OPINION
Lindsay Lohan has apologised for labeling women who speak out about sexual harassment "weak" and "attention seeking" in an interview with British paper The Times.
“I would like to unreservedly apologise for any hurt and distress caused by a quote in a recent interview with The Times,” Lohan reportedly told PEOPLE magazine in a statement.
“The quote solely related to my hope that a handful of false testimonies out of a tsunami of heroic voices do not serve to dilute the importance of the #MeToo movement, and all of us who champion it. However, I have since learned how statements like mine are seen as hurtful, which was never my intent. I’m sorry for any pain I may have caused.”
In the interview with The Times, the 32-year-old actress who is promoting her upcoming MTV series, criticised women for not reporting sexual abuse or harassment immediately: “If it happens at that moment, you discuss it at that moment.”
“You make it a real thing by making it a police report,” she said. “I’m going to really hate myself for saying this, but I think by women speaking against these things, it makes them look weak when they are very strong women,” Lohan said.
“You have these girls who come out, who don’t even know who they are, who do it for the attention. That is taking away from the fact that it happened.”
Lohan's comments can be seen as part of a trend of derailing powerful movements spotlighting abuses of power - akin to #notallmen or #alllivesmatter - by attacking straw men to cast aspersions on the credibility of those involved in important social justice awareness campaigns.
Her comments also show an ignorance of the challenges women who experience abuse and harassment face in reporting powerful perpetrators - including loss of reputation, job prospects and mental health stress. As noted on Twitter, what's more curious is it comes from a child star who herself has a troubled history in the Hollywood machine.
The 'Mean Girls' and 'The Parent Trap' actress is no stranger to controversy. Last year she posted a now-deleted Instagram video last year defending disgraced studio mogul Harvey Weinstein.
She also made headlines for social media pictures featuring herself in hijab at London Modest Fashion Week show to her 6.6 million Instagram followers, fueling speculation she had converted to Islam.
