Claire Foy has denied via her representative that Adam Sandler made her feel uncomfortable by patting her knee during an appearance on a U.K. chat show.
Adam, 51, and Claire, 33, were both guests on The Graham Norton Show on Friday (27Oct17), and were sat next to each other on a sofa during a chat with the host.
While telling an anecdote the Happy Gilmore star patted Claire on the knee, and she responded by placing her hand on his to encourage him to put it back on his own knee – a gesture viewers saw as expressing disapproval. He then placed his hand her knee again, prompting a similar response from The Crown actress.
However, a representative for Claire denied she was made to feel uncomfortable, telling the Daily Mail newspaper, “We don’t believe anything was intended by Adam’s gesture and it has caused no offense to Claire.”
A spokesperson for the actor added that he had made a “friendly” gesture that was “blown out of proportion”.
Viewers appeared to disagree however, as many took to Twitter to vent their frustration, stating that his behaviour was inappropriate.
A user posting under the name Michelle Marsh wrote, “Adam Sandler has no social awareness of how awkward he seemed to be making Emma Thompson and Claire Foy #stoptouching #GrahamNorton.”
The spotlight has been on male Hollywood stars and executives’ behavior towards women since sexual harassment and assault allegations against producer Harvey Weinstein became public earlier this month (Oct17).
Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ashley Judd and Daryl Hannah are among those who have accused The Weinstein Company co-founder of harassment. Charmed star Rose McGowan is one of several women to accuse the disgraced movie mogul of rape.
British actress Emma Thompson, who vocally condemned Weinstein in a TV interview after the allegations emerged, was sitting next to Adam during The Graham Norton Show interview.
