Casey Affleck can't really talk about those allegations leveled against him years ago by a couple of women on the crew of his 2010 mockumentary, "I'm Still Here." The settlement between the actor and the women prohibits that, he says.
However, speaking to the Boston Globe on Tuesday, the "Manchester by the Sea" star did acknowledge the controversy that has dogged his awards-season run of wins for best actor, which culminated in an Academy Award on Sunday.
"There's really nothing I can do about it, other than live my life the way I know I live it and to speak to what my own values are and how I try to live by them all the time," Affleck told the Globe, which noted that he said it "wearily."
Among those values: people in the workplace and elsewhere deserve to be treated with respect, and nobody should be mistreated in general. That's "unacceptable and abhorrent" when it happens, he said.
Two prominent female crew members on the Joaquin Phoenix vehicle "I'm Still Here," which Affleck directed, sued him in July 2010. Both alleged, among other things, breach of contract and intentional infliction of emotional distress, and one listed sexual harassment in her complaint.
A spokesman for the Oscar winner and lawyer for the women told The Times later that year that a settlement had been reached.
