Embattled actor Noel Clarke will not be charged criminally for the accusations made against him in 2021, but the effect on his career has been detrimental. The two-time BAFTA winner has spoken out after Metropolitan Police officially ceased their investigation into Clarke's alleged wrongdoing. Police say that the allegations did not "meet the threshold for further police inquiry."
Speaking with The Daily Mail for the first time since the investigation was closed, Clarke described how the allegations had not only cost him several acting roles but even resulted in the closure of his production company. He laments how he had been tried and convicted in the court of public opinion and the media while not actually going to a real trial with genuine criminal charges. As Clarke puts it, it feels like "McCarthyism" for the actor.
“There has been no arrest, no charges, no trial, no verdict but I have been criminalized. This is a form of modern McCarthyism... If we don’t need police and judges and juries anymore, if we only need social media and the broadcasters, then what world do we live in? At what point did the broadcasters in this country become the judges, juries, and executioners of people? At what point did BAFTA decide they were no longer about films, but they were about judging people’s lives? This is not about me, it’s bigger, it’s about due process. Yes, people have said these things about me – but if I say you’re a donkey, it doesn’t make you a donkey, does it?”
During the peak of the controversy, BAFTA had suspended Clarke's membership along with withdrawing his award for outstanding achievement in British cinema. The news followed the publishing of reports at the Guardian and GQ Magazine that featured complaints made by over 20 women over 15 years. Complaints included alleged instances of groping, inappropriate comments, and secretly filming an undressed actress and showing the footage to a producer. Clarke is suing BAFTA, the Guardian, and GQ's publisher Conde Nast for defamation.
“Twenty years of work was gone in 24 hours. I lost everything. The company I built from the ground up, my TV shows, my movies, my book deals, the industry respect I had. In my heart and my head it has damaged me in a way I cannot articulate.”
Noel Clarke Thinks a Return to Acting is Unlikely
Clarke says most of the allegations against him are false, but takes responsibility for making "saucy" comments on movie and TV sets, remarks he said were jokes meant to lighten the mood. He says he "100 percent" regrets all of this now, admitting that he "should have known better" at the time.
"I can't say I never talked about sex at work. We're adults in a workplace and people make jokes and have conversations with each other that cross the line. Sometimes you're with each other for six, seven months, away from home. I think sometimes these are just normal, or slightly inappropriate, conversations that people have. I was never involved in any conversation that I didn't believe was mutual, wasn't being reciprocated. Maybe I should have known better. But you know what, I didn't always know better."
Be that as it may, Clarke insists he's never groped or harassed anyone. He also pointed out how BAFTA receive no first-hand allegations of the actor's alleged misconduct, as they came from "second- or third-hand accounts via intermediaries." Clarke also feels that his "assassination" came about through his accusers banding together to make "bold statements" at the height of the MeToo movement.
"None of them wants to be wrong. They made such big, bold statements. Then there's the current climate, the moment anyone speaks out, or even says, 'Hold on a second, what's the context?', society turns on them too. I wouldn't even say it was a campaign or a conspiracy, I think it's a lot of people who were sent emails and WhatsApp messages and were told this guy – me – has done these vile things and asked, 'Has he ever done that to you?' And a lot of people said, 'No, but he did shout at me one time.' Or, 'No, but he did say my butt was nice.' Then for me, you know, it was death by 1,000 cuts."