Terry Gilliam, the Monty Python star and Hollywood director, is facing a backlash after he defended Matt Damon against the "mob rule" of the #MeToo movement, claiming that while some women suffered, others used Harvey Weinstein to further their careers.

The 77-year-old American-born animator said Weinstein "is a monster" and that there were "plenty of monsters out there... There are other people (still) behaving like Harvey" in the film industry, abusing their power for sex.

Weinstein was exposed because he "is an a**hole and he made so many enemies," he told AFP.

But Gilliam stirred controversy by saying the reaction against the wave of sexual abuse and harassment revelations had become ugly and "simplistic... people are frightened to say things, to think things.

"It is a world of victims. I think some people did very well out of meeting with Harvey and others didn't. The ones who did knew what they were doing. These are adults, we are talking about adults with a lot of ambition.

"Harvey opened the door for a few people, a night with Harvey - that's the price you pay," said the maker of Brazil and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

"Some people paid the price, other people suffered from it."