Italian actress Asia Argento backed out Wednesday of curating at a Dutch music festival following allegations that she sexually assaulted a young actor. “Due to…
Italian actress Asia Argento backed out Wednesday of curating at a Dutch music festival following allegations that she sexually assaulted a young actor.
“Due to the volatile nature of the accusations surrounding Ms. Argento, she has chosen to withdraw from her curatorship of this year’s edition, while these issues remain open,” a statement from the “Le Guess Who?” festival read to the Hollywood Reporter. (RELATED: #MeToo Leader Allegedly Paid Off A Man She Sexually Assaulted)
Asia Argento on March 22,2012 in Rome, Italy. (Photo:Getty Images)
“Le Guess Who? supports her decision, as we consider it our responsibility to represent, to the best of our ability, the interests and integrity of all artists involved with our organization, and we strive to do this with sensitivity and respect,” it added. “Le Guess Who? still supports all curated artists and their artistic output, and intends to keep all these artists involved within the general program for the 2018 edition.”
The move comes following a report earlier in the day by TMZ that allegedly appears to show a screenshot of text messages between Argento and a friend admitting she had sex with actor Jimmy Bennett.
According to a report Sunday in the New York Times, the actress paid $380,000 to keep Bennett from suing her for allegedly sexually assaulting him when he was 17-years-old in 2013. Argento, at the time, was 37.
On Tuesday, she responded to the claims and denied any wrongdoing.
One of the vocal leaders of the #MeToo movement–Argento accused disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein last October in the New Yorker of forcibly performing oral sex on her back in 1997.
