Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier denies he sexually harassed singer Bjork
The Icelandic musician said von Trier punished her after she rejected his advances.
Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier (pictured above) has denied Icelandic singer Bjork’s allegation that he sexually harassed her during the making of the movie Dancer in the Dark, The Guardian reported on Tuesday.
The musician, who first spoke of the alleged assault on Sunday, went into more detail about it on Tuesday. In a Facebook post, she said it was “extremely difficult” to go public on the topic and that she could “fully sympathise with everyone who hesitates, even for years. but i feel it is the right time especially now when it could make a change”.
Though she did not name von Trier, coverage of her on-set relationship with the director verified that she was referring to him, reported the Los Angeles Times. Referring to her harasser, Bjork said he had “a staff of dozens who enabled...and encouraged” his behaviour. “When I turned the director down repeatedly he sulked and punished me” and “framed [me] as the difficult one”, she said.
Von Trier rejected the charges. “That was not the case. But that we were definitely not friends, that’s a fact,” he told the online edition of Danish daily Jyllands-Posten.