Michael Haneke blasts #MeToo campaign

Los Angeles: Michael Haneke, the director of acclaimed film "Amour", has slammed the #MeToo movement and said the campaign leads to a "new puritanism" that worries him.

In an interview with Austrian daily Kurier, the Oscar- nominated director also blasted media for "murdered lives and careers in the process" and said the movement against sexual abuse is a "witch-hunt".

"This new puritanism coloured by a hatred of men, arriving on the heels of the #MeToo movement, worries me," Haneke said, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

"As artistes, we're starting to be fearful since we're faced with this crusade against any form of eroticism," he added.

However, Haneke said any act of "rape or sexual coercion" should be punished.

"But I find the hysteria and condemnations without any trial totally disgusting," he added.

Haneke joins veteran French actor Catherine Deneuve, who had earlier derided the #MeToo movement, which "unfairly punishes men for flirting".