#MeToo: Seal in hot water after taking on Oprah and ‘Hollywood hypocrisy’

According to TMZ, the allegations were made in a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s report, Randburg Sun reports.

This came after the singer launched an attack on Oprah Winfrey and her status as one of the leading advocates for the anti-sexual harassment initiative Time’s Up.

READ MORE: #MeToo campaign resonates with Egyptian women battling harassment

Oprah made headlines worldwide, with her speech at the Golden Globe Awards on 7 January which fuelled talk about presidential ambitions. In the speech, she called for an end to gender inequality and to attitudes, laws and practices that have long allowed men to get away with sexually harassing or abusing women.

In a controversial move, Seal posted a photo on his Instagram account, showing Winfrey with Harvey Weinstein, the now-disgraced Hollywood mogul accused of decades of sexual harassment and sexual assault. The caption, with the hashtag #SanctimoniousHollywood, read, “When you have been part of the problem for decades, but suddenly they all think you are the solution.”

Oh I forgot, that’s right…..you’d heard the rumours but you had no idea he was actually serially assaulting young stary-eyed actresses who in turn had no idea what they were getting into. My bad. #SanctimoniousHollywood

A post shared by SEAL (@seal) on Jan 10, 2018 at 2:05am PST

Seal responded by saying that his attack was not directed at Winfrey specifically, but at the hypocritical double standards and behaviour of Hollywood.

“Now let’s get straight to it. Let me start by saying that I have an enormous amount of respect for everything that Oprah has achieved and contributed in her life. What I reposted was not an attack on Oprah at all. She just happened to be the person photographed with the pig (referring to Harvey Weinstein) in the picture. No, what I reposted was commentary on the hypocritical and double-standard nature and behavior of Hollywood.”

But then actress Tracey Birdsall made her allegation against him.

Birdsall told TMZ that Winfrey’s speech at the Golden Globes inspired her to report her encounter with Seal to the police.

A source with the sheriffs’ department confirmed that a report was taken and that the incident is under investigation.

A representative for the singer said in a statement that Seal “vehemently denies” the allegations made by Birdsall. “He intends to vigorously defend himself against these false allegations.”

#MeToo campaign resonates with Egyptian women battling harassment

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