John Oliver Confronts Dustin Hoffman Over Sexual Harassment: ‘You Were a Creeper Around Women’

“Well, there’s a point in her not bringing this up for 40 years,” actor tells HBO host in heated live exchange

During a frequently tense live Q&A session on Monday night, John Oliver grilled Dustin Hoffman over recent accusations by women of sexual harassment.

“Do you believe this stuff you read?” Hoffman asked the HBO host, who mentioned accusations by a former 17-year-old intern on the set of Hoffman’s 1985 TV movie “Death of a Salesman.”

“I believe what she wrote, yes,” said Oliver. “There’s no point in her lying.”

“Well, there’s a point in her not bringing this up for 40 years,” Hoffman retorted.

“Oh, Dustin,” replied Oliver.

The panel took place during a screening to commemorate the 20th anniversary of another Hoffman film, “Wag The Dog” — but according to accounts from those present, things went off the rails after Oliver brought up the harassment allegations and never recovered.

Hoffman was first accused in a guest column by Anna Graham Hunter for The Hollywood Reporter last month. In her piece, Hunter accused Hoffman of attempting to grope her multiple times when she was just 17.

On another occasion, she said she she went into his dressing room to ask his breakfast order and he told her, “I’ll have a hard-boiled egg … and a soft-boiled clitoris.”

On Monday, Hoffman attempted to defend himself.

“You weren’t there,” the actor told Oliver.

“I’m happy [I wasn’t],” Oliver replied.

At one point, Oliver criticized the Oscar-winning star for his previous statements about the matter, including his assertion that his actions were “not reflective” of his overall behavior.

“It’s ‘not reflective of who I am’ — it’s that kind of response to this stuff that pisses me off,” Oliver said. “It is reflective of who you were. If you’ve given no evidence to show it didn’t [happen] then there was a period of time for a while when you were a creeper around women. It feels like a cop-out to say ‘it wasn’t me.’ Do you understand how that feels like a dismissal?”

You can watch a video of the exchange above, courtesy of the Washington Post.

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