Harvey Weinstein megaproducer and executive ousted over sexual harassment

[gkelly]

I think what's happening is that all of a sudden women (and some men) are speaking up publicly about all sorts of behavior that they have endured in the past and didn't feel they could speak about.

Some of that behavior was criminal. Some was just insensitive. Some was part of a pattern of abuse of power. Some were isolated incidents. Some was recent. Some took place decades ago, when awareness of these issues was much lower and there was a more forgiving attitude to "boys will be boys" type of behavior and "locker room talk" etc.

The accusations involving famous people make the news.

I would tend to believe the people who are speaking out. But I would also tend to want to hear what the accused have to say for themselves, whether they recognize that they were wrong and have already changed their behavior or are prepared to do so now, and to apologize.

And evaluate each accusation according to level of severity before deciding what kinds of consequences would be appropriate.

It's up to the accusers to decide whether they will accept an apology or whether punitive justice of some sort is in order.

 

[overedge]

Someone on Twitter is claiming that they worked security on the USO tour where Franken's alleged harassment occurred, and that they were with Franken pretty much all the time for the entire tour and never saw anything happen.

I have to admit I was sort of wondering about this. Those tours go into war zones and I am sure the performers are pretty closely escorted and guarded whenever they are on the military bases where the shows take place.

 

[skatesindreams]

Trump is now trying to compare himself to Al Franken.

 

[Jenny]

Thanks for those sharing their thoughts on restorative justice, very interesting. Agree with @VIETgrlTerifa that just throwing people in prison is not always the solution for about a million reasons, and I also hope that we are soon going to move past the bandaid of someone spending a week or two at a luxury rehab for sex addiction being a solution too, because I don't think it is.

It's either a much longer process for people like Weinstein and Spacey, and for others, I'm hoping that it's a lightbulb moment. Not sure if I'm getting this across well, but what I mean is for a person to have the realization that they need to change their ways - not just what they do, but what they think. It's not enough just to stop cracking jokes or leering at women or making suggestive comments or the like - it's about not even thinking that way any more once you realize, truly realize, how wrong it is, and how harmful it can be.

I've been reading with interest the various statements made by the accused, and by those around them who are responding to what was apparently happening right under their noses. Some are just doing what their publicists and lawyers have told them to do, some are just covering their asses, some of it is fashion IMO, but some seem much more sincere, like they really have thought about it, it's changed them, and they will move forward for the better.

 

[Wyliefan]

I was wondering what in the world was wrong with men and why Franken hadn't announced his resignation yet all day long.

It was never going to happen THAT fast, in any case.

 

[Buzz]

A 1986 police report has surfaced that accuses Sylvester Stallone of sexually assaulting a 16 year old. I shudder to think of how many more allegations like these are gonna continue to surface.
http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-42023885

 

[antmanb]

It's either a much longer process for people like Weinstein and Spacey, and for others, I'm hoping that it's a lightbulb moment. Not sure if I'm getting this across well, but what I mean is for a person to have the realization that they need to change their ways - not just what they do, but what they think. It's not enough just to stop cracking jokes or leering at women or making suggestive comments or the like - it's about not even thinking that way any more once you realize, truly realize, how wrong it is, and how harmful it can be.

Weinstein and Spacey should rot in jail IMO. They will never understand or care what they have done to their victims. Both of those men have been lawyered up to the eyeballs since they first started their predatory behaviour decades ago and have crushed the people they abused using their power, money and high powered lawyers. The law firm that acted for Weinstein in London is a Magic Circle firm (Allen & Overy) and is under investigation for the practices and tactics they used to settle with some of the victims. I don't think either care about their actions except to the extent that they got caught.

 

[skatesindreams]

Trump is now trying to compare himself to Al Franken.

Will the public apply the same standards/expectations to Trump as they now demand from others?
http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/17/politics/donald-trump-al-franken-roy-moore/index.html

 

[ballettmaus]

It was never going to happen THAT fast, in any case.

I like to believe/have to believe that there are still some people out there who would have done it this fast, if such allegations are true.


For what it's worth, seven former female staffers have released a statement that Franken has treated them with the "utmost respect" https://twitter.com/danmericaCNN/status/931543510301462528

 

[Artistic Skaters]

Leeann Tweeden was on The View today talking about the incident with Al Franken. Apparently she is a friend of Megan McCain. She definitely said she was asleep when the photograph was taken, not that they were posing for media photos. They also questioned whether she was upset with the photographer who took the shot. She also says she did not ask for him to resign & he has done some great work.

Interview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJRm4jyI4WM
Letter she read from Al Franken:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoF3rq4qjtA

On a really tone deaf note regarding this issue, there is this Facebook update from a sitting (state) Supreme Court justice who plans to run for governor in 2018.

*** O’Neill discloses 50 lovers, decries media hysteria over sexual harassment :
http://www.dispatch.com/news/201711...decries-media-hysteria-over-sexual-harassment

“In the last fifty years I was sexually intimate with approximately 50 very attractive females. It ranged from a gorgeous personal secretary to Senator Bob Taft (Senior) who was my first true love and we made passionate love in the hayloft of her parents barn in Gallipolis and ended with a drop dead gorgeous red head who was a senior advisor to Peter Lewis at Progressive Insurance in Cleveland.”

O’Neill said that the focus on allegations of candidates’ sexual misdeeds distracts from bigger issues. “It trivializes the process,” he said.

O’Neill was asked if it was decent to publicly disclose who he has been intimate with over the years. He replied, “We’re done,” and hung up.

 

[PeterG]

O’Neill was asked if it was decent to publicly disclose who he has been intimate with over the years. He replied, “We’re done,” and hung up.

He's done. I hope.

 

[MacMadame]

He's infuriating because he's conflating sexual harassment/abuse with sex and it's absolutely not about that.

 

[skatingguy]

He's infuriating because he's conflating sexual harassment/abuse with sex and it's absolutely not about that.

Yup. It would be one thing if he wanted to simply air an issue in his past that might be a campaign issue for his opponents, though in this day and age, I don't know if voters care who were sleeping with as long as it was consensual sex with an adult. He doesn't seem to understand the difference, as you mentioned, and also he outed a couple of the women he was involved with by mentioning their bosses and positions. He can talk about his activities all he wants but he didn't have give any indication of the identities of the women.

 

[skatingguy]

Harvey Weinstein had secret hitlist of names to quash sex scandal
Producer hired team to investigate 91 film industry figures in attempt to stop harassment claims going public
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/nov/18/harvey-weinstein-secret-hitlist-sex-scandal

 

[ballettmaus]

There is a video of what happened between Franken and Tweeden. https://twitter.com/PromoteMyCause/status/931967228085497856
I guess, what we make of it is up to us. But she does kiss the soldier at the very end herself.
As a performer myself, I have trouble considering that sexual harrassment or any other unwanted sexual contact as they were playing roles. And even if that kiss was improv, it's still a performance. I find it hard to believe that she had never glanced at the script before reading it out loud in front of an audience.

As to the photo, I don't know what to make of it. Seeing the video, I can now see how it might have come about. If she was truly asleep, and the photo was supposed to degrade her as a woman, why is she in possession of the photo? Would Franken really have been stupid enough as to show/give the photo to the woman he is allegedly harrassing?

 

[PeterG]

Jeffrey Tambor won’t return to ‘Transparent’ amid sexual harassment allegations

Two people on the set of Transparent have made claims against Tambor. From the article, part of a quote from Tambor:

“I’ve already made clear my deep regret if any action of mine was ever misinterpreted by anyone as being aggressive, but the idea that I would deliberately harass anyone is simply and utterly untrue. Given the politicized atmosphere that seems to have afflicted our set, I don’t see how I can return to Transparent.”

 

[overedge]

Ryan Seacrest:
http://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-kno...seacrest-denies-sexual-misconduct-allegations

 

[BlueRidge]

The other shoe drops on Franken: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-1040am:homepage/story&utm_term=.ad4a9c8edf78

 

[Jenny]

Well that would appear to change everything.

Especially since just this past summer there was a very high profile case involving the exact same scenario - a celebrity doing a photo op and a man using the moment to grab a woman's ass. The victim in that case was Taylor Swift, who won a countersuit when he tried to sue her for causing him to lose his job.

 

[Buzz]

Franken is done and it's a shame.

 

[BlueRidge]

Franken is done and Trump should be next.

 

[Jenny]

It's odd that there's not more being said about Trump - the Access Hollywood video/tape is being re-reported, but wasn't there a group of women who came forward around that time, right before the election? Where are they now?

I wonder if they were all paid off and cannot speak now.

 

[Buzz]

Trump was elected because either his supporters didn't believe or didn't care about the allegations against him. And that has not changed.

 

[PeterG]

It's odd that there's not more being said about Trump - the Access Hollywood video/tape is being re-reported, but wasn't there a group of women who came forward around that time, right before the election? Where are they now?

I wonder if they were all paid off and cannot speak now.

They talked about this on The View today. After they came forward, Trump publicly said he would sue them. I'm wondering if there is an implication in this being said on the show, it made me wonder if they were trying to say that the powers that be came down really hard on these 16 women and now they've kind of gone into hiding. It's weird for there to be as much discussion about Al Franken for what he has done compared to the little discussion about Trump for the much worse things he has done.

 

[skatesindreams]

I suspect that Trump's victims have been paid; and thereby made to "disappear".

 

[debo]

Eight women tell the WaPo Charlie Rose sexually harassed them:

www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/eight-women-say-charlie-rose-sexually-harassed-them--with-nudity-groping-and-lewd-calls/2017/11/20/9b168de8-caec-11e7-8321-481fd63f174d_story.html?utm_term=.41e39b0d714e

 

[skatesindreams]

It seems that, eventually; almost everyone with a "public persona" may join the ranks of those accused.

 

[jenny12]

While it is absolutely demoralizing to hear someone that I have admired in the past has done this, I am very glad that victims seem more empowered than ever to speak out. We are getting reminder after reminder of the extreme damage created by male privilege and the patriarchy but this does seem like a real turning point, at least in terms of the media.

 

[overedge]

It's odd that there's not more being said about Trump - the Access Hollywood video/tape is being re-reported, but wasn't there a group of women who came forward around that time, right before the election? Where are they now?

I wonder if they were all paid off and cannot speak now.

I believe they also got so much online hate from Trump supporters - doxxing, death threats, etc. - that several of them went into hiding for their own safety.

But your comment reminded me that Natasha Stoyanoff, the former PEOPLE reporter who wrote about Trump harassing her during an interview, said in her article something to the effect of how she was going to be writing a regular feature about women who speak out about these things. Since then I don't think I've seen another article. Maybe I missed them but it does make you wonder as to whether there's pressure coming from higher levels of these companies to quieten down about this stuff.

 

[skatingfan5]

It seems that, eventually; almost everyone with a "public persona" may join the ranks of those accused.

I am afraid that I will be learning about unwanted sexual advances and worse from public figures I had once admired. I'm sure that a large proportion of the female posters here (as well as some of the men) have experienced similar things themselves, though probably not by someone who is a public figure. #me too