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The Backlash To The French Actress Questioning #MeToo Has Been Vicious

Katie Jerkovich Entertainment Reporter
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Famed French actress Catherine Deneuve questioned the #MeToo movement, and in response actress Asia Argento and a group of feminist have attacked her for it, according to France 24 Wednesday.

“Deneuve and other French women tell the world how their interiorized misogyny has lobotomized them to the point of no return,” Italian actress Argento — who has accused Harvey Weinstein of sexual misconduct allegations — tweeted Tuesday. (RELATED: Rose McGowan Slams Meryl Streep For Silent Protest Planned For Golden Globes)

French actress Catherine Deneuve (R) waves as she arrives with Guillaume Depardieu for the official screening of French director Leos Carax's film "Pola X", May 13. The film is one of 22 films in competition at the 52nd Cannes Film Festival for the prestigious Palme d'Or. **DIGITAL IMAGE** - PBEAHULUBCK

French actress Catherine Deneuve (R) waves as she arrives with Guillaume Depardieu for the official screening of French director Leos Carax’s film “Pola X”, May 13. The film is one of 22 films in competition at the 52nd Cannes Film Festival for the prestigious Palme d’Or. (Photo: Getty Images)

A group of leading French feminists reacted to Denueve and women who agree with her with a letter calling them “apologists for rape.”

“Their world is disappearing,” the feminist letter read. “Their letter is like a tired old uncle who doesn’t understand what is happening, The (male chauvinist) pigs and their allies have reason to be worried. Their old world is fast disappearing.”

“Catherine Deneuve might have very different opinions about harassment if she weren’t an extraordinarily beautiful, very rich white woman living in a bubble of heightened privilege. And had some empathy,” New York Times cartoonist Colleen Doran tweeted, before continuing her attacks on the French actress in a follow up tweet.

“‘Men have been punished summarily, forced out of their jobs when all they did was touch someone’s knee or try to steal a kiss.’ Catherine Deneuve, unwittingly providing the clearest explanation yet of how men like Woody Allen and Harvey Weinstein lasted,” novelist Laila Lalami tweeted.

The remarks come after Deneuve and close to 100 other women penned a letter published in the daily Le Monde  defending men’s rights to “hit on women” and calling the #MeToo movement nothing but a new form of “puritanism.”

“Rape is a crime, but trying to seduce someone, even persistently or cack-handedly, is not–nor is men being gentlemanly a macho attack,” the letter read.