Casey Affleck was bestowed with a major honor at the 2017 Academy Awards ceremony, winning Best Actor for his work in the film Manchester By The Sea. Despite being one of the major winners from last year's telecast, Affleck will not be on hand as a presenter this time around, no doubt to try and avoid scrutiny after he was accused of sexual assault.
Deadline reported that Affleck, brother of fellow acting star Ben Affleck, will not be giving out the 2018 Best Actress trophy, as is the tradition with the Oscars ceremony (the previous year's Best Actor passes the statuette to the current year's Best Actress). According to sources, "Affleck did not want to become a distraction from the focus that should be on the performances of the actresses in the category and that is why he made the proactive move."
With the #MeToo movement undoubtedly to be one of the major storylines at this year's ceremony, Affleck was more than likely facing an awkward scenario should he have decided to show. However, his absence is also going to generate at least some type of a conversation, following the dozens of cases that have outline sexual misbehavior in Hollywood over the past six months. There remains a certain amount of public outcry over a settlement and non-disclosure agreements were the result of accusations that Affleck exhibited inappropriate behavior toward two women while working on I’m Still Here, a project he directed that starred Joaquin Phoenix.
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