Barbara Walters Defends Woody Allen

By Anne Cohen February 4, 2014

On a recent segment of “The View,” Barbara Walters aggressively defended Woody Allen against the sexual abuse allegations put forward by adopted daughter Dylan Farrow in a recent open letter to the public.

I know Mia, I have a good relationship with her,” Walters explained. “But I’ve been with Woody many times with his two daughters, he’s got almost a twenty-year-old marriage…I have rarely seen a father as sensitive, and as loving and as caring as Woody is to his daughters. I don’t know about Dylan, I can only tell you about what I’ve seen now, that it’s a good marriage and that he’s a loving, caring father.”

Jenny McCarthy tried to weigh in, arguing that she (Dylan) “has nothing to gain in coming out and saying this.”

Barbara would have none of it. “Supposedly, she’s very angry,” she responded. “But she’s doing it now because he’s up for an award, so the question is does your personal life interfere with the award?”

True or not, it’s clear that everyone is struggling with the idea. Watch the heated debate below:

Anne Cohen was the Forward’s deputy digital media editor. When she’s not looking for the secret Jewish history of Voodoo in New Orleans, or making lists about Ruth Bader Ginsburg, she writes for The Assimilator. She graduated from the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism with an M.S. magazine concentration in 2012.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO