Lars von Trier responds to Björk’s allegations of sexual harassment

The artist claimed she was harassed by a Danish director

Last week, in the wake of rape and sexual assault allegations made against director Harvey Weinstein, Björk showed her support for “actresses and actors all over” by speaking up about the normalisation of sexual harassment in the film industry. In a statement posted to her Facebook page, she pointed out that it was a “universal thing that a director can touch and harass his actresses at will and the institution of film allows it”. She also opened up about her experience of sexual harassment with a Danish director, who “sulked and punished me and created for his team an impressive net of illusion where i was framed as the difficult one”.

As she had “nothing to loose having no ambitions in the acting world”, she recovered from the experience and ended her statement on a note of hope and change. She wrote, “in my opinion he had a more fair and meaningful relationship with his actresses after my confrontation so there is hope”.

While the director’s identity was not revealed, one Danish director on her filmography is Lars von Trier, who she worked with on the musical drama Dancer In The Dark, released in 2000. Lars von Trier has denied the allegations to Danish newspaper Jyllands Posten that “that is not the case – although we didn’t get along, that’s a fact”.

Business partner Peter Aalbaek Jensen added, “As far as I remember, we were victims. That woman was stronger than both Lars von Trier and me and our company together.”

It’s been widely reported that Björk and von Trier didn’t get on and repeatedly rowed on set. Björk’s manager, at the time, revealed, “They’re not the best of friends, but they’re both very happy with the end result.”

Read Björk’s full Facebook post below.