Casey Affleck has withdrawn from the Oscars where he was due to present the Best Actress award.
On Thursday, Deadline revealed the 42-year-old had notified the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences that he will not be attending this year’s awards.
Sources said he does not want to distract from the women nominated in the category he was due to present.
Affleck’s decision comes a year after his controversial victory in the male category and in the thick of the Me Too movement.
In 2017, he took home the Oscar for his performance in Manchester By The Sea, a win which offended actresses including Brie Larson because of lingering accusations that he sexually harassed or was inappropriate towards two female colleagues in 2010.
Casey Affleck (above at the 2017 Oscars after winning Best Actor) has withdrawn from this year’s ceremony where he was due to present the Best Actress award
Affleck settled their allegations with undisclosed financial sums and the topic was scarcely discussed.
When Larson refused to applaud him last year, she reminded the industry of those allegations.
As the winner of the 2016 Best Actress award, she presented Affleck with the honor but refused to applaud him as he approached the stage.
Her disdained face was the image which became synonymous with his victory.
Among the nominees in this year’s category for Best Actress is Frances McDormand, a forceful voice in the Me Too, Time’s Up movement, and feminist favorite Meryl Streep.
Saoirse Ronan, Margot Robbie and Sally Hawkins are also nominated.
The allegations against Affleck were made by two women who worked with him while he filmed I’m Still Here, a little known picture produced by Joaquin Phoenix, Affleck’s former brother-in-law.
In 2017, Brie Larson refused to applaud Affleck as she presented him with his Best Actor award because of the allegations against him
As Hollywood fawned over the 42-year-old, Larson, who had to present the award to him because she had won the Best Actress award the year earlier, watched on in disdain
After the awards, Larson said her solemn expression throughout Affleck’s acceptance speech and as they walked off stage ‘spoke for itself’
Potential recipients: Frances McDormand and Meryl Streep are among the nominees this year for Best Actress. Both are feminist powerhouses
Producer Amanda White alleged that Affleck showed her his penis, tried to coerce her into hotel rooms and used her room to have sex with a woman while Phoenix had sex with another on the set.
She also alleged that he once grabbed her forcibly when she refused to go to the hotel room with him.
Afterwards, she claimed that he sent her text messages where he called her ‘profane names’.
She made the allegations in a $2million lawsuit filed in 2010.
Magdalena Gorka, the film’s director of photography, made similar complaints in a separate lawsuit where described Affleck’s treatment of her as ‘the most traumatizing of her career.’
Affleck denies the allegations when they were filed in the lawsuits but he ultimately settled both with sums.
Affleck, 42, allegedly did not want to be a ‘distraction’ at this year’s ceremony. He has always denied allegations of misconduct. The star is pictured on January 6 with actress Floriana Lima
This year’s Oscars will conclude an eventful awards season which is the first since the film and television industry’s reckoning over decades of sexual harassment and abuse against its female stars.
It is the first without Harvey Weinstein, whose alleged mistreatment of women sparked the movement.
Affleck and his wife Summer divorced last year after 10 years of marriage. They have two children together.
The star’s brother Ben Affleck found himself caught up in the sexual misconduct scandal last year and apologized over an old appearance on TRL where he groped actress Hilarie Burton’s breast.
As the scandal drew in momentum and size, Affleck tweeted his regret about the grope and conceded that he had acted ‘inappropriately’.
He later donated all of his Miramax and Weinstein Company residuals to charities which benefit women.
Jimmy Kimmel will host this year’s Oscars again.