Morgan Freeman’s attorney, Robert M. Schwartz wrote a 10-page letter to Jeff Zucker, the current president of CNN, demanding a full retraction of the report accusing the 80-year-old actor of sexual offences and demanding an apology from the news network.
Below is a few statements from the letter’s content: “CNN has inflicted serious injury on his reputation and career, at a minimum, CNN immediately needs to issue a retraction and apologized to Mr. Freeman through the same channels, and with the same level of attention, that is used to unjustly attack him.
“Mr. Freeman is being viewed in the global court of public opinion as someone akin to notorious harassers and accused rapists, such as Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey, CNN had no justification for doing that.
“The damage CNN has inflicted is real. and given Mr. Freeman’s career and many motion picture and television commitments, it is substantial,” the letter continues. “If CNN has any decency or any allegiance to journalistic integrity, it will immediate [sic] retract the article and issue a public apology to Mr. Freeman.”
However, CNN also released a statement standing by their reports: “The unfounded accusations made by Mr. Freeman’s lawyer are disappointing and are difficult to reconcile with Mr. Freeman’s own public statements in the aftermath of the story.
“CNN stands by its reporting and will respond forcefully to any attempt by Mr. Freeman or his representatives to intimidate us from covering this important public issue.”
No lawsuit has been filed against the news network yet.