Woody Allen and the rape joke heard 'round Cannes
Bad taste: Woody Allen joke Ah! The Cannes Film Festival, bastion of art, high learning and . . . rape jokes.
Bad taste: Woody Allen joke
Ah! The Cannes Film Festival, bastion of art, high learning and . . . rape jokes.
Just ask Woody Allen. The auteur on Wednesday had the honor of opening the fest with his new pic, Café Society.
But honor wasn't exactly on the mind of French actor Laurent Lafitte, who hosted the fest's opening ceremony.
"It gives me pleasure to see you because you've filmed so much in Europe and you haven't even been convicted of rape in the U.S.A.," Lafitte said, referring to decades-long accusations that Allen, 80, sexually abused his adopted daughter Dylan Farrow.
Lafitte compared Allen to Roman Polanski, who fled to Europe after being convicted in America of raping a teen.
The joke, which drew gasps from the aud, was made on the same day Allen's estranged son Ronan Farrow, 28, wrote an op-ed in the Hollywood Reporter attacking the media for coddling the director.
Allen and his stars, Farrow wrote, "can trust that the press won't ask them the tough questions. It's not the time, it's not the place, it's just not done."
As I lay gossiping
How does Justin Bieber relax before a big concert? In Boston before the first of two shows, the Bieb, 22, was spotted wandering barefoot in the Public Garden. He stopped to feed a squirrel. . . . Captain America Chris Evans, 34, who once shared a pillow with Jessica Biel, is dating Saturday Night Live alum Jenny Slate, says E!News.
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