Matthew Lawrence says a “prominent” director once propositioned him in exchange for a Marvel role.
On Friday’s (April 28) episode of the Brotherly Love podcast, hosted by Lawrence and his two brothers, he spoke about how he thinks men are excluded from the #MeToo Movement and his experience being sexually harassed by an Academy Award-winning director.
Lawrence claimed that he lost his talent agency because he refused to strip for an unnamed director.
“I 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,” Lawrence said.
He added, “And if I did X, Y and Z, I would be the next Marvel character.”
The Boy Meets World alum continued, “I didn’t do that and my agency fired me because I left this director’s room. A lot of my other male friends have gone through this in the industry.”
While Lawrence declined to name names, some have speculated that the culprit was X-Men director Bryan Singer, who has several allegations of sexual assault against him dating back to 1997. Singer, however, has not won an Academy Award himself, but many of his projects have.
“He didn’t name him but it smells like Bryan Singer to me,” on Twitter user wrote. “It might not be, Lawrence did say “Oscar winning” and while Bryan Singer’s been up for a lot of Oscars he’s never actually won himself, even if his films have but that’s an easy miss speak to make.”
Another commented on theYouTube link of Lawrence’s podcast, “I’m wondering if it was Bryan Singer. He had a lot controversies going on about him and would’ve been a prominent Marvel director at the time for X-Men movies when Matt was still in major movies.”
And on Reddit, another wondered, “This has got to be about Bryan Singer, right? How has that guy not been sent up like Harvey Weinstein at this point?”
On the podcast, Lawrence claimed that there’s a “double standard” when it comes to speaking out about sexual misconduct and said that men aren’t taken seriously, citing Terry Crews as an example.
“Terry Crews comes out and says it, and people are laughing at him. People don’t support him. They kick him out. Why? Because he’s a man that represents masculinity. I think our society is less ready to hear that situation going on with men than they are with women,” Lawrence said.
In 2017, Crews revealed that an executive at the talent agency WME, Adam Venit, groped him at an event the year prior. The actor didn’t report the incident because he was scared of retaliation and thought people wouldn’t believe him. After an investigation, Venit was demoted and suspended for one month.
Lawrence recognized that women are more likely to face sexual misconduct than men, saying, “Not a lot of guys, in my opinion, have come out and talked about this in the industry. Now, granted, it’s probably about a third of what women go through. Men go through this as well.”
He said, “I’ve been on movie sets where I’ve heard male producers talk about these girls. They’ve given jobs because of either the way they look or that they went out to drinks with them. I’ve been privy to all those conversations.”
Lawrence continued to tell his co-hosts that “the casting couch” is real, and they’ve all been “somewhat complacent toward it.”
“I know I have a responsibility for that and you guys do as well. But the one thing that’s very interesting that doesn’t get talked about enough in the #MeToo movement is how this is a two-way street,” he said.
If you or someone you know needs to reach out about sexual abuse or assault, RAINN is available 24/7 at 800-656-HOPE (4673), or online at RAINN.org.