Hollywood Sexual Harrasment/Assault Thread

[Khan]

As Minnie Driver said to John Cusack in "Grosse Pointe Blank," there are certain things that you don't do in a civilized society. Robbing defenseless, underaged boys of their innocence and security would be high on anyone's list.

[Vee]

More Spacey accusations.

[Faulkner]

Spacey sounds absolutely unhinged. That journalist's story of KS screaming at him is just astonishing.

 

By the way, the executive who groped Terry Crews has been identified as Adam Venit of WME. He's the agent for Emma Stone, Diane Keaton, Adam Sandler, and, notably, Dustin Hoffman and Brett Ratner, among others. He's now on a leave of absence.

http://variety.com/2017/biz/news/adam-venit-terry-crews-sexual-harassment-1202605857/

Edited November 4, 2017 by Faulkner

[Khan]

 

Oh, good God.  You have a pervert for an agent, and your BFF is Woody Allen.  Seriously, Diane, what gives?

[Vee]

In fairness, I don't think Keaton has worked with Woody Allen in like 20+ years.

[Khan]

True dat.

[DRW50]

 

The whole role of agents in this has been a secondary story, but in some ways it's the most disturbing to me, especially when I read Deadline comments (which could be BS, I realize) about some of these agents and see people say that there have been stories for years on how they've violated and abused and nothing is done. Yet this doesn't get the publicity that actors or directors do. 

 

I was listening to a podcast today about this issue and they were speculating on who from this group will have a comeback, and when it will be, etc. and also when the "alt-right" or Faux News will start championing these men. I do think that it will happen soon, if the story keeps on, and hasn't yet mostly because these men are all seen as being part of liberal Hollywood (and in some cases are Jewish, which makes them evil personified to many these days). Even those at Faux News who have gotten the hammer were't especially popular (O'Reilly). If someone from one of those "pro-family" (ugh) film series or TV shows were in the crosshairs of these scandals, we'd be getting a much different reaction from many in the public, and also the press. 

 

I do wonder if any of these men will make a comeback. It feels like a lot of them were either on the way out or heading for a fall anyway. And most of them are people who had had rumors attached to them for years. There are some I don't think will be that affected long-term, like Ratner. I also think some who haven't gotten as much attention, like Hoffman, will probably continue on with their career, probably more successfully than some who haven't been accused of doing anything but have come out looking like huge hypocrites (many attached to Weinstein).

 

Speaking of Spacey - the people in the Deadline comments also had some just awful things to say about the production company for House of Cards.

 

Anyway, Julianna Margulies shared her story - the part about Seagal is pretty hair-raising.

 

http://deadline.com/2017/11/juliana-margulies-claims-sex-harass-by-harvey-weinstein-and-steven-seagal-1202201691/

[Vee]

No, Brett Ratner is done.

[DramatistDreamer]

I swear this thread should be renamed "To Catch A Predator".  

 

One Arab-American women journalist likened this to The Arab Spring but with Creeps.

[DRW50]

It's what I expected, but still, seeing some of the reactions on Twitter are so disgusting, especially some of the reactions about Kevin Spacey. I kept seeing one man tweet over and over "I knew exactly what I was doing when I was 14!!!" which I take to mean they think Rapp was some kind of all-powerful, callous manipulator of men. Ugh. Or people saying he did this for his career,  which makes no damn sense, as anyone in the industry knows this is likely to hurt his career, not help. And the people tweeting rage because they "lost" House of Cards. [!@#$%^&*] you. 

Edited November 4, 2017 by DRW50

[amybrickwallace]

 

Steven Seagal has long had a reputation for being an absolute creep. Hunter Tylo shared a story some years ago about auditioning for a role in one of his movies, and how he proceeded to grope her and repeatedly gave her the tongue. I know that one has to take things Hunter Tylo says with a grain of salt, but in this case I never doubted her for a second.

Edited November 4, 2017 by amybrickwallace

[Juliajms]

We saw a preview of these reactions when Michael Muhney was fired from Y&R. Some people are so deluded they'll stand by these actors no matter what they do and try to shift blame to the victims. It's disgusting.

It's horrifying to me how often even ordinary families seem to rally around the perpetrator. They are defended with silence at the very least.  Not that I have anything to tell you how awful it is for victims after what you've been through.

[ChitHappens]

 

Looks like we need Chris Hansen back on the payroll at NBC!   

[DramatistDreamer]

 

And NBC/Access Hollywood needs to release all that audio and B-roll footage of Trump's awful remarks that they've been hiding.

 

Reading these accounts of how many women were complicit in leading other women into traps with Weinstein...after the 2016 election, this doesn't surprise me but I'm still disgusted and disappointed nonetheless.

 

As for HOC, I was ready for the series to be over for quite sometime, despite the fact that last season was the most compelling it had been in at least two seasons.

Maybe because I watched and enjoyed the original British series, I always saw it as having a limited run--I didn't expect it to last as long as it has.

[I Am A Swede]

Maybe I've been naive up till now, but I'm completely shocked by the sheer magnitude of this. I always suspected that these things happened in showbusiness, but there have been so many stories from all aspects of society that I'm stunned. Being a male myself this is not something that I've ever experienced personally, but I'm deeply ashamed of my gender these days.

What is it with these (predominantly) men who seemingly thinks it's their right to act like this towards (predominantly) women?