Hollywood movie director Woody Allen has denied renewed allegations of child abuse following the Sunday night premiere of HBO docuseries Allen v. Farrow.
The series takes a close look at Allen’s relationship with his ex-partner, Mia Farrow, and the decades of child-abuse accusations levelled against the director.
Co-directed by Amy Ziering and Kirby Dick, Allen v. Farrow, among other things, explores the accusations made by the couple’s daughter, Dylan Farrow. Dylan first accused Allen of sexual assault in 1992, claiming her adoptive father molested her at the age of seven in their home. Allen, now 85, has repeatedly denied the allegations over multiple decades.
At the time, the accusations were investigated, but Allen was never prosecuted and the New York Department of Social Services found “no credible evidence” that anything untoward ever took place.
Get daily National news
The first episode of the four-episode docuseries seems to imply that Allen had groomed Dylan since she was a child.
In a joint statement to The Hollywood Reporter, Allen and his wife, Soon-yi Previn, again denied any sexual abuse. The pair said they were approached to contribute to the docuseries less than two months ago, but declined.
“These documentarians had no interest in the truth,” reads the statement. “Instead, they spent years surreptitiously collaborating with the Farrows and their enablers to put together a hatchet job riddled with falsehoods.”
“As has been known for decades, these allegations are categorically false,” it continues. “Multiple agencies investigated them at the time and found that, whatever Dylan Farrow may have been led to believe, absolutely no abuse had ever taken place. It is sadly unsurprising that the network to air this is HBO — which has a standing production deal and business relationship with Ronan Farrow. While this shoddy hit piece may gain attention, it does not change the facts.”
In a 2018 TV interview with Gayle King, Dylan denied that she had been “brainwashed” into making the allegations against her father.
Farrow and her son Ronan will make appearances in later episodes. Moses Farrow, a brother to Dylan who previously defended Allen against any sexual allegations, declined to take part.
As of this writing, Farrow has not responded to Allen’s remarks.