Katzenberg denies crude remarks about Molly Ringwald

Jeffrey Katzenberg has been forced to defend himself after being accused of making a crude comment about ’80s darling Molly Ringwald in the 1990s. 

Katzenberg is quoted in a 1995 issue of Movieline saying: ‘I wouldn’t know [Molly Ringwald] if she sat on my face,’ after she was featured on the cover of the magazine. 

In a statement to the Hollywood Reporter, Katzenberg said: ‘That Molly Ringwald had to read those words attributed to me and believe I said them is horrifying, mortifying and embarrassing to me.’ 

On Tuesday Ringwald penned an essay in the New Yorker, reflecting on her own experiences with sexual harassment in Hollywood, following in the footsteps of many fellow actresses who have detailed assault at the hands of fallen-mogul Harvey Weinstein. 

Jeffrey Katzenberg has been forced to defend himself after being accused of making a crude comment about ’80s darling Molly Ringwald in the 1990s. On Tuesday Ringwald penned an essay in the New Yorker , reflecting on her own experiences with sexual harassment in Hollywood, following in the footsteps of many fellow actresses who have detailed assault at the hands of fallen-mogul Harvey Weinstein

Katzenberg is quoted in a 1995 issue of Movieline saying: ‘I wouldn’t know [Molly Ringwald] if she sat on my face,’ after she was featured on the cover of the magazine. He is pictured with Harvey Weinstein on Jan 11, who he adamantly criticized for his sexual harassment allegations. Katzenberg on Tuesday apologized to Ringwald but also said that he would have made such a comment

The 49-year-old spoke about how she experienced harassment as early as 13 years old, when a fifty-year-old crew member said he would teach her to dance, ‘and then proceeded to push against me with an erection.’ 

A year later, she said, a married director stuck his tongue down her throat while on set. And when she was in her twenties, she details how she was ‘blindsided’ when she was asked to let a lead actor put a dog collar around her neck.

After that happened she moved to Paris to get away from the acting scene in the United States and put her career ‘on the back burner.’ 

When the magazine Movieline decided to feature Ringwald on their cover in 1995, ‘the head of a major studio – and, incidentally, someone who claims himself to be horrified by the Harvey allegations’ was quoted saying: ‘I wouldn’t know [Molly Ringwald] if she sat on my face.’

That studio head was later alleged to be Jeffrey Katzenberg by a number of outlets.  

The 49-year-old spoke about how she experienced harassment as early as 13 years old, when a fifty-year-old crew member said he would teach her to dance, ‘and then proceeded to push against me with an erection.’ Ringwald is pictured in May 2017

In response to it, Molly wrote: ‘Maybe he was misquoted. If he ever sent a note of apology, it must have gotten lost in the mail.’

So in a statement on Tuesday night to THR, Katzenberg said: ‘That Molly Ringwald had to read those words attributed to me and believe I said them is horrifying, mortifying and embarrassing to me.

‘Anyone who knows me now or back then knows I do not use language like that as a matter of course, or tolerate it. 

‘Ms Ringwald, 22 years too late, I am deeply, deeply sorry.’ 

Ringwald, who is currently portraying Archie Andrews’ mom in the CW television show Riverdale, said in the op-ed: ‘I could go on about other instances in which I have felt demeaned or exploited, but I fear it would get repetitive. Then again, that’s part of the point.’

She also spoke about working with Weinstein at the start of his career in 1990 on the movie Strike It Rich. 

At the time she was 20, and said that although she was warned about him from some other actresses, she didn’t have any overwhelmingly negative experiences with him herself. 

She did, though, later sue him for being denied her gross percentage of the film- and never worked with the Weinstein brothers again.

Katzenberg, who is the former chairman of Walt Disney Studios and former CEO of DreamWorks Animation – previously told the Hollywood Reporter he was ‘paralyzed’ when Weinstein asked he and a group of other executives to publicly vouch for him ahead of being fired from The Weinstein Company. 

He responded to Weinstein’s email request, saying: ‘You have done terrible things to a number of women over a period of women over a period of years.

‘I am sickened by it, angry with you and incredibly disappointed with you.’  

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk