With the uncovering of various incidents of sexual misconduct in Hollywood over the years still ongoing, Dustin Hoffman gets quizzed on his past behaviour by political commentator John Oliver on a Tribeca Film panel this week. The exchange is understandably extremely awkward, yet rather enlightening, to watch.

Dustin Hoffman at the Gotham AwardsDustin Hoffman at the Gotham Awards

The 'Last Week Tonight' host has never been one to mince his words or indeed shy away from painful topics, and it was no different on Monday (December 4th 2017) when he brought up accusations against Dustin Hoffman at the 20th anniversary screening of his film 'Wag the Dog'.

'This is something we're going to have to talk about because... it's hanging in the air', John told Dustin, referring to Anna Graham Hunter's comments recently that the actor groped her and made sexual comments to her when she was only 17 and working as an intern on the set of 'Death of a Salesman' in 1985.

Dustin does not deny the allegations, but adds that his apology was issued on the advice of his agent and pointed out that the key word in the statement was 'if' - indeed, he apologises 'if' he ever made anyone feel uncomfortable. John then quotes the actually apology that Dustin issued, and highlighted one line that he had a particular problem with. 

'It's 'not reflective of who I am' - it's that kind of response to this stuff that p***es me off', he said. 'Because it is reflective of who you were. If you've given no evidence to show it didn't [happen] then there was a period in time for a while when you were a creeper around women. So it feels like a cop-out to say, 'It wasn't me.' Do you understand how that feels like a dismissal?'

Dustin tried to dismiss John's opinions by saying 'you weren't there', to which he shot back: 'I'm glad!' 'You've made a judgement. A very quick judgement', Dustin tells him. The actor also tries to justify anything he might have said at the time by repeatedly insisting that that's how everyone talked to each other because the cast and crew were 'like family', and that it was their way of blowing off steam after a long day of filming. 

'I said a stupid thing, but I said it in the midst of the crew and they said their stupid things, but they were sexual in terms of the humour of it', he explained. 'That's 40 years ago.' Unfortunately, that also wasn't quite the response John wanted to hear.

More: Dustin Hoffman gets accused of sexual harassment

'I gotta say, I don't love that response either', he said. 'It just feels like dismissals or recontextualising it is not actually addressing it.'

'I get no pleasure in having this conversation', he added. 'But you and I are not the victims here, that's the thing.' The conversation got more uncomfortable as it wore on, with John taking exception to each defence Dustin tried to make, but he knew that he couldn't leave that room until he had said his piece. Needless to say, many of the women in the audience were grateful.