Lars von Trier has been forced to deny the sexual harassment allegations made against him by Icelandic pop icon Bjork.

Last year Far Out reported the news that Bjork’s label One Little Indian had decided to set the record straight in regards to the physical abuse she received from director Lars Von Trier.

Björk praised the brave women who stepped forward to speak out against the sexual assault and harassment caused by Hollywood boss Harvey Weinstein and took inspiration into sharing her own story. In the Facebook post, Bjork explains how a Von Trier sexually harassed her during filming: “When I turned the director down repeatedly he sulked and punished me and created for his team an impressive net of illusion where I was framed as the difficult one,” she said.

Now the controversial Danish film maker has responded to those claims while in an interview which was originally supposed to be about his “vile” new serial killer horror The House That Jack Built. Von Trier said: “You know, 90% of the journalists I spoke to believe that I harassed Bjork, but that’s ridiculous because I denied it, but no one wrote it,” he said defiantly.

“Because a good story is to write that I harassed her. And this is not the case. I touched her, it’s true,” he continued. “I did it with all my actresses. Because she was doing a really intense job: screaming, being sick…so obviously I hugged her. But if she thinks a hug is harassment, then I think I will not be able to succeed without touching my actors.

“I did not touch her in the wrong places, I think,” he added.

[MORE] – Read Bjork’s full statement detailing the alleged abuse.