A bombshell report in Variety describes several more sexual harassment and assault allegations actor Dustin Hoffman, including reports that he assaulted two women and exposed himself to a minor.
The three women all allege behaviour similar to earlier reports of sexual misconduct by the 80-year-old actor, who was recently confronted by TV Host John Oliver during a live panel in New York. According to Variety, Hoffman’s lawyer issued a denial of the report, calling the accusations “defamatory falsehoods.”
Cori Thomas says she was sixteen years old and in high school when Hoffman exposed himself to her in a hotel room:
After several minutes, “He came out of the bathroom with a towel at first wrapped around him, which he dropped,” Thomas said. “He was standing there naked. I think I almost collapsed, actually. It was the first time I had ever seen a naked man. I was mortified. I didn’t know what to do. And he milked it. He milked the fact that he was naked. He stood there. He took his time.”
Melissa Kester says that she was recording audio for the film Ishtar with Hoffman when the actor assaulted her. According to Kester, he put his hand down her pants for an extended period of time during the recording, while her boyfriend was in the next room.
“And as he’s doing that, he literally just stuck his fingers down my pants,” Kester said. “He put his fingers inside me. And the thing I feel most bad about is I didn’t know what to do. I just stood there. I just froze in the situation like ‘Oh my god, what is happening?’ It’s shocking when that happens to you.”
Kester said that she made an effort not to react for fear that her boyfriend or the other man in the control room would know what was happening. She estimated that Hoffman kept his fingers inside her for 15-20 seconds, until he finished the take. Then she moved away from him.
A third woman, who remains anonymous, says she was also assaulted during the production of Ishtar. She recalls similar conduct, alleging that Hoffman assaulted her with his fingers without consent while they lay next to each other in the back of a moving car.
The woman said that she and Hoffman lay next to each other in the back of the station wagon, which started moving shortly thereafter. She was wearing a skirt. “There are people inches from us,” she said. “And he just took his hand and stuck his fingers right up inside of me. I didn’t know what to do. He’s smiling at me. I was frozen. I was outside of my body.”
The woman alleges she later had a sexual encounter with Hoffman which she “characterised as consensual.”
You can read the full report here.
