The New York Times has published a lengthy response written by filmmaker Woody Allen to abuse allegations levied against him by his daughter, Dylan Farrow, in the same paper a week earlier.
It is something of an unusual move for the NYT, whose editorial page editor, Andrew Rosenthal, said in a Feb. 5 post that the paper might publish Allen's answer to the accusations. “Normally, we don’t publish a direct response," he told the Times' Margaret Sullivan, but “in this case, it was so personal, we thought that we should.”
See also: Dylan Farrow Speaks Out on Woody Allen Sexual Abuse Allegations
In the letter, Allen condemns Mia Farrow, his former partner of over a decade. He writes that she coached their daughter to believe she had been abused and had refused a lie-detector test when the allegations first came to light in 1992. To further discredit Farrow, Allen also points to rumors that her son with Allen, Ronan Farrow, may have actually been fathered by Frank Sinatra. "Again, I want to call attention to the integrity and honesty of a person who conducts her life like that," he wrote.
The Times published an "Open Letter From Dylan Farrow" on Feb. 1, in which the 29-year-old detailed a harrowing account of being sexually assaulted by Allen when she was 7. Reporter Nicholas Kristof, in whose column the letter appeared, wrote that the allegations, which first surfaced decades ago, were again relevant given the filmmaker's recent accolades as a Golden Globes lifetime achievement award winner. (While a criminal investigation did take place at the time, charges against Allen were ultimately dropped.)
"Shouldn’t the standard to honor someone be that they are unimpeachably, well, honorable?" Kristof wrote.
Shortly after Allen's response was published online Friday night, Kristof responded in a Facebook post that "many of [Allen's] 'facts,' however, seem either flat wrong or only half-truths," urging readers to fact check his claims.
After alleging that his daughter had been exploited by Mia Farrow during a bitter separation and "cheated out of having a loving father," Allen wrote, "of course, I did not molest Dylan."
Allen, who had previously only responded to the latest accusations through a spokesperson, concluded by saying he would no longer comment on the matter; the Times letter would be his "final word."