Dang, and he really seemed like one of the good guys.

Eight women are now accusing Morgan Freeman of “inappropriate touching and harassment”, claiming that the 80-year-old harassed them on set and at his production company.

Their allegations are backed up by others who worked alongside the superstar actor, some of whom referred to him as “the creepy uncle”.

CNN dropped the explosive allegations first, but we’ll start with the Daily Beast’s coverage:

Among his accusers is a production assistant who says Freeman subjected her to unwanted touching on the set of Going In Style and tried lifting up her skirt until his co-star Alan Arkin told him to stop, and a senior production assistant on Now You See Me who says Freeman commented on her and other assistants’ bodies.

CNN interviewed 16 people as part of its investigation, “eight of whom said they were victims of what some called harassment and others called inappropriate behavior [sic] by Freeman.

Eight said they witnessed Freeman’s alleged conduct. These 16 people together described a pattern of inappropriate behavior by Freeman on set, while promoting his movies and at his production company Revelations Entertainment.”

Now Harvey Weinstein’s behaviour was an open secret, as the saying goes, but much of his horrific abuse took place behind closed doors in clandestine hotel room meetings.

Freeman, on the other hand, stands accused of his harassment in plain sight:

From allegedly harassing assistants in front of other women or attempting to touch a woman while his male co-workers were present, Freeman apparently felt powerful enough to behave inappropriately in public. It’s telling that this story didn’t require a Ronan Farrow-esque investigation [his investigation into Harvey Weinstein alluded to here] involving burner phones and black ops teams sent to spy on victims.

When CNN reporters An Phung and Chloe Melas contacted sources, many of them immediately assumed the call was about Freeman. It wasn’t so much an open secret as it was blatant.

None of that reflects too well on the toxic Hollywood culture, but by now we are becoming accustomed to reading about all that.

Here’s a CNN insert with reporters An Phung and Chloe Melas, including some footage of Freeman interviewing Chicago’s WGN-TV, Tyra Martin:

It should be mentioned that Martin says she was in on the joke, although that was not the case with those eight other women.

Over to the peeps who broke the story, and some of CNN’s reporting. Here’s more on that production assistant mentioned earlier:

…the job quickly devolved into several months of harassment, she told CNN. She alleges that Freeman subjected her to unwanted touching and comments about her figure and clothing on a near-daily basis. Freeman would rest his hand on her lower back or rub her lower back, she said.

In one incident, she said, Freeman “kept trying to lift up my skirt and asking if I was wearing underwear.” He never successfully lifted her skirt, she said — he would touch it and try to lift it, she would move away, and then he’d try again. Eventually, she said, “Alan [Arkin] made a comment telling him to stop. Morgan got freaked out and didn’t know what to say.”

None of that is OK.

Here’s the guy who runs the show using that position of power to make someone who works under him uncomfortable, or worse.

More on the goings on at his production company, Revelations Entertainment:

Four people who worked in production capacities on movie sets with Freeman over the last ten years described him as repeatedly behaving in ways that made women feel uncomfortable at work. Two, including the production assistant on “Going in Style” whose skirt he allegedly attempted to lift, said Freeman subjected them to unwanted touching.

Three said he made public comments about women’s clothing or bodies. But each of them said they didn’t report Freeman’s behavior, with most saying it was because they feared for their jobs.

Instead, some of the women — both on movie sets and at Revelations — said, they came up with ways to combat the alleged harassment on their own, such as by changing the way they dressed when they knew he would be around.

Remember that Morgan Freeman comment made whilst sitting next to Michael Caine about the pregnancy thing? Some background:

According to Melas, who was six months pregnant at the time, Freeman, in a room full of people, including his co-stars Arkin and Caine, shook Melas’ hand, not letting go while repeatedly looking her up and down and saying more than once a variation of, “I wish I was there.” She says he also said to her, “You are ripe.”

Cameras were on and recording during one of Freeman’s remarks to Melas — “Boy, do I wish I was there” — but not for the rest.

Freeman has since issued an apology of sorts, as reported on Sky News:

Freeman, 80, told Sky News in a statement: “Anyone who knows me or has worked with me knows I am not someone who would intentionally offend or knowingly make anyone feel uneasy.

“I apologise to anyone who felt uncomfortable or disrespected – that was never my intent.”

Sorry that constantly trying to lift up your skirt made you feel uncomfortable – oopsies.

One more account of his behaviour:

The female former employee at Revelations told CNN that Freeman was flanked by a group of men on the set of “Through the Wormhole” when she met the actor for the first time. He “looked me up and down,” she said, and then asked her, “How do you feel about sexual harassment?”

“I was stunned,” she told CNN. “This is the person that I worked for, this is his company, I didn’t expect it at all … I said timidly, ‘I love it’ in a sarcastic way hoping to make light of the situation because I was so confused and then he turned to the guys on the crew … and said, ‘See guys, this is how you do it.'”

And they all chortled and went on with their days.

Not that this below is illegal, but here’s something of interest that’s also doing the rounds about Morgan being in a sexual relationship with his now-deceased step-granddaughter

In 2012, TMZ reported that Freeman was in a 10-year relationship with then 27-year-old E’Dena Hines [below with Freeman], who is not related to Morgan by blood. (She’s the granddaughter of his first wife Jeanette Adair Bradshaw.)

In response to the stories, Freeman called reports “of any pending marriage or romantic relationship of me to anyone…defamatory fabrications from the tabloid media designed to sell papers. What is even more alarming is that these fabrications are now being picked up by the legitimate press as well.”

But the rumors resurfaced when Hines was stabbed to death in 2015 and her then boyfriend, Lamar Davenport, claimed they were true when he was accused of manslaughter.

That remains unconfirmed.

If you’re not yet sure that Morgan deserves to be called out for his behaviour, you should probably read the lengthy CNN report.

You can do that here, and I reckon once you’ve made it all the way through you’re going to be rather bleak with the old timer.

So, can I still really dig Shawshank Redemption?

[sources:dbeast&cnn&skynews]