Days after offering contrition to women who “felt uncomfortable or disrespected” by his behavior in the past, Morgan Freeman is calling for an apology of his own.
The actor and Madam Secretary executive producer is looking into legal action against CNN, which on May 24 published a report of Freeman’s alleged harassment of eight women. The behavior reportedly included unwanted touching and offensive public comments about women’s clothing or bodies.
A letter Freeman’s attorneys sent to the cable news network Monday characterized the story, reported by CNN’s Chloe Melas and An Phung, as “journalistic malpractice” that included “falsehoods” and “malicious intent.”
Among other criticisms, the letter alleges that Melas, who also was a source in the story after encountering what she described as “inappropriate behavior” on Freeman’s part during a press junket for his film Going in Style, misinterpreted Freeman’s comment about a story told by co-star Michael Caine. In the CNN story, Melas said that Morgan said “I wish I was there” in regard to her then-six-months-pregnant body. Freeman’s lawyers say the comment was directed at an anecdote Caine had just shared, not at Melas. (Melas maintains that Freeman also said she was “ripe,” and that the observations made her so uncomfortable that she reported them to her supervisors and CNN’s human resources department.)
TVLine has contacted CNN for comment.
