Sir Elton John thinks the sexual misconduct scandal has led to a "disturbing" time.
The 70-year-old musician insists he is a supporter of the #MeToo movement – which has seen people come forward on social media about their experiences of harassment and sexual assault – but he is worried that people are being presumed guilty without having gone through "due process", leading to situations such as Kevin Spacey being axed from ‘House of Cards’ and replaced in ‘All the Money in the World’ and Ed Westwick being removed from ‘Ordeal By Innocence’ because of allegations against them.
He said: "We live in a funny time, a disturbing time at the moment, when people are accusing people of doing this and that.
"I don’t agree with people being accused of something and not having due process, I think that’s bad.
"I think people who have been accused of something shouldn’t be dropped from [a] television series until they are proved to be guilty.
"But on the other hand, I can understand how women have been abused since time began.
"It’s all happened because of Harvey Weinstein, quite rightly so."
After the Golden Globe awards this year was hit by a mass protest of stars wearing black in solidarity for the Time’s Up anti-harassment campaign, with a number of actresses hitting out in their acceptance speeches, the ‘Tiny Dancer’ hitmaker is looking forward to seeing how the issue is addressed by attendees at this weekend’s Grammy awards.
He told CNN: "It’s going to be interesting, to see what people say, what they do."
Elton also spoke out in praise of the women who have called attention to the gender pay gap.
He said: "I think that is a big thing and it’s happening in England. A lot and people are saying, ‘I’m only getting paid this and he’s getting paid that.’
"I think women have had it bad for a long time and they are trying to sort it out and make it better for themselves."
Meanwhile, the ‘Rocket Man’ singer – son has sons Zachary, seven, and five-year-old Elijah with husband David Furnish – was previously accused of battery, sexual battery and sexual harassment by a former security guard.
Elton strongly denied the accusations in the 2016 lawsuit – which included "unwelcomed and offensive touching and groping" – and the case was eventually dropped.
Elton John worries about ‘disturbing’ times
