Hollywood Sexual Harrasment/Assault Thread

[dragonflies]

 

[Faulkner]

Not sure if there’s an MJ thread but...

 

 

[Vee]

Michael Jackson was a one of a kind talent whose music I still adore. He had a very, very sad life. But for decades I've never doubted he was a sexual predator, and nothing in his past could excuse that. He's had this coming since the day he died and a lot of the country just decided to forget.

Edited March 1, 2019 by Vee

[amybrickwallace]

 

I agree 100%. He needed psychological help, and instead chose to self-medicate with drugs and plastic surgery. He also should have learned his lesson and stayed far away from kids after the first time he was arrested.

[DRW50]

I'm wary of how much of the coverage of this documentary is devoted to:

 

- people who feel the need to tell us in great detail how they no longer love Michael Jackson music and how sad and wrong it was that they ever loved Michael Jackson music, waiting for the inevitable "oh poor you" tummy rub of validation. 

 

- people who are getting their "profound writer" britches on by desperately trying to tell us that no one in the past cared and now do Because Things Have Changed. 

 

Anyone who was not in a coma from 1993 on would know that many people did care. It was a part of national conversation for years. Day in and day out of trashy interviews in tabloids and on Hard Copy, Inside Edition, A Current Affair, American Journal, and all the rest. I did not listen to any of his music for many years because of the allegations. I do think some of them are likely true (from what I've heard about the recent ones I'm not too sure on that front), but unfortunately almost everything about the many decades of allegations has had the whiff of being compromised from the start, to the point where it is very difficult to make any real guess about what happened. 

 

The only reason talk eventually quieted is because he became much less high-profile, he went on trial and was acquitted, and he died. 

 

Forcing some kind of "moment of reckoning" for a man who has been dead for nearly a decade and who was already picked over for the last 30 years of his life is a road to nowhere, unless you exist solely to show everyone how woke and special you are, which is what clickbait journalism often consists of these days. 

Edited March 1, 2019 by DRW50

[Vee]

I believe the two featured victims. I think some of the more self-important 'woke' coverage struggles to discuss this well, especially when a lot of cultural critics tried to sweep this all under the rug a decade ago and simply re-brand Michael Jackson as the barrier-breaking musical legend with no other sins, but the doc seems extremely legit. As the two men say in the doc they were brainwashed to (as sick as it sounds) 'fall in love' with him - that made untangling themselves from his hold take decades.

[Faulkner]

Sir Ian got in trouble for saying on a recent podcast that Bryan Singer and Kevin Spacey might not have committed abuses had they been publicly open about their sexuality. He’s now issuing an apology.

 

Clip from the podcast:

 

[Juliajms]

I think a lot of people believe what Ian McKellen said. It's one of those strangely pervasive myths that society won't let go of.  I've known so many people who go in this direction when it comes to the Catholic church scandals.

[DRW50]

I was kind of surprised Ian said anything because I thought he was sort of friendly with Singer. 

 

Speaking of surprise, I'm also a bit surprised Oprah has gotten so involved in the Michael Jackson stuff, especially after her credibility has taken a hit in the last decade. I think this is one of those cases where a celebrity taking part ends up hurting more than helping.

[Faulkner]

There were rumblings that Ian was bracing himself for his own allegations, which he alluded to in his interview. That Apt Pupil set was super sketchy. (And, of course, he’s more than been around the block, as Rupert Everett can attest.)

Edited March 5, 2019 by Faulkner

[Juliajms]

Me too in a way, but she has f*ck you money to say the least and this issue is close to her heart.  I doubt I'll ever watch the documentary. I don't need or want the gruesome details.

[Graham]

McKellen is messy as hell. So he's basically already copped to what he will say as an excuse (memory loss) if an allegation pops up? Innocent people don't do that.  

[Faulkner]

SMILF has been cancelled at Showtime due to Frankie Shaw’s misconduct allegations. (Not sexual harassment in the sense we normally see, but one of the allegations was that she reportedly demanded that video monitors be turned on during a closed-set sex scene, which was in breach of an actress’s contract.)

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/smilf-canceled-by-showtime-probe-creator-frankie-shaws-alleged-misconduct-1177459

Edited March 9, 2019 by Faulkner

[DRW50]

Apparently there were also rumors that she racially segregated writers.

[Vee]

As I expected, Bryan Singer has been quietly dropped from what was intended to be his next project - this is a tidbit dropped in the second piece below. But that's just the tip of the iceberg of this truly insane story involving several Hollywood creeps and a very ambitious would-be starlet who sounds terrifying. (Her latest mark: beloved British horror director Neil Marshall)

 

 

Edited March 14, 2019 by Vee