It would take a lot to offend me: Woody Allen

Filmmaker Woody Allen, who was greeted with a rape joke at the opening ceremony of the 69th Cannes Film Festival, has spoken out about the incident, saying that he wasn't really upset with the incident.

French comedian Laurent Lafitte drew gasps from the audience with the joke that referred to the sexual assault allegations against the 80-year-old, who is in France to promote his film "Cafe Society".

"It would take a lot to offend me. What bothered me most last night was the length of the show before the movie," variety.com quoted Allen as saying.

"I'm sitting there. I know I have a movie that's an hour and a half, I would like the introduction ceremony to be 20 minutes, half hour at the most. I don't want you to spend an hour on the show. By the time my movie comes around at the end, you're antsy in your seat. To me, that is the mistake of the show. It goes on for too long. Cut that down," he added.

Allen said that he is "completely in favour" of comedians making any jokes they want.

"I am a non-judgemental or (non)-censorship person on jokes. I'm a comic myself and I feel they should be free to make whatever jokes they want," he added.

--IANS

ank/rb/dg