Crime Sexual abuse and harassment in Hollywood

[Angela]

The Harvey Weinstein scandal just keeps going...

See:
http://www.businessinsider.com/holl...nstein-in-the-past-2017-10/#gwyneth-paltrow-1

On one level this shouldn't be a surprise, as there is some sexual harassment in all industries, although I have to say the scale of this is extraordinary. I've worked in male dominated work places all my life, and I never heard of or experienced anything this bad.

What is particularly infuriating, however, is the mass hypocrisy involved. This man and men like him talk female empowerment, even give money to foundations working to decrease harassment in Weinstein's case, and meanwhile this is how they behave. The Board of his company basically indemnified him for his behavior, not firing him, and even going so far as to help him pay many of these women off. The female actresses who worked for him are even more culpable. They foam at the mouth when a Republican politician or pundit is caught in an affair or making inappropriate remarks, but they either go accept this intimacy, or keep quiet about it. As for myself, there isn't a job in the world or enough money in the world to make me accept or be complicit in something like this.

I now have absolutely no respect for Gwenyth Paltrow, for example. When he tried it with her, instead of handling it herself she went running for her then boyfriend, Brad Pitt, to get him to talk to Weinstein. She then went on to make pictures with Weinstein knowing full well he was doing this to every other young actress who worked with him. Meryl Streep, whom I love as an actress, and presents herself as the left wing conscience of America, has heaped praise on Weinstein when she had to know what was going on.

What is satisfying is that now that the numbers are growing, the men who tried to defend him or who are mouthing platitudes are getting their comeuppance too. Oliver Stone defended him and so women went public with allegations against him. Ben Affleck, that drunk, tried to come across as holier than thou, so he was called out by an actress who says she told him about being raped by Weinstein, and he said he'd told Weinstein over and over again to cut it out. So, he knew all along and still befriended him.

I hope they all go down.

So far only one man has come forward about being abused, but I guarantee you there are more, harassed and abused not just by males but females.

As for Weinstein's whining that he has a sex addiction, it makes me so mad I could spit. It's about power. Obviously, no one would have sex with him if they weren't coerced. He's disgusting. The descriptions of him and what he did are so unsavory that if you had to see it in the "flesh" it could put you off sex forever.

This is why if you're the parent of daughters you should make sure they get some sort of self-defense and martial arts training.

There are parts of this that I emotionally just don't get, however. Don't these women have cell phones? Tape the ******* making his threats, then knee him or use your spiked heel on his groin and take a picture of him while he's down. Send it all to his wife, the company website, blogs, anywhere you can think of. Or, if you really want to stay in the industry, leave and threaten him with it all later. Where is the street smarts in some of these women?

 

[bicicleur 2]

the hipocricy of the progressive left artist world who act as if they are the moral compass for the whole society
now they are telling it happens in every industry and that Hollywood has the courage to talk about what is hidden everywhere
I don't believe that what happened there happens to the same extent elsewhere
they have a problem and they don't want to admit it

there has been big outrage about abuse by pedophiles in the Catholic church
this is not the same but it comes close

I must say though I don't have that much respect for the victims either
they did it to get a very well-payed carreer, it was not a matter of life and death
they could have refused but they underwent it and kept it silent
I would call it very well-payed prostitution

 

[davef]

I agree, hypocrisy doesn't discriminate based on political leaning. And everyone seems to be in agreement that these women had every opportunity to alert the authorities but chose not to and personally I think it's likely they are suing for money. I'll add that Weinstein certainly deserves the lawsuit regardless of timing.

 

[Angela]

the hipocricy of the progressive left artist world who act as if they are the moral compass for the whole society
now they are telling it happens in every industry and that Hollywood has the courage to talk about what is hidden everywhere
I don't believe that what happened there happens to the same extent elsewhere
they have a problem and they don't want to admit it

there has been big outrage about abuse by pedophiles in the Catholic church
this is not the same but it comes close

I must say though I don't have that much respect for the victims either
they did it to get a very well-payed carreer, it was not a matter of life and death
they could have refused but they underwent it and kept it silent
I would call it very well-payed prostitution

I agree except for the young girls to whom this happened. Some eighteen year old girls just aren't equipped to handle it. Nor did all of them succumb. Mira Sorvino didn't, for example, but she says her career suffered as a result. Still, the ones who refused should have blown the whistle.

No, it isn't the same in all industries. You may have to put up with a lot of sexual innuendo, which it is best just to ignore or pretend you don't understand, or some babbling at office parties about how great he is in bed, or what beautiful babies he could give you, and there were always stories about which guys it was best to work with in a group rather than alone in the office late at night, but nothing as crude and disgusting and coercive as this, at least not often. There was the occasional woman who seemed to always have an affair with or marry a man who could help her career, but it was by no means the norm.

No, this level of sexual harassment and abuse is rather their own mess, and no one needs to hear from them about the problems in other sectors until they fix their own.

Ed. An Italian model did go to the police after she fled from an encounter like this, and they sent her back in wired. The Manhattan DA refused to prosecute, however, saying it was his judgment the quid pro quo wasn't explicit enough. Can you believe it? The fix was in, I think.

 

[bicicleur 2]

I agree except for the young girls to whom this happened. Some eighteen year old girls just aren't equipped to handle it.

Many of these young girls to whom it happened are in their 30's or 40's today.
They knew very well it continued with the new young girls that arrived today.
They didn't tell anything. In the intrest of their own carreer they continued playing the game.
Doing charity and being politically correct and that kind of stuff.

 

[LeBrok]

Aren't you guys ahead of yourself? What political affiliations has to do with sexual appetite, dominance and breaking the law? Conservative and religious people do it, liberal and libertarians do it, heck religious terrorists do it, all psychopaths of all convictions do it. He is a monster and should be treated like one. And just because women are afraid to confess it happened to them, to become a victim, or not to be believed and ridiculed, that's a political correctness?! Give me a break!
I'm glad women were finally brave enough to come out, I'm glad they denounced him and many started to believe in what was always a rumor, or known from third party. We have to embrace it and hope that it will be easier in the future to expose many monsters like this one.

Meryl Streep, whom I love as an actress, and presents herself as the left wing conscience of America, has heaped praise on Weinstein when she had to know what was going on.

Objection, very speculative. I'm sure he never raped anyone in public, but in confines of private room. How easy it is to assume that young actresses could falsely accuse a multi millionaire about a rape to get sweet million dollar settlement?

 

[bicicleur 2]

Aren't you guys ahead of yourself? What political affiliations has to do with sexual appetite, dominance and breaking the law? Conservative and religious people do it, liberal and libertarians do it, heck religious terrorists do it, all psychopaths of all convictions do it. He is a monster and should be treated like one. And just because women are afraid to confess it happened to them, to become a victim, or not to be believed and ridiculed, that's a political correctness?! Give me a break!
I'm glad women were finally brave enough to come out, I'm glad they denounced him and many started to believe in what was always a rumor, or known from third party. We have to embrace it and hope that it will be easier in the future to expose many monsters like this one.
Objection, very speculative. I'm sure he never raped anyone in public, but in confines of private room. How easy it is to assume that young actresses could falsely accuse a multi millionaire about a rape to get sweet million dollar settlement?

first of all you're minimising the facts by telling it happens elsewhere too, something you never should do
unless if you want to tell us they are psychopats or terrorists

second, it is very ironic that all this happened to that extent and for so long in a community that acts as if they are the moral compass of the world
they all knew Weinstein was abusing his power but they all kept silent and played the game

 

[LeBrok]

ironic that all this happened to that extent and for so long in a community that acts as if they are the moral compass of the world

Like to Catholic Church? Every political and religious organization claims a moral compass of society. Hollywood has its share of activists of many kinds, but a moral compass? Where did you hear that!

 

[Angela]

Aren't you guys ahead of yourself? What political affiliations has to do with sexual appetite, dominance and breaking the law? Conservative and religious people do it, liberal and libertarians do it, heck religious terrorists do it, all psychopaths of all convictions do it. He is a monster and should be treated like one. And just because women are afraid to confess it happened to them, to become a victim, or not to be believed and ridiculed, that's a political correctness?! Give me a break!
I'm glad women were finally brave enough to come out, I'm glad they denounced him and many started to believe in what was always a rumor, or known from third party. We have to embrace it and hope that it will be easier in the future to expose many monsters like this one.
Objection, very speculative. I'm sure he never raped anyone in public, but in confines of private room. How easy it is to assume that young actresses could falsely accuse a multi millionaire about a rape to get sweet million dollar settlement?

You've totally misunderstood my point. If you go back and check you'll see that I specifically pointed out that it happens in all sorts of industries and in all countries. It also happens to men, although with nowhere near the frequency. Nor did I say anything about women not reporting it because of political correctness. The women didn't speak out because they were either too young and confused and/or afraid of the consequences for their careers and their lives. In an interview with the author of The New Yorker article that first exposed him, the author explains that anyone who even threatened to go public would suddenly see smear articles about themselves in the media. So, he had accomplices in all sorts of places, including his PR agent, who also represents Meryl Streep.

In that same article it's pointed out that his behavior was an open secret in Hollywood. Angelina Jolie has said that after experiencing it herself she told every young actress she knew to try not to be alone with him. After an Italian actress, Aria Argento, who was assaulted by him, directed a film in which a producer behaved in exactly the same way, she says numerous actresses approached her to say they had the same experience. Ben Affleck said, "I told him over and over again to stop it."

It's obvious this was widely known. He's also far from the only one as numerous people have alleged, although again, no one has yet named names (yet) except in the case of the head of the film division of Amazon, which is backing the Woody Allen films, where he was fired. Of course, even the author of the article admits that one reason this has come out now is that Harvey Weinstein is no longer as powerful as he once was.

My point was about the hypocrisy of it all. When a Republican Congressman gets caught in an affair Hollywood and the media go into a frenzy. The late night comics have a field day. Should the events have been reported and the people taken to task? Of course they should.

It's the rank hypocrisy of it that is disgusting.

It was Hollywood media sources which unearthed the tapes where Trump made grossly inappropriate remarks to women. "Investigative journalists" went to find and interview women who had been groped or whatever by Trump. Yet all this time there was this rank misbehavior going on in Hollywood and they never said a word. It's so well known there's even a term for it: the casting couch. They certainly never did a story about it. It's in fact been reported that numerous outlets started stories about it only to kill them. Even in this case, when Ronan Farrow, who was working for NBC at the time, brought his story to his bosses, it went up the chain and then was killed at the very top. To their credit, "The New Yorker" published it. Having gotten wind of it, The Times rushed a story into print, but still some there billed it as a "revenge" piece by Farrow.

This is Rachel Maddow talking to Farrow about it. Both segments are important.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6V0kC8PeU_0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAoz9eu4TIU

Of course, she still doesn't see that she has her own set of blinders: where is her outrage at Clinton, or Polanski?

What has happened is that it's no longer about the objective facts, or morality, or even legality. It's about political party, or industry. If the behavior is about someone in your group then you shut up, but you can use it as a weapon against someone in a rival group. Look at Bill Clinton for goodness sakes'. He was a serial abuser who would drop his pants in front of women at the drop of a hat (lower class women, women Hillary called "trailer trash", whom no one would believe), an alleged rapist, a proven liar about all of it, and Hollywood and the media defended and still defend him. Even so called "women's rights" groups didn't go after Clinton. His wife defended him, and actively tried to destroy the women who acused him, and now, after days, she finally says she'll give Weinstein's political contributions to charity. If it wasn't so pathetic it would be funny.

Perhaps the most glaring example of this double standard is Roman Polanski. He gave alcohol and Quaaludes to a thirteen year old girl and then had sex with her. A grand jury indicted him but he fled to Europe where he's been happily making movies ever since. All these Hollywood big wigs signed a petition for him, including Emma Thompson, although she later asked for her name to be removed. I also don't think it's a coincidence that Ronan Farrow, who broke this story, is Woody Allen's son (although I have my doubts about that), the Woody Allen who was having an affair with his partner's eighteen year old daughter (although the affair may have started when she was still a minor), and who was accused of molesting his seven year old adopted daughter with Mia Farrow. The man had previously agreed to go to a therapist for inappropriate behavior with children. He too went to Europe and has remained there to make films, and all these A list actors and actresses continue to appear in his movies and Amazon is bankrolling his films.

This is Ronan Farrow's article about Woody Allen which he timed to appear at the same time as Allen's film debut at Cannes last year. Good for him. If more people spoke out it would be a safer world for our children.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/my-father-woody-allen-danger-892572

 

[bicicleur 2]

Like to Catholic Church? Every political and religious organization claims a moral compass of society. Hollywood has its share of activists of many kinds, but a moral compass? Where did you hear that!

I was going to give you the short answer : did you ever listen to the speeches and remarks given during oscar and grammy awards, how they are commenting and moralising on everything, even on subjects they don't know shit of? They know they have a lot of admirors and they think it is their duty to educate them in their stupidity.
And then this is repeated in late night shows and in the news media who never criticise and always agree with whatever these stars have to tell.

But I see, Angela has already given an answer with more details above.