Elijah Wood says Hollywood is not only full of child sex abusers, but that the industry is knowingly protecting the perpetrators.
The “Lord of the Rings” star, in an interview with the Sunday Times in the U.K., accused the industry of “preying” on innocent children and said the sexual abuse of young actors is rampant.
“People with parasitic interests will see you as their prey,” Wood said. “There are a lot of vipers in this industry, people who only have their own interests in mind. There is a darkness in the underbelly.”
“If you can imagine it, it’s probably happened,” he added. “I’ve been led down dark paths to realize that these things are probably still happening,” according to another report.
Wood said he was one of the lucky ones and credits his mom for protecting him but says the victims “can’t speak as loudly as people in power.”
“That’s the tragedy of attempting to reveal what is happening to innocent people,” he said. “They can be squashed but their lives have been irreparably damaged.”
Wood related what was happening in Hollywood with a case of Jimmy Savile, a popular TV host in the U.K. who was accused of abusing young boys and girls. No charges were ever filed when he was alive, but after his death the BBC reported that some 500 allegations of abuse had been filed against him.