Netflix to review Nicolas Lopez deal amid harassment allegations

Los Angeles: In the wake of recent sexual and workplace harassment allegations brought against Chiles biggest box office hitmaker Nicolas Lopez, Netflix has placed its relationship with the filmmaker “under review”.

“Netflix has licensed several of Nicolas Lopez films in the past and we have an agreement for one of his new projects, which is now currently under review,” it stated, reports variety.com.

Netflix was slated to release a new Lopez film under wraps in 2019.

At least eight actresses and models, including Josefina Montane, Lucy Cominetti, Andrea Velasco and Maria Vidaurre, have come forward with damning sexual harassment allegations against Lopez.

In an Instagram post, Lopez said: “I don’t understand what is happening nor the break in my years-long relationships of trust and affection. If I sometimes have been misunderstood, I apologise. But I’m not a stalker nor an abuser.”

Lopez also posted a video on YouTube, announcing his decision to resign from his company, Sobras, in order to prevent his current problem from affecting his partners and collaborators.

He vowed to fight the allegations and repeated the earlier Instagram statement.

“We will evaluate legal actions to defend Lopez’s honor,” said his lawyer Paula Vial of the allegations that first appeared in Chile’s Sabado magazine, which she said was replete with statements that were either misleading or taken out of context.

“We are convinced that Nicolas is not an abuser and we plan to prove this,” added the lawyer.

Ironically, some of Lopez’s films on Netflix, “No Filter” (“Sin Filtro”) and “I’m Not Crazy” (“No Soy Loca”) deal with women and their right to speak their mind. Both were part of a femme-focused trilogy he had planned.

—IANS