Adrien Brody has always been a pretty affable character in Hollywood — a talented actor and seemingly decent guy. But maintaining a positive, or even neutral, opinion of the actor is becoming difficult in light of his recent comments about rape and molestation. During an interview with Jenny McCarthy on SiriusXM Entertainment on Monday, the actor offered his thoughts about the controversies currently surrounding Woody Allen and Roman Polanski at Cannes.
McCarthy questioned Brody, who starred in Polanski's 2002 film The Pianist, about the criticism of actors who choose to work with artists who've had such serious accusations levied against them, including Polanski, Allen, and Bill Cosby. Pretty much every word that came out of Brody's mouth thereafter is problematic. He rattled off profundities like, "I think life is very complicated" and, "People make mistakes in life." He defended Polanski, who drugged and raped a 13-year-old girl: "Polanski, for instance, had a very complicated and difficult life." He used the ever-popular "I don't even read about those things" escape. And toward the end of the interview, he tried to dismiss it all as cheap talk, essentially saying he's above all that.
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"I choose not to indulge this kind of fodder," Brody said. Fodder? "Fodder" would be an appropriate way to refer to unimportant, attention-seeking, tabloid-baiting bullshit. Sex crimes are not "fodder." Drugging and raping a 13-year-old is not fodder. Sexually molesting your 7-year-old daughter is not fodder. Facing multiple accusations of such criminal offenses over many years is not fodder — nor are court testimonials or pleas both guilty and innocent. And talking about these alleged assaults is not "indulging" anything. Rather, by brushing off such serious allegations, Brody is minimizing all sex crime victims — their experiences, their truths, and their trauma. That is a bold, troubling statement to make. And calling Brody out on it, by the way, is certainly not fodder.
Listen to the clip in full, below.