The 79-year-old writer and director Terry Gilliam of the former Monty Python comedy troupe criticized the #MeToo movement and said he is tired of white men being “blamed for everything.”
Gilliam’s remarks came in an interview with The Independent to promote his new film “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote,” which is now showing in movie theaters across the United Kingdom.
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He said “#MeToo is a witch hunt,” and that some of Weinstein accusers are “ambitious adults” who “make choices.”
“There are many victims in Harvey’s life,” he said, “and I feel sympathy for them, but then, Hollywood is full of very ambitious people who are adults and they make choices. We all make choices, and I could tell you who did make the choice and who didn’t. I hate Harvey. I had to work with him and I know the abuse, but I don’t want people saying that all men… “
“I understand that men have had more power longer, but I’m tired, as a white male, of being blamed for everything that is wrong with the world,” Gilliam said. “When you have power, you don’t take responsibility for abusing others. You enjoy the power. That’s the way it works in reality.”
Gilliam’s comments were trending on Twitter on Saturday afternoon.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, was among those commenting. He said Gilliam “resists PC orthodoxy,” referring to political correctness.
The Women’s Equality Party in the United Kingdom said, “We’re tired of white men calling ‘witch hunt’ and refusing to examine the societal privileges that afford them so much scope to behave poorly without consequence.”
