Director’s son criticizes child sex abuse suit

The son of “Romeo and Juliet” director Franco Zeffirelli has responded to a child sexual abuse lawsuit recently submitted in Los Angeles County by the film’s stars, Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey.

Pippo Zeffirelli — who also serves as president of the Franco Zeffirelli Foundation — called the case brought against Paramount Pictures and allegations levelled against his late father “embarrassing” in a Friday statement to the Guardian. Franco Zeffirelli died at age 96 in 2019.

“It is embarrassing to hear that today, 55 years after filming, two elderly actors who owe their notoriety essentially to this film wake up to declare that they have suffered an abuse that has caused them years of anxiety and emotional discomfort,” Pippo Zeffirelli said.

Whiting, who played Romeo Montague when he was 16, and Hussey, who played Juliet Capulet when she was 15, are suing Paramount, accusing the studio of sexual harassment and child sexual abuse over the1968 film’s controversial nude scene: a bedroom sequence in which Whiting’s bare buttocks and Hussey’s bare breasts are visible.