Hollywood's Next Creep

[Rachel333]

Al Franken 

He's a politician now but this was from 2006 when he was just a celebrity. I think this is the first person accused that I really liked.

Edit: I forgot that Jeffrey Tambor was accused. I don't have any strong feelings about him, but I like some of the shows he's in. Amazon is apparently considering how they could do the next season of Transparent without him. (article) Selfishly, I really don't want anything to jeopardize the next season of Arrested Development.

Edited November 16, 2017 by Rachel333

[VelociRapture]

49 minutes ago, Rachel333 said:

Al Franken 

He's a politician now but this was from 2006 when he was just a celebrity. I think this is the first person accused that I really liked.

Ugh. 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/amp/world-us-canada-42018154

His apology still isn’t great, but at least it’s better than the others have been (but really - it’s honestly not that hard to simply say “I’m a crappy human being and I apologize” without adding excuses or disclaimers.) It’s possible Franken was one of the two Congressmen that Congresswoman Speier mentioned as being sexual harassers/assaulters recently. 

George Takei has also blamed Russian bots for the negative media attention he’s getting. Which, you know, may be true... but that doesn’t mean he’s not guilty or deserving of it. 

https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5a0a11bae4b0b17ffcdfb5de

And I saw about Terry Crews yesterday too. I give him so much credit for coming forward. People can be so dismissive of victims and it takes a lot of courage to stand up to your attacker the way he has chosen to.  

Now for a few new accusations:

Andrew Kreisberg, producer of several shows including “Supergirl,” has been accused of harassment:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.usmagazine.com/entertainment/news/andrew-kreisberg-sexual-harassment-claims-cw-stars-respond/amp/

Mark Schwan, creator of “One Tree Hill,” has been accused as well. The three main female leads wrote a joint letter stating that they were harassed and (I believe) assaulted during their time on the show:

https://www.google.com/amp/ew.com/tv/2017/11/15/one-tree-hill-mark-schwahn-suspended-royals/amp/

(I don’t think that article states it, but many of their male co-stars have come out in strong support of the three women.)

Multiple women have now accused former President George H.W. Bush as well. One of them claims he grabbed her ass (to use Taylor Swift’s words) back in 2003 when she was only 16:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2017/11/13/politics/george-hw-bush-groping-allegation/index.html

 

Edited November 16, 2017 by VelociRapture

[Rachel333]

Sylvester Stallone. It sounds pretty bad.

[Inis Mona]

Not shocked at all, actually. 

[Rachel333]

Franken has apologized and is calling for an ethics investigation of himself. Tweeden has accepted his apology and says she is not calling for him to resign.

Another woman, also a right wing media personality, has accused Franken of harassment. This time there was nothing sexual; she says he argued with her on budget numbers and called her a liar on Bill Maher's show back in 2000 and then called her at home three times continuing the argument.

Edited November 16, 2017 by Rachel333

[HarryPotterFan]

In positive news, Gal Gadot successfully got producer Brett Ratner kicked off the Wonder Woman sequel: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/gal-gadot-brett-ratner-wonder-woman_us_5a08716ee4b0e37d2f381736?ncid=engmodushpmg00000003

[VelociRapture]

6 hours ago, Rachel333 said:

Franken has apologized and is calling for an ethics investigation of himself. Tweeden has accepted his apology and says she is not calling for him to resign.

Another woman, also a right wing media personality, has accused Franken of harassment. This time there was nothing sexual; she says he argued with her on budget numbers and called her a liar on Bill Maher's show back in 2000 and then called her at home three times continuing the argument.

I’m glad his apology meant something to the victim. 

(I just read the longer apology he issued and I do think that one was much better than the first. I’m glad that he intends to cooperate with any possible ethics investigation as well.)

As for the other incident you mentioned, I have zero issues with him debating her on facts. I do have an issue with him calling her repeatedly like that though. It’s one thing if she welcomed the debates and conversation, but another thing entirely that she didn’t and felt threatened by it.

[WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo?]

2 hours ago, HarryPotterFan said:

In positive news, Gal Gadot successfully got producer Brett Ratner kicked off the Wonder Woman sequel...

There was a link to an article about what Ellen Page had to say about Brett Ratner and Hollywood in general. 

https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5a05ffe4e4b0e37d2f375e0b

It's worth reading to the bottom of her statement. She ends it with:

Quote

We’ve learned that the status quo perpetuates unfair, victimizing behavior to protect and perpetuate itself. Don’t allow this behavior to be normalized. Don’t compare wrongs or criminal acts by their degrees of severity. Don’t allow yourselves to be numb to the voices of victims coming forward. Don’t stop demanding our civil rights. I am grateful to anyone and everyone who speaks out against abuse and trauma they have suffered. You are breaking the silence. You are revolution.

 

[Rachel333]

More allegations against Jeffrey Tambor.

[acheronbeach]

On 11/10/2017 at 5:17 PM, Cleopatra7 said:

I think the only reason Hollywood seems like such a moral cesspool is because it simply magnifies social pathologies present in the wider culture to the nth degree because of the insane amount of money, fame, and excess involved. Trump was correct when he said that if you’re a celebrity you can do anything you want and not get caught. It’s much easier for people to get behind locking up and throwing away the key for the stereotypical pervert dressed in a dirty raincoat and living under an overpass than to get them to believe that a celebrity that they think they know through the media has done something potentially worse over a period of decades. I think when some of these serial abusers die, only then will their dirty secrets be revealed, like with Jimmy Savile in the UK.

Anywhere there's a massive power imbalance, this sort of behaviour will be swept under the rug.  I'd go so far to say that the institutions that are supposed to protect women are often complicit in victimizing and revictimizing them. 

Maybe I'm overly cynical.  I worked for quite a while in a criminal prosecution office where young female workers were kept on contract for years.  There was no job security.  In the span of 10 years, there were 4 bosses.  1 became a judge.  The other 3 left (retired early, became a Federal prosecutor, and moved to another office) due to sexual harassment involving female contract workers.  These were guys responsible for prosecuting sex assaults.  One of them in particular refused to prosecute ANY sex assaults, and had the disturbing habit of meeting alone with the victims to personally tell them he wouldn't prosecute the charges.   These are the guys in one Canadian province who are still tasked with protecting you.  And this is just one story, I've got enough to fill a whole thread.    

Edited November 17, 2017 by acheronbeach
bah cut it down sorry for the thread drift everyone... it's been on my mind...

[clueliss]

This bit is a couple of years old.  A friend messaged me this yesterday.  um, apparently author John Grisham thinks middle-aged men looking at child porn shouldn't be penalized.  (I'll be trashing novels this weekend)

 

http://www.crimeonline.com/2017/11/15/the-firm-author-john-grisham-appears-to-defend-child-pornography-if-perpetrators-are-older-white-men/

[Rachel333]

2 hours ago, clueliss said:

This bit is a couple of years old.  A friend messaged me this yesterday.  um, apparently author John Grisham thinks middle-aged men looking at child porn shouldn't be penalized.  (I'll be trashing novels this weekend)

 

http://www.crimeonline.com/2017/11/15/the-firm-author-john-grisham-appears-to-defend-child-pornography-if-perpetrators-are-older-white-men/

Ewww

So many men have disappointed me over the last few weeks.

A guy I know personally posted on Facebook about how the "me too" movement is dumb and women are just making up problems to feel victimized. Two years ago the same guy called me to ask me out, got upset when I said no, said there was no point in being friends if we weren't going to sleep together, insisted that I had been giving him signals all along (note that he had a girlfriend when we met--I even met her--and until that call I thought they were still together), whined on the phone for *two hours* about how women wouldn't date him while getting progressively more drunk, and sent me texts the next day saying that if I'd just sleep with him I'd know I wasn't a lesbian. (He's not even the only man I've met who delusionally thinks he has the power to turn gay women bi.)

Anyway, knowing what that particular guy is like in private fuels my suspicion of men who are highly critical of the movement.

 

 

[Cleopatra7]

2 hours ago, clueliss said:

This bit is a couple of years old.  A friend messaged me this yesterday.  um, apparently author John Grisham thinks middle-aged men looking at child porn shouldn't be penalized.  (I'll be trashing novels this weekend)

 

http://www.crimeonline.com/2017/11/15/the-firm-author-john-grisham-appears-to-defend-child-pornography-if-perpetrators-are-older-white-men/

This ridiculousness sounds like what rich WASPs said in the 1920s to justify why they were flouting Prohibition, namely that they were responsible enough to drink “respectable” alcohol (ie fine wines and champagne), unlike those déclassé lower classes with their beer, gin, and sin. It’s the same excuse it’s always been that rich white men should be able to do whatever they want to whomever no matter who gets hurt, while anyone else should be locked away for doing much less. Honestly, I’m starting to wonder what’s on Grisham’s hardrive that would make he say such a thing.

[Rachel333]

Jeffrey Tambor is leaving Transparent.

Quote

“Playing Maura Pfefferman on Transparent has been one of the greatest privileges and creative experiences of my life,” Tambor told Deadline. “What has become clear over the past weeks, however, is that this is no longer the job I signed up for four years ago.”

He added, “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.”

 

[GeoBQn]

I found out that Shlomo Carlebach, a rabbi who was extremely influential in the field of Jewish liturgical music, would forcibly fondle teenage girls under the guise of a hug.  When someone posted about in on Facebook, many people were skeptical because there were no witnesses (because the dozens of women and girls he assaulted don't count as witnesses?) and that the women would speak now when he is dead and not here to defend himself (he was such a major figure in Orthodox Judaism, I think many women weren't comfortable speaking out until after he died.)  People asked if we should stop using Social Security because FDR was a philanderer.  One person compared the OP to Hitler.  Well, I'm done.  I think I might need to take a break from Facebook for the week.

[clueliss]

Today we have Charlie Rose.  Journalist and talk show host accused by 8 women of sexual harassment 

 

https://www.theringer.com/2017/11/20/16683106/charlie-rose-sexual-harassment-allegations

[Rachel333]

Also Ryan Seacrest. That's a few days old but these stories are coming so fast it's hard to keep track of.

[ViolaSebastian]

2 hours ago, clueliss said:

Today we have Charlie Rose.  Journalist and talk show host accused by 8 women of sexual harassment 

 

https://www.theringer.com/2017/11/20/16683106/charlie-rose-sexual-harassment-allegations

This is the first one that's been a punch to the gut. How could you, Charlie?

[HarryPotterFan]

So 36 women who knew Al Frankenstein (my phone did that and I'm leaving it) from his time at SNL came out in defense of him. Because apparently since he's their friend and never assaulted them, he clearly never assaulted anyone or did anything bad ever. I'm judging them so much right now and am appalled. Yes it sucks when someone who is your friend does something shitty, but you have to put on your big girl pants and accept reality, and what that means for your friendship.

"The women of SNL do not understand that friend and assaulter aren't mutually exclusive"

https://work.qz.com/1134945/the-women-of-snl-defending-al-franken-dont-understand-that-friend-and-victimizer-arent-mutually-exclusive/?utm_source=qzfb

"What this justification translates to is that a harasser is only worth abandoning if he has harassed you, or someone you know. Undoubtedly, this position may be tempting when the person in the line of fire is a colleague you admire. But the harsh reality is that our workplace persona is not always indicative of our whole truth. Relying on our knowledge of colleague’s behavior in the office as proxy for who they really are can be ignorant, short-sighted, and dangerous."

Also some asshole I know tweeted the SNL women open letter, and also a clip of Tweeden and Robin Williams exchanging a kiss on the cheek, where she then put one leg around him and smacked his butt. Labeling it, "Things that make you go hmmm..." because apparently if she did something shitty/unwanted, any claims of assault she makes are invalid.

I already knew the woman who tweeted this is an asshole, but come on.

[Rachel333]

John Lasseter, one of the Pixar founders, is taking a leave because of "missteps" in his behavior with employees.

[Ignorance Bread]

I wouldn't do what they're doing, but I kind of understand the motives behind these women who are defending Franken. It's easy to reject and dismantle the career of a sexual aggressor who is hypocritical (Moore) or an unseemly creep (Tronald Dump), but it's hard when they're people who have otherwise made a positive impact on the world. I feel the cognitive dissonance and I don't even know these guys personally.

On the other hand, I'm so glad that people are finally coming out and openly discussing what was done to them. Saying that you were sexually assaulted and talking about it with the whole world must be incredibly hard, about a million times harder than saying "I know him and he didn't grope me."  I hope that these defenders don't discourage this movement in anyway. 

Edited November 21, 2017 by Ignorance Bread

[clueliss]

CBS canned Charlie Rose today

[VelociRapture]

Add Nick Carter to the list - he’s been accused of rape.

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/pussycat-doll-kayla-jones-addressed-205956348.html

[GeoBQn]

Not giving names on this one.  I work for a nonprofit organization, and several staff members went to a conference.  They had a private meeting with an important, nationally known foundation.  The foundation's namesake is old, so his children are taking over.  They had the meeting while sitting around a table.  During the meeting, the founder kept putting his hand on the knee of one of our staff members.  She finally held his hand and kept it there for the rest of the meeting because she was afraid of making a scene and putting our funding in jeopardy.

[clueliss]

Sigh wtf Angela landsbury?  Victim blaming?  It’s the woman’s fault for dressing that way?  

and nbc has canned Matt Lauer over allegations according to my,local news just now.