Anthony Anderson has been selected to host the 75th Emmy Awards next year, but he’s facing immediate backlash from fans online who brought up the actor’s history of sexual misconduct allegations.
The news was announced on Dec. 13 that the “black-ish” star had been tapped to host the Jan. 15, 2024 event. The annual show would have taken place last September, but was delayed to Martin Luther King Jr. Day due to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.
In a statement about his selection, Anderson joked, “When Fox asked me to host this historic telecast, I was over the moon that Taylor Swift was unavailable, and now I can’t wait to be part of the biggest night in television.”
Fox said the 53-year-old entertainer was a “natural fit” to host the event after he took over the hosting duties for the network’s upcoming show “We Are Family.” The network’s president of Unscripted Programming said of Anderson, “Anthony’s known for his humor, heart and spontaneity, so he’s sure to give audiences in the theater and at home a night they’ll never forget.”
While both parties seem to be happy with their choice, some fans did not echo their sentiments in the comments section of a Variety post about the news. “So we’re just going to forget he was accused of rape?,” said one person, while another wrote, “Disgusting choice. Get read for his ugly past to embarrass Variety. Someone needs to be fired for this choice.” A third asked, “How has Anthony Anderson escaped Me Too?”
How has Anthony Anderson escaped Me Too?
— i z z y || ➡️⬇️⬅️ (@quietn0w) December 13, 2023
To back up their claims, several social media handlers shared screenshots of past articles from Variety and Daily Beast that chronicled three times the “Transformers” actor was accused of sexual assault. The first happened in July 2004, when an unidentified woman went to the hospital after she claimed that Anderson and “Hustle & Flow” assistant director Wayne Witherspoon sexually assaulted her in a trailer.
Soon after those allegations, Anderson was accused of assaulting another woman on his short-lived sitcom “All About the Andersons.” Anderson allegedly invited the woman to his room before groping and assaulting her. The actor said that the previous case had made him a target and alleged that this woman was just trying “to get a fast buck.”
Fourteen years after both incidents, Anderson was accused of assaulting another woman. During the era of the #MeToo movement, the actor’s name was brought up when a woman accused him of sexually assaulting her after they were supposed to discuss future business opportunities.
But that has not stopped the allegations from coming. While some fans were calling out Fox’s choice to have Anderson as host, one woman brought up her accusations against the actor.
“Imma remind yall he’s a creep every time,” the X user wrote, resharing a thread from May, where she claimed that Anderson exposed himself to her during a conversation when she was 22.
Imma remind yall he’s a creep every time. 😐
— ✨ 𝐀 𝐓𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐞 𝐂𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐒 ✨ (@PoetryNPapyrus) December 15, 2023
https://t.co/96eqV5T156
It all allegedly started when she saw the actor and commented on his figure, saying, “You lost a lot of weight; you look nice.”
Anderson allegedly replied, “But my d—k still big though…wanna see,” and then he allegedly pulled out his phone and showed a picture of his penis. He then told her what hotel he was staying in, as noted in text messages she shared purportedly from seven years ago that show her discussing their interaction with someone else.
The thread also features a photo of the woman smiling with glee while looking at Anderson’s phone as he held it up.
“I was pissed the first time I saw the picture. I automatically assumed folks wouldn’t believe me based on my expression in the photo,” she wrote in another post.
Anderson has not commented on these new allegations and has never faced charges for any sexual assault crime.
