Hollywood Sexual Harrasment/Assault Thread

[JaneAusten]

Lysette Anthony also. Wow. 

 

And I am not judging any of these women but Sarah Polley - well that story was pretty amazing and gutsy but then she said acting was not really her passion. I liked the side story about Julie Christie and her film and how it made her return to acting, even if for a brief period.

 

Kate Winslet. Meh - I am sorry that story really is just another story about a strong armed producer. And she's so outraged about all this, she just finished a film with Woody Allen, who's career allegedly was saved by Weinstein.

 

 

 

 

 

[DRW50]

The hypocrisy and blind eyes of some in Hollywood, including some who go on about progressive causes, is why I can't really go into the whole "Harvey pays and Trump doesn't" stuff in the political thread. Harvey did not pay for many, many years, and even now is likely going to walk away well off, even if his reputation and career are gone. 

 

The more time passes the more I feel like people are going to implode (as Rose McGowan seems to be doing - I hope someone gets her some help), and that will help enable the others in Hollywood like Harvey who haven't been exposed. And the same old story will continue on.

Edited October 16, 2017 by DRW50

[Khan]

Americans LOVE a good redemption story, so I don't know if it's safe to say just yet whether Harvey's reputation or career is kaput.  If he shows enough contrition, then he'll back in Hollywood.

 

Or he'll just enter politics.

Edited October 16, 2017 by Khan

[Taoboi]

Ah...the Angelique I knew....sad.

 

Loved that piece with Sarah Polley who I remember from Avonlea and loved in Go. I had not known she had flat out stopped acting, but I do love that she refound some interest at one point.

[Chris B]

This is going on a tangent, but I remember when Nicollette Sheridan sued Marc Cherry for slapping her. Everybody treated it like a joke and she lost her career which she had just gotten back with Desperate Housewives. I remember nobody was denying it, the other women were aware but nobody really supported her or cared. She was physically assaulted and lost her career, can you imagine how these women must've felt going up against someone much more powerful and for a sexual crime?! I mention the Nicollette story because many people keep asking why these women didn't say anything sooner and that is a perfect example why.

 

It doesn't matter if it's a physical assault like the Nicollette thing, or racism in the cast of Victoria Rowell or sexual assault--nobody is going to defend you against a heavy hitter in Hollywood. All of these things exist and are happening, it isn't just Harvey, but it's hard to win in a situation like this. I don't mean winning in terms of the law or money, I mean in terms of your career. Had any of these women spoken out when these things happened they would've been blacklisted and called liars. The only reason this is working now is due to a deep investigation which finally caused it to all be unraveled. I'm glad this is happening but so sad for others who HAVE lost their careers and are being branded as crazy for speaking out when these things happen to them. 

[ChitHappens]

 

Preach!

[Cat]

And so the whitewashing and rebranding of TWC begins...

 

Weinstein Company in talks over possible sale:

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-41641419

 

What worries me is the momentum dying on this. Other studios, company execs, the media, district effing attorneys were all actively complicit in covering this sh*t up and keeping the omerta going. Look at the way so many actresses have been tarnished with the crazy brush whenever they raised their voices. Look at how Corey Feldman was publicly shamed by Barbara Walters on The View ("You’re damaging an entire industry!”) for talking about pedo rings in HW. Not a peep has been mentioned about prosecuting Weinstein for all these felonies, nor about launching a class action lawsuit on TWC for the cover-up. Now TWC is selling out to a private equity firm and the board of directors will likely by getting a nice payout.

 

Yep. Nicolette's career never recovered. And we all know Victoria Rowell's career didn't either.

 

Sadly Harvey Weinstein is the rule not the exception... Is the impetus to exact meaningful change in Hollywood is there? I hope so... 

[Khan]

ICAM, Cat.  No one who was complicit in this deserves "golden parachutes."  They, along with Harvey, deserve nothing less than criminal prosecution.  Moreover, whatever monies they all have should be paid to their victims, or at the very least, donated to non-profit organizations that promote awareness of children's and women's issues.  I'm sure others will disagree, but it's just how I feel at the moment.

 

 

In theory, Emma Thompson's suggestion that we need more women in positions of power within the film industry sounds wise.  However, who's to say that some women haven't or wouldn't abuse THEIR power by sexually harassing men or even other women?

 

I just think we need to stop keeping this [!@#$%^&*] under the rug whenever it happens.  As the saying goes, "If you see something, say something;" and the rest of us need to rewire our brains so that we don't automatically blame the victims, but instead support them and see to it that the proper authorities prosecute the offenders to the fullest extent of the laws.

Edited October 16, 2017 by Khan

[DRW50]

 

He's under investigation in several places though, isn't he? (NY, London)

 

I don't think Hollywood will ever change, as it hasn't really changed from the early days. Or even from the pre-Hollywood years. What changes is the methods of coverup. I imagine the biggest changes will be when more and more of the industry and the money of the industry ends up being in places like China (which has its own issues...). 

 

Nothing will ever truly change because society will always be happy to blame women. Men do it. Other women do it. Happily. From the getgo of this scandal there's been an effort to turn the blame around on women and it would have worked by now if Weinstein wasn't so heinous and so disliked in Hollywood. 

 

Others in his position who are better at being friendly will be rewarded for their efforts. 

[Khan]

 

Yep.  I feel like most of the other celebs who are speaking out for the victims and against Harvey are doing so only because they have long relished the opportunity to "get" him but have been afraid of how that might affect their careers.

[DRW50]

 

Agreed.

 

If any of these people with money want to make change they need to try to help these women. I'm very disturbed by Rose McGowan and I wish someone would get her off social media and get her real help. 

[Cat]

 

DRW, what in particular disturbs you about Rose McGowan on Twitter? I haven't been following her minute-by-minute, but she has been speaking truth to power from what I have seen. She has called out Bob Weinstein for the coverup and Jeff Bezos of Amazon (specifically Amazon studios) and other execs. I guess I am inclined to believe what she is saying, that it took a village to effect a coverup.

 

And yeah, Scotland Yard is investigating Lysette Antony's claim that Weinstein raped her after getting her drunk, I believe. But from what I understand, the NYPD had Weinstein on tape admitting to harassment and a case ready to prosecute in 2015 but the NY District Attorney ordered them to bury it... after Weinstein conveniently donated to the DA's re-election campaign. Is NY planning to prosecute again?

Edited October 16, 2017 by Cat

[DRW50]

 

She just seems somewhat unstable to me in her tweets and some of her responses...yesterday when she was angry over James Corden she did the whole "if you replace the word 'women' with the 'n' word imagine the response you'd get" type of argument, and then when she got blowback for that she said she had been high. I guess she's glad to finally be able to speak out but I think the culture of social media puts people in a bubble which isn't very good for them.

 

Maybe I'm over-reacting.

Edited October 16, 2017 by DRW50

[Cat]

 

It needs to happen, but it cannot overnight. Not unless all these longtime studio bosses are replaced across the board by more representative young talent. Daytime is a microcosm of all this: we complain about the same incompetent names on our soaps' closing credits, well, I am seeing a lot of the same names in these entertainment companies since the 90s/2000s.

 

I used the word omerta purposely earlier because it comes from Sicily and the culture of silence there regarding the Mafia. Once this attitude becomes ingrained and part of the culture (a culture where it is ok to treat women/minorities as commodities, as second -class citizens, as your personal blow-up doll, your personal punching-bag) then that culture becomes very difficult to change. It becomes about changing mentality (and as the marches on Charlottesville showed, how much has mentality changed with regards to 'old ways'?). People become attached to this way of doing things. Even people who don't directly exploit sexually are happy to deal because 'that's just how the system is,' 'better the devil you know,' 'I don't have time for your hysterics.' So many women, as Ellen Barkin said on her Twitter, were expected to work around this kind of sexual harassment, this workplace atmosphere, until it became quietly normalised, expected even. Given the synergy between Hollywood and other creative industries, I feel like there is an unspoken synergy in workplace culture too. Certainly when I worked with literary agents, in publishing and later in fashion publishing, there was talk, things were 'known,' you did as you were told, you didn't make a fuss, and your bosses were literally feudal kings and queens with the power to make you or break you with their crazy demands and temperamental mood swings.

 

Sorry for rambling about this subject; it is interesting to me all the big stars (mostly male) who are shocked, shocked I tells ya about Harvey Weinstein's crimes... and yet women all over the world sigh knowingly at this news, at the details of what happened and how the coverup/public blacklisting went down.

 

Hey maybe you are, maybe you're not. I haven't seen yesterday's tweets, just the ones from last week where she calls out some big names and presents screen-grabs for proof. I thought it was pretty ballsy of her, considering she is a confirmed victim of sexual assault and had to sign a non-disclosure agreement by the Weinstein Company (if there was nothing to disclose, why gag her with one?). When Twitter tried to shut her down, I was incensed. But I also agree that being on social media does delude people into thinking they are at the epicenter of something, inciting major change. I've seen it with Rose, and with some other famous Twitterati. I hope she can make a movement out of this and trigger change for the better, but as with any kind of fame, sometimes it goes to your head and distorts your perception, your ability to relate to others.

[JaneAusten]

I'm with Carl. Nothing will change. Weinstein is easy pickings at this point. But there have been stories about people like Spielberg, (Corey Feldman hinted at him being one of the "Hollywood predators"). I won't discount anyone who has come forward regarding Weinstein, they should all be commended. When I hear people coming forward on someone currently in the business who wields the power Weinstein did 10-15 years ago, that will push change. And you know what, it's never happening.