Casey Affleck Withdraws as Best Actress Oscar Presenter

After having won the Best Actor in a Leading Role Oscar last year, Casey Affleck won’t be present during the 90th Academy Awards this March. It’s been a tradition for the Academy to have the previous year’s Best Actor Oscar winner present the Best Actress Award. But in light of Affleck’s sexual harassment allegations, a representative for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences confirmed that the actor would withdraw from presenting at this year’s awards ceremony.
“We appreciate the decision to keep the focus on the show and the great work of this year,” the spokesperson said.
It was Affleck’s stint at 2016’s “Manchester By The Sea” that earned him the Best Actor Oscar. However, during this time, the harassment allegations were already surfacing. According to Deadline’s sources, Affleck “notified the Academy he will not be attending the event.” This decision makes sense because if Affleck did show up and presented the Best Actress Oscar, it would have a problematic effect—especially in the era of the #MeToo movement.
A civil lawsuit was filed against Affleck last year and accused him of inappropriate behavior while shooting “I’m Still Here” in 2010. Two women who worked on the movie filed the suit, which Affleck denied. The case was later settled and dismissed. However, given how the current anti-sexual harassment stance of various Hollywood personalities begin to grow in numbers, a lot of people didn’t like the idea of Affleck presenting in this year’s Oscars.