Chevy Chase has defended Dustin Hoffman over allegations of sexual misconduct against the Oscar-winning star.
Chase, 74, said his fellow actor was a “good friend” who he had never known to behave inappropriately, following accusations from a number of women that Hoffman had groped or exposed himself to them.
The comedian and actor was addressing the outpouring of sexual harassment and assault allegations which have rocked Hollywood in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal.
Last year actress Anna Graham Hunter alleged Hoffman groped her and made inappropriate comments when she was a 17-year-old intern on the set of the 1985 TV movie Death Of A Salesman, while playwright Cori Thomas accused him of exposing himself to her in a New York hotel room in 1980 when she was 16.
In response to Hunter’s allegations Hoffman issued a statement saying the incident “is not reflective of who I am”.
Asked if he was concerned at being caught up in allegations, Chase told ITV News: “I’m a very happily married guy of 36 years and with three great kids. Do you mean they’re coming after me, is that what you’re saying?”
He said the scandal had “ballooned”, before adding he “cannot compare” Weinstein with former US senator Al Franken who resigned after allegations of harassment emerged.
Addressing Hoffman, he told ITV: “We just had a long talk about that, I knew him back then, it just didn’t really happen.
“We didn’t decide between us, we were just talking about it and he was explaining to me what they (Hoffman’s accusers) were talking about.
“I’ve known him forever so I’ve never known him to be that way … groping or whatever the hell that is.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here