Matthew Lawrence said he believes he was dropped by an agency after refusing to comply with the demands of a prominent Hollywood director who asked him to take his clothes off during a hotel room meeting.
The Boy meets world actor described his experience in a recent episode of the Brotherly Love Podcastwith his brothers Joey and Andrew Lawrence as he spoke about the #MeToo movement and the harassment faced by men and women in the industry.
“In my opinion, not many guys have come out and talk about this in the industry,” he began by saying. “Granting now, I’d say it’s probably a third of what women go through… (but) men go through this too.”
Lawrence further explained that there have been times in his life when he was “imposed to be given a big role” by those in power.
He recalled one time when he “lost my desk because I went to the hotel room – where I can’t believe they would send me there – of a very prominent Oscar-winning director who showed up in his robes, asked me to take my clothes.”
He added that the director, whom he did not name, told him “he had to do Polaroids of me and if I did X, Y and Z I would be the next Marvel character.” Lawrence said he eventually left the hotel room, which he says was why his agency, which he also didn’t name, fired him.
The Mrs. Doubtfire actor said there is a huge “double standard” in the industry, citing Terry Crews as an example. In 2017, Crew accused WME agent Adam Venit of harassing him in 2016, with the actor claiming the agent pinched his genitals at a party. He later sued the agency and settled the lawsuit the following year, with Venit leaving WME.
Lawrence went on to say when the Brooklyn nine-nine actor opened up about his story, “people laugh at him. People don’t support him. They kick him out. Why? Because he’s a man who represents masculinity, and I think our society is less willing to hear that situation with men than it is with women.
Joey Lawrence followed him and followed his brother’s thoughts. “When those moments came along, and there were plenty of them… it was just an important thing for me. I just wasn’t going to do it,” he said. “I also lost a lot of parts. … And like you said, I know the guys who went through and they did and I don’t know what situations they got into. I’m not even going to speculate. But I know it was set up in an infrastructure where that was expected.”
The Hollywood Reporter has contacted Lawrence’s representative for additional comment.
