Woody Allen clarifies Harvey Weinstein statement

Woody Allen is clarifying remarks he made about the Harvey Weinstein sex scandal, insisting he was misunderstood.
The Vicky Cristina Barcelona filmmaker recently hit headlines after appearing to express sympathy for Weinstein by telling the BBC he was “sad” about the sexual harassment and abuse allegations made against his frequent collaborator.
“The whole Harvey Weinstein thing is very sad for everybody involved,” he said. “Tragic for the poor women that were involved, sad for Harvey that his life is so messed up. There’s no winners in that, it’s just very, very sad and tragic for those poor women that had to go through that…”
Allen was heavily criticised on social media after his remarks were made public.
“You vile little worm,” actress Rose McGowan, one of Weinstein’s alleged victims, wrote on Twitter.
However, Allen has since addressed the controversy surrounding his comments, insisting he was not trying to defend Weinstein’s alleged behaviour, which is said to have carried on for decades.
“When I said I felt sad for Harvey Weinstein I thought it was clear the meaning was because he is a sad, sick man,” he writes in a statement issued to Variety.com. “I was surprised it was treated differently. Lest there be any ambiguity, this statement clarifies my intention and feelings.”
The disgraced movie mogul was fired from The Weinstein Company after allegations of sexual harassment were detailed in a New York Times article. In a subsequent New Yorker piece, 13 women alleged Weinstein sexually harassed and abused them.
The New Yorker article was written by journalist Ronan Farrow, Allen’s estranged son with actress Mia Farrow.
Allen’s initial remarks about the Weinstein drama attracted additional tabloid attention due to his own troubled personal life.
In 1992, Mia alleged her adopted daughter Dylan O’ Sullivan Farrow, then aged seven, had told her she had been sexually abused by Allen. He denied the allegations and sued Mia for full custody of the former couple’s three children. The scandal made headlines again in 2014, when Dylan published an open letter in The New York Times detailing the alleged abuse that had occurred when she was a child.