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Did Adam Driver assault Lidia Franco? Fans hit out at cancel culture after co-star clears 'misunderstanding'

Many rushed to cancel the actor after an interview by his 'The Man Who Killed Don Quixote' co-star made it seem as if the actor had 'assaulted' the 76-year-old on the sets

Many rushed to cancel actor Adam Driver after he was apparently accused of being violent and "attacking" a co-star on the sets of 'The Man Who Killed Don Quixote'. The apparent allegation was made by Portuguese actress Lidia Franco, who said Driver was physically aggressive towards her on the sets of the movie. The 76-year-old recounted the unpleasant experience she had on the sets of the 2018 movie, recalling the "very bad experience" she had because of the actor, reportedly saying that he might have the acting chops but "he is a very bad person". 

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In a podcast interview with Radio Comercial's 'Era o que Faltava', Lidia claimed that she was "physically assaulted" by Adam while they were shooting the movie. "I keep from this movie a very bad experience because of Adam Driver," she said on the podcast, as per Publico. 

“He behaved very badly with me physically,” she continued. “He attacked me.” She added that the attack "had nothing to do with the scene" and that it was a "camouflaged assault with a chair". While she does not elaborate on the details of the incident, she added what happened afterwards. According to Franco, production staff of the movie allowed her to leave the sets but she was also informed that "legally there was nothing they could do" about Driver's allegedly violent behaviour. In addition to that, Franco also accused Driver of being generally difficult on set, adding that he had technicians leave the sets during rehearsals in Spain and Portugal, and that crew was also contractually obligated not to look at the actor. 

What really happened?

While Driver is yet to make an official statement on the incident, it has now become clear that the physical assault that the veteran Portuguese actress alleged Driver made against her was "misunderstood". A native speaker took to the social networking site to share the "misunderstanding" around Franco's allegation. "Some new info by Lidia: - Lídias recently clarified that during a scene she & driver had to b physically close and he used a chair in a way that hurt her. Even tho she complained, he was “indifferent” & kept doing it. - she says she never meant to prejudice Adam," a user tweeted. The user added, "She also says she’s sorry for all the misunderstandings I think Lídias now showed more respect to Adam than he ever did to her and I think her story deserved the attention it got. Here’s the article (in PT)" embedding a link to a recent interview she gave in Portuguese. 

Is Adam Driver cancelled?

Shortly after Publico carried that article of the alleged accusations against Driver, people on the social networking site "cancelled" him. Many tweets were shared in support of Franco, calling out Driver for his alleged violent behaviour. Since the clarification, however, it looks like social media users might have to rethink their tweets.

Some still find it fishy that the account was changed. "Nothing really happened and now she’s correcting her mistake. How do we know for sure? Of course, I love Adam Driver, and I’m gonna believe Lidia’s last statement. But this was a very weird change of opinion in the span of two days," one tweeted. And even others are shocked that such allegations can also be misconstrued, "So was the adam driver thing a misunderstanding ??"

Many called out those who were quick to cancel the actor without verifying facts. "I'm genuinely curious about the people who were tweeting 'unfollow and block me if you still support Adam Driver' yesterday. Are they embarrassed? Or have they learned anything? Or are they sticking by their initial reaction?" one user tweeted. The same user added that under the garb of offering victims the benefit of the doubt, a lot of damage can be done. "People were so over the top about what was obviously going to be mistranslation or some tabloid nonsense but there were so many ppl yelling 'believe victims!' at actual portuguese speakers telling them 'that's not what she said'. Like....step 1 of believing might be LISTENING?"

In fact, the discrepancies in the account are glaring, "So..... he stood up from his chair a bit harder than necessary and it bumped her behind him?? That is a massively different story that what she told or implied the other day. The differences are hugely important -like, I’m sorry if it still made her uncomfortable. That’s obviously not okay but it surly wasn’t his intention and maybe he simply didn’t realise his chair bumped her?? Idkkkk" one user said. 

People on Twitter are also calling those out who accused him without proof. "#AdamDriver lol I like how people who accused him without proof now say "I do not regret believed the victim" Seriously? she was not a victim you fucked up and are just afraid to admit it," one tweeted.