Morgan Freeman accused of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior

Eight people are accusing Morgan Freeman of sexual harassment, unwanted touching and other inappropriate behavior, according to a new CNN investigation.

Published Thursday, the report details the 80-year-old actor's alleged pattern of unwanted advances on women while he was on movie sets, at media junkets or working with his production company, Revelations Entertainment.

Freeman denied the accusations in a statement to USA TODAY. “Anyone who knows me or has worked with me knows I am not someone who would intentionally offend or knowingly make anyone feel uneasy," it reads. "I apologize to anyone who felt uncomfortable or disrespected — that was never my intent.”

For the story, CNN spoke to 16 people who say they were either subjected to Freeman's behavior or witnessed his alleged misconduct. One woman who worked on the set of Freeman's movie Going in Style (released in 2017) says the actor subjected her to sexually charged comments and unwanted touches on a near-daily basis, like "trying to lift up my skirt and asking if I was wearing underwear."

In that incident, after Freeman kept trying to lift her skirt, Freeman's co-star Alan Arkin "made a comment telling him to stop," she said. "Morgan got freaked out and didn't know what to say."

Another woman, who worked with Freeman on 2013's Now You See Me, says Freeman "did comment on our bodies. ... We knew that if he was coming by (to) not to wear any top that would show our breasts, not to wear anything that would show our bottoms, meaning not wearing clothes that (were) fitted."

Despite his seemingly glowing reputation in Hollywood, Freeman apparently had a reputation for inappropriate behavior. According to the story, when the reporters contacted people who worked with Freeman to see if they had any negative experiences with actors they'd worked with in general, their sources would "immediately tell them they knew exactly who the reporter had in mind: Morgan Freeman."

The accusers also include three entertainment reporters who say Freeman harassed them during interviews or press events, one of whom was Chloe Melas, co-author of CNN's story. Melas says she interviewed Freeman for Going in Style while pregnant, and the actor ogled her body while saying things like "You are ripe" and "Boy, do I wish I was there," referring to her pregnancy.

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The Screen Actors Guild, which bestowed Freeman with its prestigious Life Achievement Award in January, said Thursday that it was considering revoking the honor.

“These are compelling and devastating allegations which are absolutely contrary to all the steps that we are taking to insure a safe work environment for the professionals in this industry," a statement from SAG-AFTRA reads. "Any accused person has the right to due process, but it is our starting point to believe the courageous voices who come forward to report incidents of harassment."

The union guild is "reviewing what corrective actions may be warranted at this time.”

Credit card company Visa pulled commercials featuring longtime spokesman Freeman.

The company said in a statement: “We are aware of the allegations that have been made against Mr. Freeman. At this point, Visa will be suspending our marketing in which the actor is featured.”

Freeman won a supporting-actor Oscar for 2004's Million Dollar Baby, in which he played a retired boxer. He has been nominated four other times: 2009's Invictus, 1994's The Shawshank Redemption, 1989's Driving Miss Daisy and 1987's Street Smart. He provided his distinctive narration to Shawshank and the Oscar-winning 2005 documentary March of the Penguins, and played God himself in 2003's Bruce Almighty.

Freeman was divorced from his second wife in 2010 after 26 years of marriage.

Freeman joins a list of more than 150 list of Hollywood figures, journalists other high-profile men who have been accused of varying degrees of sexual misconduct in the months since Harvey Weinstein's downfall galvanized survivors to come forward with their "Me Too" stories of famous men's misdeeds.

That list includes fellow Oscar winners: actors Kevin Spacey, Ben Affleck, Dustin Hoffman, Michael Douglas and Richard Dreyfuss, as well as writer Paul Haggis and Disney/Pixar chief John Lasseter.

The Time's Up movement, organized to fight sexual harassment and assault, continues to advocate for survivors, with the group's Women of Color coalition recently announcing support for the Mute R. Kelly movement, urging the singer's record label and corporate sponsors to cut ties with him over accusations of sexual misconduct.