A 20th anniversary screening of the film Wag the Dog turned testy Monday night when comedian/Last Week Tonight host John Oliver asked actor Dustin Hoffman about allegations of groping made against him by Anna Graham Hunter, who was a 17-year-old intern on the set of the 1985 TV film Death of a Salesman at the time.

According to the Washington Post's Steve Zeitchik, who was at the event and live-tweeted the exchange, Oliver brought up the allegations about halfway through a post-screening panel discussion, which also included Robert De Niro, producer Jane Rosenthal, and director Barry Levinson. Oliver referred to Graham's accusations as the "elephant in the room."

John Oliver just went after Dustin Hoffman big time on sexual harassment at this Wag The Dog panel. Hoffman grew visibly uncomfortable. "You weren't there," he says to Oliver. "I'm happy I wasn't," Oliver replied.
— Steven Zeitchik (@ZeitchikWaPo) December 5, 2017

All hell has now broken loose on this Wag The Dog panel. The subject seemed over after seven minutes but Hoffman brought it up again, saying Oliver is not keeping an "open mind" and is unquestionably believing accusers, and a testy five minutes followed.
— Steven Zeitchik (@ZeitchikWaPo) December 5, 2017

And now the _ audience _ is arguing volubly back and forth about whether Hoffman is upstanding and Oliver should be asking the questions. Not sure I've ever seen anything like it at a screening panel.
— Steven Zeitchik (@ZeitchikWaPo) December 5, 2017

Later, Zeitchik described the exchange:

Hoffman accused Oliver of “putting me on display” and said he felt blindsided because neither Oliver nor Tribeca organizers had told him that the moderator would raise the subject.

Several times, however, Oliver sought to move on and talk about the film, but Hoffman returned to the subject of harassment, growing testy as he said Oliver was not keeping an “open mind” while unquestionably believing accusers.

“Do you believe this stuff you read?” Hoffman asked.

“Yes,” Oliver replied. “Because there’s no point in [an accuser] lying.”

“Well, there’s a point in her not bringing it up for 40 years,” Hoffman said.

“Oh, Dustin,” Oliver said disapprovingly, putting his head in his hand.

At one point, Rosenthal tried to jump in and defuse the situation.

“You also have the way men and women worked together [in the past]; you are in a situation where ‘that was then, this is now,’” Rosenthal said. “[And] what difference is all this going to make? … This conversation doesn’t do any good. We have a platform here. How are we moving [the issue] forward?”

Hoffmann has also been accused of groping by Katharine Ross, his co-star on The Graduate, as well as the writer Wendy Riss Gatsiounis, who accused him of hitting on her during a 1991 pitch meeting.

In 1997's Wag the Dog, Hoffman plays a Hollywood producer who helps fabricate a war to cover up a Presidential sex scandal.