When discussing about the MeToo movement on Dax Shepard's podcast 'Armchair Expert', the 'Manchester by the Sea' star explains why he previously decided to just stay quiet.

• Aug 6, 2019

AceShowbiz - Casey Affleck has opened up on the sexual harassment allegations made against him.

The "Manchester by the Sea" star was sued by two women who worked on his 2010 mockumentary "I'm Still Here", accusing him of "sexual misconduct" and "intentional infliction of emotional distress". Affleck has been quiet about the allegations, but touched on them as he spoke about the #MeToo movement on Dax Shepard's podcast "Armchair Expert" on Monday, August 5.

"I really wanted to support all but I felt like the best thing to do was to just be quiet, so that I didn't seem to be in opposition to something that I really wanted to champion," the 43-year-old shared. "It's a tough spot to be in, especially if you really do appreciate and want to be a support of the side that seems angriest, and the anger is being directed at you."

Both cases against Affleck were settled out of court for an undisclosed sum of money, and he admitted it's still "very hard to talk about because the #MeToo movement are values that are at the heart of my being; just the way I was raised."

"I sort of decided 'well I'll just stay quiet'," he continued. "Mostly I've talked about it a little bit to honour, that like 'okay this is someone else's experience of this and it is not my experience, but I... you have to respect that someone else has an experience and take that to heart and allow for it to be as possible as your memory of that experience, you know?".

However, the "Good Will Hunting" star insisted the allegations against him won't stop him pushing for change, adding that shared common practices in the film industry "need to be turned on their head" to prevent future misconduct.

"(It) isn't about, oh well this isn't so bad, and that's really horrible. It's that it's systemic. It is accepted culturally at its tamest manifestation of it and at its worst, and that it all needs to be turned on its head, eradicated, not allowed for, and that kind of like lightning bolt I think is effective," the actor and director continued. "I think it's a lesson that I had to sort of learn and be humble about; I was the producer. I was technically the boss."