Brie Larson has spoken for the first time about her much-discussed decision not to applaud Casey Affleck as she handed him his Oscar for Best Actor at the Academy Awards last month, saying that it “spoke for itself”.

Back at the 89th Oscars, many noticed that the 27 year old star remained conspicuously still as the rest of the auditorium applauded Affleck after he bagged the prize for his role in Manchester By the Sea. It was especially pointed as Larson had won the Oscar for Best Actress the year before, for her moving portrayal of a long-term sexual abuse victim in the acclaimed film Room.

Brie LarsonBrie Larson at a pre-Oscars party in 2017

All this was in silent reference to the sexual harassment lawsuits that were brought against Affleck by two women who worked with him on the set of 2010 mockumentary I’m Still Here, cases that were both settled out of court by the actor. The allegations had resurfaced in recent months in the run-up to awards season.

“I think that whatever it was that I did on stage kind of spoke for itself,” Larson told Vanity Fair during the red carpet premiere of her new film Kong: Skull Island on Wednesday (March 8th). “I’ve said all that I need to say about that topic.”

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However, Larson, an advocate for sexual assault survivors in addition to her acting career, was asked about it again on US talk show ‘Live with Kelly Ripa’. “I am grateful it was televised, because I have no memory of it,” she said.

41 year old Affleck has denied the allegations against him consistently, though the terms of settlement forbid any party from discussing the details of the case. “I believe that any kind of mistreatment of anyone for any reason is unacceptable and abhorrent, and everyone deserves to be treated with respect in the workplace and anywhere else,” he told the Boston Globe the week after his Oscar win.

Kenneth Lonergan, the director of Manchester By the Sea, also defended Affleck in a letter to a college newspaper. “Casey denounced the allegations as being totally fabricated. Like most civil suits, this one was settled out of court by mutual consent on undisclosed terms. In other words nothing was proved or disproved.”

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