Bill Murray is speaking out in the wake of his latest film Being Mortal being shut down amidst allegations of inappropriate behavior leveled by a woman involved with the production.
During an appearance on CNBC, Murray acknowledged that he was the cause of the production shutdown, which happened two weeks ago.
Murray declined to go into specifics, but said the movie’s studio, Fox Searchlight, did “the right thing” by shutting down and investigating the incident.
See Murray talk about the situation below.
In the interview, Murray described an altercation between him and the unnamed woman that he characterized as a “difference of opinion,” which he admits he handled improperly.
He told CNBC:
“I did something I thought was funny and it wasn’t taken that way.”
“The movie studio wanted to do the right thing so they wanted to check it all out, investigate it and so they stopped the production.”
Murray went on to say that he and the woman are talking through their issues and working to come to a reconciliation.
“We’re both professionals. We like each other’s work.”
“We like each other I think and if you can’t really get along and trust each other, there’s no point in going further working together or making a movie as well.”
And he owned he hasn’t kept up with the way mores have changed, suggesting that issue was central to the conflict.
“The world is different than it was when I was a little kid.
“What I always thought was funny as a little kid isn’t necessarily the same as what’s funny now.”
“Things change and the times change so it’s important for me to figure it out.”
On Twitter, some applauded Murray for owning up to the incident.
I\u2019m not in any way speaking for the woman involved. But as a woman in film/tv for nearly 30 years, I\u2019ve had to swallow a lot of shit at work others found funny/ok.\nI deeply appreciate Bill Murray\u2019s willingness to reflect, learn, consider impact & extend empathy to his colleague.https://twitter.com/cnbc/status/1520453902147203073\u00a0\u2026— Enid-Raye Adams (she/her) (@Enid-Raye Adams (she/her))
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At least he isn’t calling them liarshttps://twitter.com/guardian/status/1520605389074702337\u00a0\u2026— Estarianne, BS, MA, A.N.T.I.F.A. \ud83d\udc69\ud83c\udffc\u200d\ud83d\udcbb (@Estarianne, BS, MA, A.N.T.I.F.A. \ud83d\udc69\ud83c\udffc\u200d\ud83d\udcbb)
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Some could learn from this, in that Murray wants to learn than get super defensive.https://twitter.com/guardian/status/1520605389074702337\u00a0\u2026— Dave Robinson (@Dave Robinson)
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It\u2019s a bummer to see so many people responding to the headline without reading or watching his full statement. It sounds like he\u2019s taking accountability and trying to listen, grow, and change. Isn\u2019t that what we want from people who make mistakes?— tomfeister (@tomfeister)
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I’m always torn with these things, I do think we cancel people too easily without giving them a chance to redeem or change, and I also think speaking as a woman what I can tolerate behavior wise from a man another woman would feel humiliated— PrincessGisdonewith2022\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@PrincessGisdonewith2022\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6)
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But others were not impressed, and were glad that Murray is facing consequences for what they allege is a history of sexually inappropriate treatment of women.
Is it possible, perhaps, that women never thought his \u201cjokes\u201d were funny but the culture has simply changed to where they feel comfortable speaking up about it?— not that hot girl meg (@not that hot girl meg)
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Aw at 70 he’s finally getting “educated”. how great— jennyann81 (@jennyann81)
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I think if Bill Murray was making people uncomfortable it’s probably good his movie was shut down. Unfortunately, I’m not sure there are guys over the age of 70 that can go more than 12 hours without making someone uncomfortable.— Microplastics Enjoyer (@Microplastics Enjoyer)
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\u201cI am sorry you were offended\u201d is the vibes I am getting— Amer Naik \u262d (@Amer Naik \u262d)
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Bill, it probably wasn’t funny when you were a kid but girls were taught to put up with it.— Awakened Dragon \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 \ud83c\udf3b\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08\ud83e\udd92\ud83c\udf0a\ud83c\udf0e (@Awakened Dragon \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 \ud83c\udf3b\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08\ud83e\udd92\ud83c\udf0a\ud83c\udf0e)
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The film also stars Seth Rogen, Keke Palmer and Aziz Ansari, who also wrote and is directing. It is unknown if the film will resume production.
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