The #MeToo era is not completely over.
Joe Biden may have severely damaged it, but celebrities can still be “canceled” at any moment.
And a Hollywood legend’s career could be over after one shocking accusation.
Comedy legend Bill Murray has long had a reputation for being prickly, but now he’s being accused of blatant sexual harassment.
Esteemed Hollywood actress Geena Davis recently released a memoir titled “Dying of Politeness,” and in the book she disclosed an uncomfortable encounter with Murray.
Prior to appearing in the 1990 comedy Quick Change, which Murray co-directed with Howard Franklin, Davis explained, “I went to the meeting for the role in a hotel suite and there were two other people there… and Bill Murray said, ‘Hey, have you ever heard of the thumper?’ Which it turned out to be this giant massager device and I said, ‘No, no,’ and he said, ‘Well, just lay down on this bed here and let me try this on you. You’ll love it. It’s incredible.’ I was like, ‘No, no, no,’ trying to laugh it off…and I finally realized he was never going to relent. He would not give up…and I didn’t walk out nor was I the kind of person who could say stop asking me. So I found myself in shame, parked on the edge of the bed, so he could put in on my back.”
Davis and Murray also appeared together on a cringeworthy episode of The Arsenio Hall Show where they essentially both corroborated the story; Murray was pawing Davis the entire time.
this is so disgusting on so many levels i still can't believe this actually happened on national television. also, the host and the audience??? geena davis handled it with absolute class and grace though. fuck you very much bill murray pic.twitter.com/YUvX7R7oZE
— Sarah Cavanaugh • atty-in-progress (@seiruhcavanaugh) October 15, 2022
The accusation from Davis dovetailed with allegations from a crew member on the film Being Mortal, which has been in limbo since production shut down to investigate the claims against Murray.
During an interview with CNN, Murray gave his side of the story, explaining, “We had a difference of opinion; I had a difference of opinion with a woman I’m working with. I did something I thought was funny, and it wasn’t taken that way…The company, the movie studio wanted to do the right thing. So they wanted to check it all out and investigate it and so they stopped the production. But as of now we’re talking and we’re trying to make peace with each other…You know what I always thought was funny as a little kid isn’t necessarily the same as what’s funny now. Things change and the times change, so it’s important for me to figure it out…What would make me the happiest would be to put my boots on and for both of us to go back into work and be able to trust each other and work at the work that we both spent a lot of time developing the skill of.”
Being Mortal writer-director Aziz Ansari is trying to get his directorial debut across the finish line, but the accusations against Murray could complicate things.
Ansari has #MeToo drama of his own after he was excoriated in the left-wing press by a woman because of a bad date she had with him.