“I was blaming myself and I was miserable – because I was saying, ‘This is nothing; this guy reached around and he copped a feel.’ … it made me feel reclusive,” Fraser has previously said of the incident. Source: Shutterstock.
Brendan Fraser has said even if he was nominated for a Golden Globe this year, he would not attend the ceremony.
His revelation comes after the actor claimed in 2018 that he was sexually assaulted by member of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) Philip Berk.
Fraser alleges that Berk groped him while at a lunch in Los Angeles in 2003 and in an interview with GQ Magazine said that he would not be in attendance this year.
“It’s because of the history that I have with them,” he said as his reasoning for not going.
“I have more history with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association than I have respect for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
“And my mother didn’t raise a hypocrite. You can call me a lot of things, but not that.”
Brendan Fraser, Sadie Sink and Hong Chau star in the first trailer for Darren Aronofsky’s ‘THE WHALE’.
Read our review: https://t.co/MiYEL3gSKW pic.twitter.com/WvktWXKgkZ
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) November 8, 2022
When the allegations of sexual misconduct came to be known, HFPA said in a statement that they were against such things and that a review was under being undertaken by an independent investigator.
Once the findings were concluded the HFPA went to Brendan Fraser with a joint statement they could release together but the actor refused.
The statement read “Although it was concluded that Mr. Berk inappropriately touched Mr. Fraser, the evidence supports that it was intended to be taken as a joke and not as a sexual advance.”
Fraser said he “knew they would close ranks”.
“I knew they would kick the can down the road. I knew they would get ahead of the story. I knew that I certainly had no future with that system as it was,” he said.
Berk remained a part of the HFPA but was let go from the association last year after saying that Black Lives Matter was “a racist hate movement”.
The 53-year-old actor has garnered critical acclaim for his role in Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale where he plays a reclusive and obese English teacher who tries to reconnect with his teenage daughter.
He is expected to pick up a numerous nominations for his performance.
