Bill Murray is opening up about the shocking sexual misconduct allegation that doomed his film Being Mortal from being released in 2022 and forever altered his public reputation.
In an interview with the New York Times over the weekend, Murray admitted that the incident still haunts him to this day — even as he remained defiant about the investigation's outcome, which he said was not 'justice.'
When asked if he thought about the incident while playing a man accused of inappropriate conduct in his new film The Friend, he replied, 'I don’t go too many days or weeks without thinking of what happened in Being Mortal.'
Murray was again swept up in controversy as he promoted the new film when he grabbed his co-star Naomi Watts and kissed her unprompted while both appeared on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen.
In the new interview, he shared his recollection of the circumstances leading up to the complaint about his behavior on Being Mortal, which was to be the directorial debut of its star, Aziz Ansari, before it was shelved.
Murray noted that the film was shot at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, and the cast and crew were 'all wearing masks and we were all stranded in this one room listening to this crazy scene.'
Bill Murray is opening up about the shocking sexual misconduct allegation that doomed his film Being Mortal from being released in 2022 and forever altered his public reputation in an interview with the New York Times; seen February 27 in NYC
Before recounting his alleged behavior, he prefaced it by saying, 'I dunno what prompted me to do it. It's something that I had done to someone else before, and I thought it was funny, and every time it happened, it was funny.'
Murray explained that, while wearing a mask, he gave the unnamed female crew member — who was also masked — a kiss. 'It wasn't like I touched her, but it was just, I gave her a kiss through a mask.'
He added, 'And she wasn't a stranger,' and he said the two were having lunch multiple times a week before the incident.
Murray, who described feeling 'barbecued' in the aftermath of the complaint against him, described interventions by HR and subsequent arbitration that he felt were prejudiced against him.
'It turned out there were pre-existing conditions and all this kind of stuff,' he said. 'I'm like, what? How was anyone supposed to know anything like that? There was no conversation, there was nothing. There was no peacemaking, nothing.
'It went to this lunatic arbitration, which, if anyone ever suggests you go to arbitration: Don't do it. Never ever do it. Because you think it’s justice, and it isn't,' he continued.
Murray lambasted Disney's HR department as being 'more strident than some other countries',' and he called the decision not to complete the film a 'great disappointment.
Murray reportedly paid a $100,000 settlement to the woman in 2022 at the conclusion of the investigation.
Murray was accused by a female crew member who said he kissed her on set. He noted both wore masks at the time due to Covid. 'It wasn't like I touched her, but it was just, I gave her a kiss through a mask,' he claimed; pictured February 27 in NYC
He said he still thinks about the incident often and finds it 'funny,' but he felt he was 'barbecued' by HR and the subsequent reporting on the incident
He reportedly paid $100K in a settlement, and he blasted the 'lunatic arbitration' process, which he felt was biased against him; seen with Naomi Watts on March 24 in NYC
However, the interviewer also referenced other times when the Royal Tenenbaums star has been accused of being aggressive, violent or insulting with his costars.
Among them, an incident in which he was alleged to have hurled a glass ash tray at his What About Bob? co-star Richard Dreyfuss.
'You can tell that story as much as you like, but it’s never going to be true,' he replied, before claiming he threw the ashtray at the ceiling, assuming it would shatter on impact
'If I’d thrown it at Dreyfuss, I’d have hit him,' he said defiantly.
As for Geena Davis, she accused Murray in her 2022 memoir Dying Of Politeness of screaming insults at her in front of 'more than 300 people' on set.
Murray responded to Davis' claim with just one word: 'Outrageous.'
He then claimed that there had been a concerted effort made to dredge up embarrassing moments from his past as a result of the claim made against him on Being Mortal.
When someone has an episode like mine on Being Mortal, the world goes searching for more proof that this person is a monster. An absolute monster,' Murray alleged.
Murray got in hot water earlier this month while promoting The Friend with co-star Naomi Watts on Watch What Happens Live.
He claimed that in his 'hundreds of thousands' of interactions with people throughout his long career, sleuths could like come up with 'half a dozen' incidents that cast him in a poor light.
'If you really worked, you’d probably come up with a couple dozen,' he added.
Earlier this month, Murray was slammed by fans and Watch What Happens Live viewers after he appeared to give Naomi Watts a kiss without getting permission first.
During a Q&A section of the show, a viewer called in to quiz the 56-year-old Mulholland Dr. actress on her favorite on-screen kiss.
But before she could even answer, Murray lunged for her, held her face in his hands and appeared to kiss her on the lips, though her face was blocked from the camera by his head.
Murray, who previously appeared with Watts in the 2014 dramedy St. Vincent, even gave a thumbs-up for the camera after pulling away from his costar.
'You’ve got lipstick on your face,' Watts subsequently said, before wondering aloud, 'Did I go red?'
Murray just stared into the camera and stated, 'That was too easy.'
He was lambasted by viewers on social media for putting Watts in such a position, though she doesn't appear to have commented on the display since then.
