Elijah Wood Clarifies His Hollywood Child Abuse Comments: ‘I Have No Firsthand Experience Or Observation Of The Topic’
Elijah Wood is taking the opportunity to clarify some comments he made during a recent interview regarding child abuse in Hollywood.
The Lord of the Rings star sat down with the Sunday Times last week to talk about his latest film The Trust, co-starring Nicholas Cage. However, the article, titled “Hollywood’s Evil Secret,” turned out to be about something else entirely. In the interview, Wood compared child abuse allegations in Hollywood to the Jimmy Savile abuse scandal that took place in the United Kingdom. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Savile was a famed DJ with the BBC who was found after his death to have been responsible for the sexual abuse of as many as 400 boys and girls.
Elijah Wood on #ChildAbuse in Hollywood: “There Are a Lot of Vipers in This Industry” https://t.co/qzv3cP1wND via @YahooMovies
— Uncle Bob (@SmjeskoB) May 24, 2016
“Jesus, it must have been devastating. Clearly something major was going on in Hollywood. It was all organized. There are a lot of vipers in this industry, people who only have their own interests in mind,” Wood told the news site, not knowing that the article would now be written around his child abuse comments. “There is darkness in the underbelly. If you can imagine it, it’s probably happened.”
In fact, the first paragraph of the article reads, “Oliver Thring met Elijah Wood to talk about his latest film, but the Lord of the Rings star and former child actor had other ideas. Out poured revelations about convicted paedophiles working openly in Hollywood — and deep relief that he had escaped unscathed.”
Now, Elijah is wanting to clear the air about his comments and took to Twitter on Monday to share a lengthy explanation with his followers. Wood wanted to make it clear that he never had any “first hand experience or observation of the topic.”
The latest The Devlin Daily! https://t.co/W63bn4fWPu
— C Devlin (@CDevlin31) May 24, 2016
The Sunday Times interviewed me about my latest film but the story became about something else entirely. It prompted a number of false and
— Elijah Wood (@elijahwood) May 24, 2016
misleading headlines. I had just seen a powerful documentary and I briefly spoke with the reporter about the subject which had consequences
— Elijah Wood (@elijahwood) May 24, 2016
I did not intend or expect. Lesson learned. Let me be clear: This subject of child abuse is an important one that should be discussed and
— Elijah Wood (@elijahwood) May 24, 2016
properly investigated. But as I made absolutely clear to the writer, I have no first hand experience or observation of the topic,
— Elijah Wood (@elijahwood) May 24, 2016
so I cannot speak with any authority beyond articles I have read and films I have seen.
— Elijah Wood (@elijahwood) May 24, 2016
Elijah Wood has been working in Hollywood since he was a young child. Prior to his move to Los Angeles, Wood got his start as a child model and commercial actor. His first big break came when he was cast to star in Paula Abdul’s video for “Forever Your Girl.” Since then, Wood has gone on to appear in dozens of films but is best known for his role in The Lord of the Rings.
[Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP Images]
