Stéphane Célérier, who is the head of Mars Films, which is France’s longtime distributor for Woody Allen’s movies, vehemently defended the director in an editorial for the French weekly news magazine Le Point.
“I have been shocked by the wave of hate provoked by the Woody Allen affair, particularly in the United States and on the social networks, and by the lack of rigor by certain media outlets and the pack which condemns without looking into the full facts,”Célérier wrote.“That is the approach I have decided to take. Simply to get to the bottom of the truth, to understand whether I’ve been working closely with a pedophile all these years.”
“This affair makes me think of the case of the Witches of Salem which Arthur Miller used so expertly in his play [‘The Crucible‘] as an allegory for McCarthyism,” wrote Célérier.
“It seems clear to me that Woody Allen should not be classified in the same category as the sexual predators recently denounced by Hollywood and end his days as a pariah whose work should be burned.”
“It's complicated today, impossible even, to stand-up for Woody Allen’s innocence.”