Elijah Wood Dials Sex Abuse Comments Way Back

In a series of tweets Monday, Elijah Wood rolled his comments about pedophiles in Hollywood way, way back. "The Sunday Times interviewed me about my latest film but the story became about something else entirely. It prompted a number of false and misleading headlines," Wood tweeted. "I had just seen a powerful documentary and I briefly spoke with the reporter about the subject which had consequences I did not intend or expect. Lesson learned. Let me be clear: This subject of child abuse is an important one that should be discussed and properly investigated. But as I made absolutely clear to the writer, I have no first hand experience or observation of the topic, so I cannot speak with any authority beyond articles I have read and films I have seen."

Wood gave the same statement to the Hollywood Reporter, which explains that Wood's Times interview was supposed to be about his new movie, The Trust. When the subject of BBC DJ Jimmy Savile, publicly outed as a child molester only after his death, came up, Wood commented on it—but Wood tells the Reporter his knowledge of the child sex abuse in the entertainment industry comes only from what he's read in the news and what he saw in the 2015 documentary An Open Secret. That film follows five former child actors who were sexually abused while trying to build a career in Hollywood. (More Elijah Wood stories.)