Sean Connery’s Disturbing Statement About Hitting Women Resurfaces As Fans Mourn Actor’s Death

Sean Connery made a controversial statement about hitting women over 50 years ago and many brought it up again following the actor’s death.

Connery died at the age of 90 on Saturday. Many are grieving and mourning his passing, but some chose to look back at a disturbing statement he made to Playboy in 1965 in which he seemed to have been cool with hitting women.

"I don’t think there is anything particularly wrong about hitting a woman, although I don’t recommend doing it in the same way that you’d hit a man," he was quoted by Page Six as saying in his interview with the magazine.

He added that an "open-handed slip" is "justified" if "all other alternatives fail and there has been plenty of warning."

"If a woman is a b---h, or hysterical, or bloody-minded continually, then I’d do it," he added.

Connery said the statement many decades ago, and his critics couldn't get over it.

"Sean Connery seemed cool. Unapologetically beating women is not cool," American actor Bradley Whitford tweeted.

"Sean Connery was an actor loved by many. He was also an abuser, a misogynist and an advocate for violence against women. The system enabled him to have a long and illustrious career. It's ok to critique that," another stated.

Meanwhile, a different user claimed that her granny grew up on the same street as the "James Bond" actor and he was allegedly a "bully" who used to beat her Granny's brother with a disability.

Many spoke up and defended Connery from the backlash especially that he just passed away and couldn’t defend himself. Some gave Connery the benefit of the doubt that he had after all those years.

"When he's alive to defend him self or a week or so after his passing... sure. But he just died... bodies still warm... is tearing into someone's legacy that important to you. To where you won't respect the dead or grieving?" @lunchbox_hiro commented.

"Actually no need to bring that up, unless it was yesterday. At his death.. not cool either," Julianne Christie commented on Whitford's post.

"He was also 90; born in an entirely different time and taught in an entirely different society. While it certainly needs to be discussed, we also can't damn people simply for being born in a different time," another wrote.

Connery was very popular for playing Agent 007. He starred in seven “James Bond” movies. Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig, who also played the coveted character, paid tribute to Connery, whom the former described as the "greatest James Bond."