Morgan Freeman is returning to NatGeo despite allegations
Morgan Freeman to resume work on TV series. Nat Geo will resume production of the third season of Morgan Freemans The Story of God after investigating claims of sexual misconduct against the actor. Nat Geo on Friday released a statement to share the update about the series.
“When we learned of recent allegations surrounding Mr. Freeman completely unrelated to our work with him, as a precaution we paused production on our new season in order to complete a thorough investigation led by our parent company Fox, executed through an independent investigator.” “The results of this investigation revealed no incidents of concern during any of our work with Mr. Freeman,” the statement continued. “We have now made the decision to move forward with the production of season three of ‘The Story of God’.
“This series has expanded our understanding of religion and culture around the world and has touched many of our fans, and along with Morgan and the team at Revelations Entertainment, we look forward to resuming pre-production this September. As a company, we take all issues of harassment very seriously and we’re confidently assured by the results of the investigation. The new season will premiere globally on National Geographic Channels in 2019.”
Freeman issued two statements apologising for his behaviour, but insisted in the second statement that “I did not create unsafe work environments. I did not assault women. I did not offer employment or advancement in exchange for sex. Any suggestion that I did so is completely false.”
“Through production on critically acclaimed series The Story of God and The Story of Us, we have valued a longstanding relationship with Morgan Freeman,” the network said in a statement on Friday. The decision to halt production on the show came after a May report in which eight people claimed that Freeman engaged in sexual harassment or other inappropriate behaviour towards them with eight others claiming to have witnessed the behaviour.