Actress and filmmaker Asia Argento has withdrawn from her place as co-curator of this 12 months’s Le Guess Who? festival within the Netherlands, following an accusation of sexual assault levied in opposition to her by actor Jimmy Bennett. Bennett alleged that Argento sexually assaulted him in 2013, when he was 17 and he or she was 37, according to a New York Times report. Argento called Bennett’s claims «absolutely false,» and denied having a sexual relationship with him. Argento was one of many first ladies to publicly accuse film mogul Harvey Weinstein of sexual abuse final fall; earlier this 12 months, she organized a fee of $380,000 to Bennett earlier, the Times reported.
Le Guess Who? has issued the following statement asserting her withdrawal, as the Hollywood Reporter stories:
Due to the risky nature of the accusations surrounding Ms. Argento,
she has chosen to withdraw from her curatorship of this 12 months’s
version, whereas these points stay open. Le Guess Who? helps her
determination, as we think about it our accountability to characterize, to the
better of our potential, the pursuits and integrity of all artists
concerned with our group, and we try to do that with
sensitivity and respect.Le Guess Who? nonetheless helps all curated artists and their inventive
output, and intends to maintain all these artists concerned inside the
normal program for the 2018 version.
Le Guess Who? is about to happen November 8-10 within the Dutch metropolis of Utrecht. The artists Argento selected for the lineup included the Breeders, Joe Cardamone,
Lydia Lunch, Psychic Ills, Richard Fearless, and Vera Sola. The different curators are Devendra Banhart, Moor Mother, and Shabaka Hutchings of Sons of Kemet and the Comet Is Coming.
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