Judd Apatow has criticised Diane Keaton for defending Woody Allen - amid the backlash he faces over claims he sexually assaulted his daughter when she was a child.

Judd Apatow

Judd Apatow

The 50-year-old filmmaker is furious that Keaton, who starred in the 82-year-old director's movies 'Sleeper' and 'Love and Death', is supporting her "friend" who he believes is guilty of molesting his daughter Dylan Farrow.

Apatow - who previously expressed his disgust towards the Hollywood sexual misconduct scandal - then hit out at Allen for starting a relationship with his now-wife Soon-Yi Previn - the adopted daughter of Dylan's mother Mia and her second husband Andre Previn.

Re-tweeting Diane's comments, Judd fumed on Twitter: "I see a man who wanted what he wanted and didn't care that he was having an affair with a 19 year old when he was 54 who was also his daughter's sister. He also took nude photos of this child who he had known since she was nine and left them out for his family to see. Narcissism (sic)"

The '40 Year Old Virgin' filmmaker went onto to slam Allen for allegedly mistreating the entire Farrow family, his Mia and children.

He added: "Woody Allen was so awful to that family and all of those kids, some of whom were refugees, some with disabilities. He is so proud of having no relationship with them. Can you imagine being around a family for a decade and not wanting to know any of the children? Heartbreaking. (sic)"

Diane had taken to Twitter, writing: "Woody Allen is my friend and I continue to believe him. It might be of interest to take a look at the 60 Minute interview from 1992 and see what you think."

The actress included a link to a 15-minute Allen interview with '60 Minutes' correspondent Steve Kroft, in which Allen addressed the original claims made by Mia during their divorce.

Dylan published an open letter in The New York Times in 2014 alleging that Allen abused her in an attic in 1992 when she was seven and she accused Hollywood of turning a "blind eye".

Diane, 72, was in a relationship with Allen in the early 70s and after their split they remained close friends. She has appeared in eight of director's films, including 1977's 'Annie Hall', for which she won an Oscar for Best Actress.

It comes after Alec Baldwin - who appeared in Woody's films 'To Rome With Love' and 'Blue Jasmine' - also come out in defence of the director.

He previously tweeted: "Woody Allen was investigated forensically by two states (NY and CT) and no charges were filed. The renunciation of him and his work, no doubt, has some purpose. But it's unfair and sad to me. I worked w WA 3 times and it was one of the privileges of my career. (sic)"

Kate Winslet, Colin Firth and Selena Gomez have also previously said they regret working with Allen.