Academy Award-winning actor Morgan Freeman said in a statement Friday night that he was "devastated that 80 years" of his life was "at risk of being undermined, in the blink of an eye" by reports that eight people had come forward accusing the actor of harassing them, or of making inappropriate comments while on movie sets or during promotional activities.
In his second statement issued since the report, Freeman denied the sexual misconduct allegations against him.
"I did not create unsafe work environments," said Freeman. "I did not assault women. I did not offer employment or advancement in exchange for sex. Any suggestion that I did so is completely false."
CNN reporter Chloe Melas says she was interviewing Freeman while he was promoting "Going in Style" in 2017 when he began making suggestive comments about how he wished he was there when she got pregnant.
Another accuser, a production assistant who worked on "Going in Style" in 2015 told CNN that she was subjected to unwanted touching and near-daily comments about her body from Freeman. She also alleged that the actor "kept trying to life up my skirt and asking if I was wearing underwear." Freeman only stopped harassing her when his co-star Alan Arkin told him to knock it off.
"I admit that I am someone who feels a need to try to make women - and men - feel appreciated and at ease around me,'' Freeman said in Friday's statement. "As a part of that, I would often try to joke with and compliment women, in what I thought was a light-hearted and humorous way.
"Clearly I was not always coming across the way I intended. And that is why I apologized Thursday and will continue to apologize to anyone I might have upset, however unintentionally."
Freeman said he was "devastated that 80 years of my life is at risk of being undermined, in the blink of an eye, by Thursday's media reports."
"All victims of assault and harassment deserve to be heard and we need to listen to them," Freeman said. "But it is not right to equate horrific incidents of sexual assault with misplaced compliments or humor."
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