Bill Murray Settled For $100k Over Inappropriate Behavior With 'Being Mortal' Female Staffer
According to a Puck News report released yesterday, Bill Murray paid a female staffer over $100,000 to settle a complaint lodged against the film and TV legend back in April on the set of Aziz Ansari’s directorial movie debut, Being Mortal. Production on the Searchlight Pictures project was halted following multiple reports of alleged misconduct where Murray engaged in “inappropriate behavior” towards a young woman on the production staff.
Puck News’ Eriq Gardner revealed previously unreported details about the incident, alleging that, “On the set, Murray was particularly friendly with one female production staffer… This much younger woman, Murray felt, had been flirting with him. So at one moment when the two were in close proximity near a bed that was part of the production, Murray started kissing her body and straddling her. It was perhaps an unclear bit of physical comedy, but one that was unannounced. She couldn’t move because he outweighed her, she alleged. Then, he kissed her on the mouth, although when he did so, both Murray and the woman were wearing masks, owing to Covid protocols.”
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Murray believes the incident to be a simple case of a joke being misconstrued – back in April, Murray told CNBC that, “I did something I thought was funny and it wasn’t taken that way,” chalking the complaint up to a “difference of opinion.” Said Murray of the unnamed female staffer on the receiving end of his “joke," “As of now we are talking and we are trying to make peace with each other. We are both professionals, we like each others’ work, we like each other I think and if we can’t really get along and trust each other there’s no point in going further working together or making the movie as well. It’s been quite an education for me.”
However, with the Puck News report, there is now no “gray area” in the allegations against Bill Murray and the inappropriateness of the non-consensual behavior exhibited by the 72-year-old SNL alumnus.
The female staffer will likely remain unnamed, as the settlement worth more than $100,000 came with a non-disclosure agreement. Murray reportedly hopes that the resolution and payout will uncomplicate the continuation of Being Mortal, though neither Searchlight Pictures or Aziz Ansari (himself the subject of a #MeToo controversy) have yet indicated whether the settlement will lead to the resumption of production.
Top Image: Wikimedia Commons / Moody College of Communication
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