Morgan Freeman 'Devastated' His 'Humor' Considered Sexual Harassment, Issues Second Apology

Actor Morgan Freeman released a second apology Friday after being accused of sexual misconduct by eight women in a CNN report, published Thursday.

In his second apology, Freeman said his actions, while intended as being humorous, might have been taken out of context, for which he was ready to apologize repeatedly:

The above statement followed a shorter one, released by the actor, immediately after the report was published. “Anyone who knows me or has worked with me knows I am not someone who would willingly offend or knowingly make anyone feel uneasy," he said in his first statement. "I apologize to anyone who felt uncomfortable or disrespected — that was never my intent."

CNN spoke to 16 people, of whom eight women alleged the legendary actor subjected them to unwanted touches and lewd behavior when they worked with him on various film sets.

One of them was a production assistant in the movie "Going In Style," back in 2015. The unidentified woman said Freeman frequently commented on her figure and tried to touch her inappropriately a number of times.

Freeman would keep rubbing her lower back, the woman said, adding that he “kept trying to lift up my skirt and asking if I was wearing underwear."

According to her, it was only when "Alan [Arkin, who co-starred in the movie] made a comment telling him to stop” that “Morgan got freaked out and didn't know what to say."

Another female assistant who worked with the actor in “Now You See Me” in 2012 also reaffirmed the fact that Freeman would often comment on woman’s bodies.

"He did comment on our bodies... We knew that if he was coming by... not to wear any top that would show our breasts, not to wear anything that would show our bottoms, meaning not wearing clothes that [were] fitted," she said.

Most of the women who claimed they were victims of sexual harassment by Freeman, said they did not report his actions to the higher authorities because they feared they would lose their jobs over it. Instead, they coped with his inappropriate behavior by changing the way they dressed around the set when they knew he would be around.

After the report of the alleged sexual misconduct against Freeman was made public, Visa suspended its marketing campaign with the actor. The actor was featured in several commercials for the company and his voice was used in its advertisements.

"We are aware of the allegations that have been made against Mr. Freeman. At this point, Visa will be suspending our marketing in which the actor is featured," the company said late Thursday.

A spokesperson for the company added: “In light of information we learned Thursday morning of allegations regarding actor Morgan Freeman, TransLink has decided to pause his voice announcements as part of a Visa ad campaign on our transit system. We will be reaching out to Visa to discuss further.”

Translink is an agency of Canada's Department of Transport and Main Roads that collaborates with Visa to help mass transit operators add wireless payment from credit cards as a fare option at gates and card readers.

The Screen Actors Guild also said it was in the process of determining if any action was warranted against Freeman, who won the Lifetime Achievement award in January.

"These are compelling and devastating allegations which are absolutely contrary to all the steps that we are taking to insure [sic] a safe work environment for the professionals in this industry," the union said in a statement via a SAG-AFTRA spokesperson. "Any accused person has the right to due process, but it is our starting point to believe the courageous voices who come forward to report incidents of harassment. Given Mr. Freeman recently received one of our union's most prestigious honors recognizing his body of work, we are therefore reviewing what corrective actions may be warranted at this time."