Matthew Lawrence Claims Agency Fired Him for Refusing to Strip for Oscar-Winning Director

The story came out during the latest episode of his “Brotherly Love” podcast, where he talked about this alleged experience that saw him asked to strip down naked, which led to a deeper discussion of what Matthew sees as a double standard when it comes to male sexual harassment.

In fact, Matthew says there have “been many times” he was “propositioned to get a huge role.” He then went on to detail this on alleged incident, without specifying when or where or anything particular.

“I’ve lost my agency because I went to the hotel room, which I can’t believe they would send me to, of a very prominent Oscar award-winning director who showed up in his robe, asked me to take my clothes off and said he needed to take Polaroids of me,” Matthew said.

He went on to add that he was told, “if I did X, Y and Z, I would be the next Marvel character.”

According to Matthew , though, he opted out of doing any of those things, “and my agency fired me because I left this director’s room.”

He and his co-hosts, brothers Joey Lawrence and Andrew Lawrence, then got into a larger discussion about the #MeToo movement, which Matthew thinks has been a very good thing. At the same time, he perceives a double standard when it comes to men and women opening up about their sexual harassment experiences.

As an example that men allegedly get less support when they do come forward, he referenced Terry Crews, who claims he was groped by a Hollywood talent agent at a party; the agent denied it. A lawsuit was settled out of court between the two.

“Terry Crews comes out and says it; people are laughing at him,” Matthew said of the alleged incident. “People don’t support him. They kick him out. Why?”

“Because he’s a man that represents masculinity,” Matthew continued. “And I think our society is less ready to hear that situation going on with men than they are with women.”

Acknowledging that the problem more than likely happens significantly more with women, Matthew nevertheless that it does happen with me, saying that a lot of his male friends have had similar experience.

Joey then shared that he has experienced similar situations, saying “there were plenty,” but like his brother, it came down to his principles. “I just wasn’t going to do it, you know?” he said. “And I lost out on a lot of parts, too. Big movie parts.”

“Men go through this as well, whether it’s another woman or another man in power,” Matthew said, but he doesn’t believe a lot of them are talking about it publicly, at least in part because of how they are received when they do.

If you or someone you know is a victim of sexual assault, get help. The National Sexual Assault Hotline (1-800-656-HOPE [4673]) provides 24/7, free, confidential support for people in need.