Miriam Margolyes swears on live TV, says she has ‘unfortunately’ never been groped
Miriam Margolyes has come under fire for swearing during an interview about the #MeToo movement.
Speaking to Robert Peston on ITV’s Peston on Sunday, the lesbian actor was regaling a tale about an encounter with Warren Beaty when she blurted out an expletive.
“Well when I went for an interview for Reds a long time ago, I was told I could only see him [Beatty] in his trailer,” said Margolyes.
“So I knocked at the door, in the lunch hour, and he said ‘Come in’. I opened the door, he looked me up, down, up – and said ‘Do you f**k?'”.
After the audience exclaimed, Peston interjected.
“Apparently we can’t say that – I’ve just been told.”
Margolyes, unshaken by the relegation, continued with her story.
“Oh well,” she said. “So I said, not with you,” making reference to her sexuality.
The Harry Potter star also came under fire for saying that she had “unfortunately” never been groped.
“I think the Me Too thing is great,” she said. “But it can overbalance and become a witch hunt and that’s stupid,”
“I think people talking about hand on the knee 15 years ago is not serious enough, but the rape and pushing into a woman… it’s obvious what’s assault and what isn’t.”
Those who watched the show appeared to be more perturbed by her attitude towards the allegations rather than her use of the f-word.
https://twitter.com/CarlitaRogers/status/952538553795440640
Augh, the Peston chat on #metoo with Miriam Margolyes has taken ten seconds to mention "witch hunt" and thirty to mention "hands on knees". How has 'knee-touching' become the catch-all term to dismiss harassment allegations when we all know the spectrum and severity of them
— Tara Mulholland (@tara_mulholland) January 14, 2018
Have meet Miriam Margoyles. Found her charming & funny… however, I disagree with her views of #MeToo … Liam Neeson shared similar views the other day… they are both wide of the mark & don’t seem to understand the zeitgeist of the #MeToo campaign… https://t.co/BFRyyQeqIs— Emma Jean 🎭🎥🎬💙🇪🇺 (@EmsieJeaine) January 14, 2018
Margoyles has been involved in the TV and film industry since 1970.
She received a best supporting actress award in 1994 for her role in The Age of Innocence.
