Eight Women Accuse Morgan Freeman of Sexual Harassment (Updated)

Update: Morgan Freeman has responded to the allegations in a statement.

Morgan Freeman issues a statement after women accused him of inappropriate behavior and harassment.

“I apologize to anyone who felt uncomfortable or disrespected — that was never my intent.” pic.twitter.com/otdkfI1phL

— Mary Ann Georgantopoulos (@marygeorgant) May 24, 2018

Original Story: Eight people are accusing Morgan Freeman of sexual harassment, from toxic and sexual remarks to unwanted touching. This is all according to a brand-new CNN investigative piece by An Phung and Chloe Melas, the latter having herself been a victim of Freeman’s unwanted remarks. She interviewed him and he stated, in looking her up and down and seeing that she was pregnant, “I wish I was there.” This encounter spurred her to begin investigating and crafting the aforementioned piece.

Eight women have come forward with equally harrowing accounts of Freeman, 80, abusing his power and invading their personal space via inappropriate dialogue and wholly unwanted physical advances. According to those eight women and eight witnesses to Freeman’s alleged misconduct, his production company, Revelations Entertainment, has been a toxic environment for the women who work there in that they would dress differently when Freeman was in the office, and many described him as behaving like a “creepy uncle” whenever he was around. Also, at a company-thrown birthday party for Freeman’s 79th birthday, he gathered all the new men and women into a circle and then went on to “stand maybe within an inch of their face and just look them up and down and not say anything, and then would move on to the next woman and he’d stand like within an inch of their face and look them up and down and not say anything, and it was really, really strange,” said a company executive who was present at this party.

Accusers add that Freeman harassed women in his production company, on movie sets and on press tours, even doing it in public situations where witnesses—sometimes even cameras—were within view and earshot of the encounter.

Freeman has yet to comment on these allegations. Find CNN’s full report here.