>Legendary director Steven Spielberg apologized on Friday after being accused by Corey Feldman of sexually molesting him and Jeff Cohen in 1984 off-set during production of his 1985 cult-classic "The Goonies".
>According to Feldman, he and Cohen claim they were targeted by the executive producer with a range of inappropriate behavior, including kissing and fondling their genitals.
>"He would often greet me and Jeff with a seemingly friendly kiss here and there as a greeting, but when we started doing shoots near the coast from Astoria, he started becoming more open towards me and Jeff even when Donner was watching," Feldman writes. "He was openly flirtatious and would often ask Jeff to go meet him privately and usually Jeff would come back with this fu—- up face while telling me of the crazy s— that would happen. At the time I was too scared to come forward about any of this and Cohen never bothered to go to the police since he said the money was too good and he was scared of what he (Spielberg) would do too."
>A representative for Spielberg did not immediately respond to an inquiry after Feldman's confessions became public. But in a statement to the Hollywood Reporter, the 70-year-old director/executive-producer has refused to speak on the matter concerning the accusations levied against him as well as refusing to speak in relation to his association with Harvey Weinstein, having only this to say on the matter of the accusations:
>"I have a lot of opinions about that," Spielberg wrote. "This is not the first time I've been accused of something unlawful. When you deal with antisemitism as much as I have, you can't help but get used to this kind of persecution."
>The allegations against Spielberg are the latest in a series of sexual harassment accusations to emerge in the past month against Hollywood figures including film mogul Harvey Weinstein, former Amazon Studios head Roy Price, Star Trek icon/LGBT activist George Takei and directors James Toback and Brett Ratner.
>In his blog, Cohen, who is now 43 and head of the jewish legal firm "Cohen & Gardner", wrote that his feelings toward Spielberg were complicated at the time.
>"Yes, I admit that there were times when I was a bit unnerved as a young man by the way he would sometimes act. But he could also be sweet and wanted me to like him. Which I did," he writes. "he was like a scoutmaster to me, teaching me the ways of the world. Despite the ups and downs, I have nothing but respect for him now and its thanks to him that I was able to become the successful lawyer and gay activist I am now, and both me, my lover and his son hold no grudge against him, all we want is to put the past ugliness behind us."
>At the same time, he writes, "I understand that what Spielberg did at the time was wrong, but pretty much everyone in Hollywood was doing it, so if anything, it was the abusive male-dominated environment that made him think such practices were the norm, and I know that if not for that, me and him would have nothing but completely fond memories of each other."
>A two-time Golden Globe winner and legendary director best known for some of the most iconic films in cinema history, Spielberg was also a long-time friend of Harvey Weinstein, a recently controversial figure in the film industry who has also been accused of predatory sexual behavior. Spielberg was planning on producing a new film with Weinstein based on the life of Edgardo Mortara (a jewish victim of ancient anti-semitism) before the accusations about Weinstein came to light. Spielberg has so far refused to speak on the matter concerning Weinstein's conduct.
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