Not to mention all the actresses I’ve worked with and the hundreds of performers. How am I, in a 50 year career in this industry, dealing with an employee 33 years ago who perhaps is disgruntled that I let her go, even though I have never heard from her in 32 years. And a legitimate trade publication is going to try and print this story? There is no corroboration, just that they found out somebody else might run the story."
There doesn't appear to be an awful lot to these claims so it's hard to imagine this will have any sort of impact on Ant-Man and The Wasp. It may ultimately depend on whether or not anyone else now comes forward to make similar claims but Douglas has a solid reputation so here's hoping we're not looking at another Kevin Spacey type situation here. As always, stay tuned to CBM for further updates.
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