Alec Baldwin compared Dylan Farrow to Mayella Ewell from ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’
January 30, 2018
Over the past few weeks, more celebrities have come out to dissociate themselves with Woody Allen. Dylan Farrow gave them the path and the space to do so – now if you are an actor who has worked with Woody in the past, you get to publicly apologize for hurting Dylan and express regret, and she will publicly thank you, seemingly absolving you. It’s not a perfect system, honestly, and I have my issues with how and why celebrities are doing it this way, but still, it’s better than nothing. I’ve been saying for a while now that Woody Allen no longer has a constituency in Hollywood, and actors need to figure that out and act accordingly. Especially in the wake of #MeToo and Sex Predatorgate 2017, few people will really have the cojones to argue that Woody Allen is the real victim here. One of those people with big brass ones? Alec Baldwin, who compared Dylan Farrow to To Kill a Mockingbird’s Mayella Ewell in a series of now-deleted tweets over the weekend. Oh, Alec.
Alec Baldwin on Sunday continued to defend embattled director Woody Allen, who has been dogged by sexual abuse claims against him by adopted daughter, Dylan Farrow. Previously, Baldwin called her allegations “unfair and sad.” On Sunday, he took it a step further and compared Dylan Farrow to Mayella Ewell, the character in the classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird, who falsely accuses an African-American man of rape.
“[One] of the most effective things Dylan Farrow has in her arsenal is the ‘persistence of emotion,’” Baldwin tweeted. “Like Mayella in ["To Kill a Mockingbird"], her tears/exhortations [are] meant [to] shame u [into] belief in her story. But I need more than that before I destroy [someone], regardless of their fame. I need a lot more.”
Baldwin followed that tweeted shortly after with: “To say that @RealDylanFarrow is telling the truth is to say that (brother) @MosesFarrow is lying. Which of Mia’s kids got the honesty gene and which did not?” He also shared a Sunday New York Times piece that discussed whether Allen would work in the business again. Baldwin concluded with, “If my defense of Woody Allen offends you, it’s real simple. Unfollow. Condemn. Move on.”
Dylan Farrow on Sunday responded to Baldwin’s comments with a statement to The Hollywood Reporter.
“It’s interesting that Mr. Baldwin chooses to dismiss the judgments of Justice Wilk and Prosecutor Frank Maco, who reviewed ALL of the evidence instead of just selected bits and pieces,” she said in her statement. “However, considering that Mr. Baldwin confidently invoked Mayella Ewell to make his point while forgetting that it’s been hotly debated that she was, in fact, raped by her father, demonstrates that perhaps Baldwin is just not a stickler for details.”
Alec Baldwin needs to have his f–king head examined. This is what I don’t understand: say you don’t believe Dylan Farrow. It happens, and I’m sure there are some people who truly don’t believe her. But why would you go on a social media campaign, defending an alleged child molester and publicly bashing the alleged victim? There’s a difference between quietly questioning Dylan’s story and motives and feeling like you need to share your thoughts with the world. And it’s another thing entirely to use To Kill a Mockingbird’s central court case as some kind of parable about lying, scheming fake victims and, like, casting Woody Allen as the persecuted Tom Robinson.
Meanwhile, Diane Keaton also wanted to come out AGAIN in support of Woody. She tweeted this video of Woody’s 1992 60 Minutes interview, where he said: “If I wanted to be a child molester, I’ve had many opportunities in the past. I could’ve quietly made a custody settlement with Mia in some way and done it in the future. It’s so insane!”
Photos courtesy of WENN.
