Dustin Hoffman looks to be weathering the storm.
The 80-year-old actor, who this week was accused of sexual harassment during the ’80s and ’90s, looked relaxed as he spoke at the podium of the 21st Annual Hollywood Film Awards at The Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California.
The Oscar-winner wore a crisp black suit with a blue tie over a collared white shirt with dark-framed glasses, as he took center stage to present his co-star in Netflix’s The Meyerowitz Stories, Adam Sandler, with the Hollywood Comedy Award at the glitzy Tinseltown event, which was hosted by The Late Late Show’s James Corden.
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Turnaround: Dustin Hoffman, 80, looked to be in good spirits on Sunday as he appeared at the 21st Annual Hollywood Film Awards in Beverly Hills, California, days after he was accused of sexual harassment by two women
Hoffman made ‘no acknowledgment of recent harassment allegations,’ Los Angeles Times entertainment reporter Amy Kaufman tweeted Sunday.
The Tootsie star is coming off a rough week, after he apologized after he was accused of groping and talking dirty to Anna Graham Hunter, who was a 17-year-old intern when she worked with him on the 1985 TV film Death of a Salesman.
Hunter took the Kramer vs. Kramer actor to task in a piece for The Hollywood Reporter Wednesday, recalling details of her interactions with the Hollywood legend on the set of the TV film.
She said that of her first day on the production, he asked her for a foot massage and she reciprocated.
Lighthearted: Hoffman looked to be relaxed as he appeared in front of his Tinseltown peers
Hand-off: Hoffman presented his co-star in Netflix’s The Meyerowitz Stories, Adam Sandler, with the Hollywood Comedy Award on the evening
Experienced: Hoffman has appeared in comedies including Tootsie, Ishtar and Wag The Dog
Hoffman ‘was openly flirtatious’ as he ‘grabbed my a–,’ and ‘talked about sex to me and in front of me,’ Hunter wrote.
She shared a particularly humiliating anecdote that occurred in a room full of people.
‘One morning I went to his dressing room to take his breakfast order; he looked at me and grinned, taking his time,’ she wrote.
Happy day: The veteran performer posed alongside the award-winning Sandler
Rough stretch: Hoffman was accused this week of two separate sexual harassment incidents, occurring in 1985 and 1991
‘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.’
Hoffman promptly issued an apologetic statement as news of the decades-old incident spread.
‘I have the utmost respect for women and feel terrible that anything I might have done could have put her in an uncomfortable situation,’ he said. ‘I am sorry. It is not reflective of who I am.’
Keeping mum: Hoffman did not address the recent scandals when he took to the podium, according to Los Angeles Times entertainment reporter Amy Kaufman
Master of ceremonies: James Corden – who himself had to say sorry for poorly-received jokes about Harvey Weinstein at an LA gala last month – hosted the lavish event
A second accuser named Wendy Riss Gatsiounis told Variety on Wednesday that Hoffman had sexually propositioned her during a business meeting in 1991.
She said he asked her, ‘Have you ever been intimate with a man over 40?’; teased her that his was ‘a whole new body to explore;’ and asked her to accompany him to a nearby hotel.
Hoffman is one of a number of high-profile show business figures to face accusations of sexual harassment, joining a list of names that includes fellow actors Jeremy Piven and Kevin Spacey, producers Harvey Weinstein and Brett Ratner, and director-screenwriter James Toback.