Students of Aydin Aghdashloo have publicly affirmed the safe and positive environment at the academy and that they never saw the behavior suggested.
Following the initial allegations shared against Aydin Aghdashloo, a group of more than 150 former students, many of them women, published an open letter affirming the positive and professional environment provided by Aydin Aghdashloo.
It is important to point out that beside the dozens of students participating in classes, Aghdashloo’s family members including his son and daughter were also regular students at his academy, spending many hours studying alongside other students.
In multiple news outlets and on social media, the students confirmed that they never saw behavior suggested by The New York Times article. An excerpt from the statement noted:
As those who attended courses offered by Aydin Aghdashloo over many decades in a safe, professional, and constructive environment based on solidarity and growth, we have found him an inspiring artist, a caring teacher, a master, a companion, a confidant, a friend, a meticulous expert, and a critical thinker. More than anything, he has taught us how to live. A mere page won’t encompass all of our stories; we have each glimpsed at facets of Aydin Aghdashloo’s multilayered character, each layer rich with meaning and values, and deserving a thousand words to describe… Our aim was to avoid putting out fire with gasoline, to let the smear campaign pursued for the past several years against Aydin Aghdashloo wither, and let the light of day come through.
Our understanding and personal experiences have nothing to do with the conditioned toxic atmosphere currently present, which attempts to blemish individual and collective achievements of some of the artists of this land.
We are all part of this society, and we don’t accept slanderous discourses used as pretext for seeking justice, because we don’t want to witness the repetition of history.
To read the complete statement and signatory names please see below.