Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

Dustin Hoffman Latest To Be Accused Of Sexual Misconduct

Another day, another deluge of victims coming forward to tell stories of abuse and harassment at the hands of powerful men in Hollywood.

Author Anna Graham Hunter penned a guest column for The Hollywood Reporter Wednesday morning in which she accused Dustin Hoffman of sexually harassing her while she was a high school intern on the set of “Death of a Salesman.”

“One morning I went to his dressing room to take his breakfast order,” Hunter wrote. “He looked at me and grinned, taking his time. Then he said, ‘I’ll have a hard-boiled egg … and a soft-boiled clitoris.’ His entourage burst out laughing. I left, speechless. Then I went to the bathroom and cried.”

Hunter goes on to detail five weeks of inappropriate sexual comments, physical violations, and requests for foot massages. She acknowledges that she liked Hoffman, which complicated the situation and, in fact, complicates the same situation for many women.

“Whenever I talk about this, I sense that my listeners want a victim and a villain,” wrote Hunter. “And I wish my feelings were as clear as theirs. I would be more comfortable if I felt nothing but revulsion for a man who had power over me and abused it.”

Hoffman issued an apology Wednesday afternoon through a statement to the Associated Press.

“I have the utmost respect for women and feel terrible that anything I might have done could have put her in an uncomfortable situation,” said Hoffman. “I am sorry. It is not reflective of who I am.”

Becky Scott is the editor of The Schmooze. Follow her on Twitter, @arr_scott

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.