Australian actor and film producer Geoffrey Rush has filed a defamation lawsuit against the Sydney Daily Telegraph over a report in which the newspaper mentioned the actor's "inappropriate behavior."
"This is to address the hyperbole, lies and the spurious claims about me in the entertainment community. They have splashed spurious claims with bombastic titles on their front pages," Rush said.
Last week, Sydney's Daily Telegraph cited two sources from the Sydney Theatre Company (STC) as saying that Rush was allegedly accused by another actor of touching her inappropriately.
READ MORE: Bye Bye, Underwood: Hollywood Reels Under Onslaught of Sex Scandals
The Daily Telegraph's November 30 edition was released with the headline 'King Leer' on its front page, an apparent reference to the fact that Rush has appeared in the STC's production of King Lear in the past couple of years.
Geoffrey Rush is suing The Daily Telegraph.
— Steve Dow (@dowsteve) 8 декабря 2017 г.
Indeed, the complaint was poorly handled by Sydney Theatre Company, and was a half-cooked story that shouldn't have been published, IMHO. https://t.co/cFBMuvZpNo
The Oscar-winning actor, who vehemently rejects all the accusations, had to quit his post as president of Australia's screen industry academy following the scandal.