Former INXS guitarist Kirk Pengilly has spoken out about sexual harassment claims levelled at high-profile men, saying men were starting to feel they couldn't even pay women a compliment.

"I really loved the '60s and '70s when life was so simple and you could slap a woman on the butt and it was taken as a compliment, not as sexual harassment," he said when asked about the claims against former Australian celebrity gardener Don Burke and Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.

Pengilly, who was attending a Movember charity event in Melbourne on Thursday, said men were starting to feel they can't even pay a woman a compliment because it could be seen as sexual harassment.

The scandal that has engulfed first Hollywood, then spread to TV, media and politics in America has reached Australia.