‘Boy Meets World‘ actor Matthew Lawrence is calling out the double standard with sexual harassment as he claims he was dropped by an agency after refusing to strip down for a director, who had promised him a role in a Marvel film.
Matthew Lawrence Calls Out Sexual Harassment Double Standard While Claiming He Was Dropped By Agency After Refusing To Strip For Director Offering Marvel Role
During the latest episode of his ‘Brotherly Love‘ podcast, which he co-hosts with his brothers Joey Lawrence and Andrew Lawrence, Matthew Lawrence — who’s been going viral over his new relationship with TLC member Chilli — recalled the moment he was offered a role in a Marvel movie, but he could only star in the film if he stripped for the director.
On Friday (April 28), the podcast episode saw the 43-year-old actor allege, “There’s been many times in my life where I’ve been propositioned to get a huge role. I’ve lost my agency because I went to the hotel room, which I can’t believe they would send me to, of a very prominent Oscar award-winning director who showed up in his robe, asked me to take my clothes off and said he needed to take Polaroids of me.”
Lawerence added, “And then if I did X, Y and Z, I would be the next Marvel character. I didn’t do that, and my agency fired me because I left this director’s room.”
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While the actor did not disclose any names or offer up dates of the alleged incident, he made sure to point out that there is a double standard that exists for when male actors speak up about sexual harassment versus female actors.
Bringing back to light the November 2017 sexual assault claims of 54-year-old ‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’ actor Terry Crews, Lawrence added, “Terry Crews comes out and says it; people are laughing at him. People don’t support him. They kick him out. Why? Because he’s a man that represents masculinity, and I think our society is less ready to hear that situation going on with men than they are with women.”
Lawrence added, “Not a lot of guys in my opinion have come out and talked about this in the industry. There is also this same situation. Now granted, it’s probably about a third of what women go through. The amount of men… Men go through this as well, whether it’s another woman or another man in power.”
As a refresher, Crews had tweeted that a “high level Hollywood executive … groped” him at an event the year before. He publicly named the man as William Morris Endeavor executive Adam Venit. In December 2017, Crews sued the agent, and in September 2018 they both agreed to settle the lawsuit.
Joining him in the conversation and with experience of his own, is Lawerence’s 47-year-old brother Joey, who chimed in and said that he too found himself at “those crossroads,” and “lost out on a lot of … big movie parts.”
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