Sir Ian McKellen is being criticised for saying actresses trade sex for roles amid comments about the sexual misconduct scandal engulfing Hollywood.
The Lord of the Rings star's controversial statement was made while he was giving a talk at Oxford Union recently, after an audience member asked about abuse of power in the entertainment industry.
However, Sir Ian is also being defended by people who say his comments are being taken out of context for lurid headlines.
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"When I was starting acting in the early 1960s, the director of the theatre I was working at showed me some photographs he got from women who were wanting jobs - they were actors," Sir Ian said.
"Some of them had, at the bottom of their photograph, DRR - 'directors' rights respected'. In other words, if you give me a job, you can have sex with me.
"That was commonplace from people who proposed that they should be a victim. Madness. People have taken advantage of that and encouraged it and it absolutely will not do."
Following coverage of the comments, several impassioned tweets have been published.
Sir Ian himself has yet to respond to the controversy on his own Twitter account.
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