Oscar Winner Blasts Wesleyan Student, Defends Casey Affleck In University Paper

MIDDLETOWN, CT — Oscar-winner Kenneth Lonergan took a Wesleyan University student to task for an op-ed piece in the school newspaper that criticized actor Casey Affleck, calling it a “tangle of illogic, misinformation and flat-out slander.”

Lonergan, a member of Wesleyan’s Class of 1984 before transferring to New York University, wrote a scathing letter to the editor in response to the op-ed titled “How Wesleyan is Complicit in Affleck’s Sexual Misconduct by Endorsing Lonergan ‘84’” and written by Connor Aberle, who is listed as assistant opinion editor of The Wesleyan Argus.

Aberle criticized the university for celebrating Lonergan’s Oscar win for Best Original Screenplay for “Manchester By The Sea,” which starred Affleck, who also took home Best Actor honors. Lonergan was also the movie’s director.

Affleck was accused of sexual harassment in two civil lawsuits in 2010 during the making of the film “I’m Still Here.” He denied the accusations, and both cases were settled out of court.

In the op-ed, Aberle wrote that “Wesleyan has overlooked its complicity in Casey Affleck’s continued success for the sake of heaping praise on itself.

“The University desperately takes credit for any modicum of success from its alumni such that it congratulates people who transferred out of the school. If Wesleyan is dead-set on bolstering its reputation through Kenneth Lonergan, a former student who apparently disliked Wesleyan enough to transfer to New York University midway through college, then this institution must also acknowledge Lonergan’s problematic relationship with Affleck.”

Aberle wrote that “relationship alone should merit pause from Wesleyan, but Lonergan’s active role in casting should leave the University reticent, if not vocally opposed to him.”

“Wesleyan University cannot insist on claiming credit for Kenneth Lonergan unless they also acknowledge their complicity in the success of a perpetrator of sexual violence,” Aberle wrote. “Lonergan essentially won Affleck his Oscar by handpicking Affleck for his movie. A famous actor’s connections enable them to continue their success, and we must be cautious about praising enablers, especially when they help sexual harassers. Wesleyan cannot have it both ways; it can either be true to its progressive brand or it can indiscriminately praise every semi-notable success from alumni (and even students who transferred out).”

In response, Lonergan wrote that “only the author’s presumed youth can possibly excuse his deeply offensive display of ignorance, and warped PC-fueled sense of indignation.”

“His random use of the terms ‘sexual misconduct’ ‘sexual harassment (sic)’ ‘sexual abuse’ and ‘sexual violence,’ as if they were legally or physically interchangeable, only indicates the reckless sloppiness of his thinking.”

Lonergan criticized Aberle for writing as “if Casey Affleck were actually guilty of a crime.”

“In fact, it was alleged 7 years ago, in a civil lawsuit for breach of contract, that Casey sexually harassed (sic) two women formerly in his employ. Casey denounced the allegations as being totally fabricated. Like most civil suits, this one was settled out of court by mutual consent on undisclosed terms. In other words nothing was proved or disproved. So how does Mr Aberle dare to write as if he knows who was telling the truth and who was not? Anyone can sue anyone for anything in this country; the unsubstantiated details go in the public record and stay there.”

Read Aberle’s full op-ed piece at the Argus here and Lonergan’s response here.

Pictured: Casey Affleck, left, congratulates Kenneth Lonergan as he accepts the award for best original screenplay for "Manchester by the Sea" at the Oscars on Feb. 26 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Associated Press)