Bill Murray says masked kiss led to sexual misconduct allegation that shut down movie

Bill Murray said a masked kiss in 2022 on the set of a movie led to sexual misconduct allegations that eventually shut down the film, an incident the famed actor says still bothers him and feels he was “barbecued” for.

In 2022, a female staff member working on the film set for “Being Mortal” accused the “Ghostbusters” and “Groundhog Day” star of behaving inappropriately with her. The film, directed by Aziz Ansari, was eventually shelved by Searchlight Pictures.

“I don’t go too many days or weeks without thinking of what happened in ‘Being Mortal,’” the 74-year-old actor told The New York Times in an interview published Saturday. 

He explained that he had known the woman who made the complaint, and the incident involved him kissing her as they were both wearing face masks that were part of Covid-19 protocols. Murray and the woman eventually reached a settlement, Deadline reported.

When asked to discuss what unfolded, Murray said, “I tried to make peace. I thought I was trying to make peace. I ended up being, to my mind, barbecued.”

“But someone that I worked with, that I had had lunch with on various days of the week — it was Covid, we were all wearing masks, and we were all stranded in this one room listening to this crazy scene. I dunno what prompted me to do it. It’s something that I had done to someone else before, and I thought it was funny, and every time it happened, it was funny,” Murray said.

“I was wearing a mask, and I gave her a kiss, and she was wearing a mask,” he explained. “It wasn’t like I touched her, but it was just, I gave her a kiss through a mask. And she wasn’t a stranger.”

He said the incident still “bothers me.”

“Because that movie was stopped by the human rights or ‘H & R’ of the Disney corporation, which is probably a little bit more strident than some other countries’. It turned out there were pre-existing conditions and all this kind of stuff. I’m like, what? How was anyone supposed to know anything like that? There was no conversation, there was nothing. There was no peacemaking, nothing,” Murray said.

“It went to this lunatic arbitration, which, if anyone ever suggests you go to arbitration: Don’t do it. Never ever do it. Because you think it’s justice, and it isn’t,” he continued.

The veteran comedian and critically acclaimed actor, who has a long history of alleged bad behavior on movie sets, said he thinks the whole experience was “stupid.” 

“You can teach an old dog new tricks. But it was a great disappointment, because I thought I knew someone, and I did not. I certainly thought it was light. I thought it was funny,” he said. “To me it’s still funny, the idea that you could give someone a kiss with a mask on. It’s still stupid. It’s all it was.”