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Europa Press News/Europa Press via Getty Images

Europa Press News/Europa Press via Getty Images(NEW YORK) — Woody Allen addressed allegations of sexual abuse in an interview with CBS This Morning taped in July, 2020.

CBS released the interview — billing it as Allen’s first in-depth, on camera American interview in nearly 30 years — on Sunday and it is currently available on the Paramount+ streaming service.  It comes weeks after the debut of the HBO documentary Allen vs. Farrow.

Allen, 85, says in the interview, that [Mia] Farrow “believes” she is telling the truth about her previous allegations that Allen sexually assaulted their daughter Dylan when she was a child.

“She was a good kid.  I do not believe that she’s making it up,” he says.  “I don’t believe she’s lying.  I believe she believes that.”

“It’s so preposterous, and yet the smear has remained…Nothing that I ever did with Dylan in my life could be misconstrued as that,” Allen continues.

“There was no logic to it, on the face of it,” he insists.  “Why would a guy who’s 57-years-old and never accused of anything in my life…suddenly…drive up in the middle of a contentious custody fight at Mia’s country home [with] a seven-year-old girl…on the surface, I didn’t think it required any investigation, even.”

In a statement, CBS News said the interview was shelved because of last summer’s “active news cycle” and is being released “given the renewed interest in the controversy surrounding the filmmaker.”

“The interview, which occurred last summer during an active news cycle, is being presented now given the renewed interest in the controversy surrounding the filmmaker,” according to the statement.  “The exclusive for Paramount+ offers the ability to explore Allen, his career, and the allegations in context and with the depth that this story demands.”

By George Costantino
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