The CNN reporter who co-authored an article quoting women, including herself, accusing actor Morgan Freeman of acting inappropriately has received death threats and faces professional peril, the Atlanta-based network says in a letter responding to one Freeman’s attorney sent.
Reporter Chloe Melas “has already received a threat from one Los Angeles publicist who wrote, ‘I’m alerting all PR people to never allow their male clients to interview with you.’ On top of that Ms. Melas and members of her family have received death threats that are striking for their graphic nature and vulgarity,” reads the letter from David Vigilante, CNN’s senior vice president/legal.
The letter was a response to a blistering 10-page missive from Freeman’s attorney, Robert Schwartz.
“Designed for press consumption, it is rife with empty speculation, overheated rhetoric, and in some instances plainly false assumptions,” the CNN letter says.
Melas said she began investigating after experiencing what she considered to be improper behavior during an interview with Freeman and two co-stars, Michael Caine and Alan Arkin, ahead of the “Going In Style” movie launch.
“The impetus for the story and this whole investigation was actually my own experience with Morgan Freeman,” she said during an on-air discussion of the article.
The letter from Freeman’s attorney criticized CNN for running a piece authored by one of the accusers.
“As a supposed victim of the article’s subject, Ms. Melas lacked the requisite impartiality and objectivity to fairly cover the story she was chasing,” it said. “Under those circumstances, CNN should not have allowed her to write it.”
CNN said it talked to 16 people for the article, eight of whom said they had been subjected to harassment or inappropriate behavior, and eight who said they had witnessed it.
“CNN reached out to dozens more people who worked for or with Freeman. Some praised Freeman, saying they never witnessed any questionable behavior or that he was a consummate professional on set and in the office,” the article reads.
Besides Melas, the article quoted one other accuser by name: Tyra Martin, senior segment producer for Chicago television station WGCN. Martin has subsequently said she “never felt uncomfortable or in danger” in Freeman’s presence and always felt like they were “in on a joke” during their numerous encounters.
“I’m sorry for anyone that’s had an unfortunate experience or feels harassed or assaulted. That wasn’t my experience with Morgan Freeman. The interviews were always fun for me,” Martin said during an on-air discussion of the matter with her colleagues. “I respect the women who have been brave enough to say, ‘This thing happened to me and it was wrong.’ I support that. But it wasn’t me. It’s not me. It wasn’t my experience. To be grouped in it, I don’t feel offended, but just disappointed.”
Other sources shared allegations with CNN of Freeman trying to lift a woman’s skirt, staring at women in ways that made them uncomfortable or making “vulgar” comments. One source said he saw Freeman massage an intern’s shoulder. They were not named.
“After one year’s work, Ms. Melas appears to have found a few people who were willing to say bad things about Mr. Freeman. CNN has kept their names out of the story, so we are at a disadvantage in trying to verify their assertions,” Freeman’s attorney said.
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In response, the CNN letter says Freeman didn’t deny assertions spelled out by the anonymous sources.
“You decline to address many of the very specific allegations made about your client’s conduct in CNN’s report,” the CNN letter says. “Among them is that of a young female production assistant on ‘Going In Style’ who said she was subjected to almost daily harassment by your client and is quoted as saying about one incident that Freeman ‘kept trying to lift up my skirt and asking if I was wearing underwear.’
The women on the receiving end of your client’s unsolicited attention and approaches are often afraid to come forward by name. As Ms. Melas’ own experience has shown, they often receive threats to their livelihood and tier well-being from partisans for the accused. That is the power dynamic people like Morgan Freeman abuse when they deny the basic dignity of a woman they treat as an object.
“Is it your position that these women and witnesses are lying? To the contrary, we must assume that Mr. Freeman’s apology is an acknowledgement that he said and did much if not all of what CNN reported, and that his behavior was unacceptable, or else what was he apologizing for?
“Indeed, reduced to its essence Mr. Freeman does not deny the claims but says he was just joking. That is not a defense. It is not an excuse. And it does not render the CNN report inaccurate.”
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