Liam Neeson: ‘Bit of a Witch Hunt’ in #MeToo Movement

Actor Liam Neeson on Friday expressed support for the “MeToo” movement but said there’s a “bit of a witch hunt” going on along with it. Speaking to Irish broadcaster RTE on the Late Late Show, Neeson said the anti-harassment campaign sparked by the Harvey Weinstein scandal is “healthy,” but he quickly triggered outrage by defending some of the men accused of inappropriate behavior. “There’s some people, famous people, being suddenly accused of touching some girl’s knee or something and suddenly they’re being dropped from their program,” Neeson said. He cited U.S. radio presenter and writer Garrison Keillor as an example, saying he’d been “dropped” by Minnesota Public Radio for touching a woman’s bare back while trying to comfort her. MPR’s parent company said Keillor was fired after “multiple allegations” over a long period of time. Neeson also said he was “on the fence” about sexual misconduct allegations against Dustin Hoffman. “I'm not saying I've done similar things to what he did—apparently he touched some girls’ breasts—but it’s childhood stuff,” he said.