So the floodgates opened after the Harvey Weinstein allegations about sexual assault hit the news. The #MeToo movement was born and a tsunami of allegations against countless Hollywood celebrities, famous news personalities, and others began to roll in.
To list just some of the people with accusations against them you have Ben Affleck, Scott Baio, Mario Batali, Luc Besson, David Baine, Nick Carter, Vincent Cirrincione, Louis C.K., David Copperfield, Junot Diaz, Andy Dick, Michael Douglas, Richard Dreyfuss, Charles Dutoit, James Franco, Morgan Freeman, Gary Goddard, David Guillod, Paul Haggis, Dustin Hoffman, Ethan Kath, R. Kelly, Andrew Kreisberg, John Lasseter, Matt Lauer, James Levine, Peter Martins, Benny Medina, Murray Miller, T.J. Miller, Nelly, Carter Oosterhouse, Jeremy Piven, Brett Ratner, Twiggy Ramirez, Charlie Rose, Chris Savino, Nev Schulman, Mark Schwahn, Steven Seagal, Gene Simmons, Russell Simmons, Bryan Singer, Tom Sizemore, Travis Smiley, Kevin Spacey, Morgan Spurlock, Sylvester Stallone, George Takei, Jeffrey Tambor, Boyd Tinsley, James Toback, Ben Vereen, Bruce Weber, Bob Weinstein, Matthew Weiner, and Ed Westwick.
The vastness of this partial list is troubling. These people have all been accused of different levels of harassment by one or more individuals. The #MeToo movement has been getting larger over the past months, and stories have been stared across social media by people around the globe.
My first question is how did we, as a country and a world, let things get this bad before bringing light to them? Harvey Weinstein for instance. Someone as rich and well known as Harvey who has allegedly done more improper things with women in his career than many other offenders combined, cannot get away with this horrible behavior for as long as he did without others knowing. I guarantee you that others within Harvey's life were well aware of the type of person he was and the advances he made on these women. That, coupled with word of mouth of the victims, who in many cases confided in people close to them after experiencing the violations they did, makes it very difficult for me to believe this was all happening to the surprise of everyone in that world.
I bring that up because this movement needs to be about bringing these perpetrators to justice, but it also needs to be about completely changing the culture that exists in Hollywood, the News, and in other areas of society that has allowed people to do these horrible things and get away with them for years. In many cases, these people are people of power, like Harvey Weinstein, who use their power to take advantage of young actresses who are trying to make it in the business. Those actresses know that Hollywood, similar to Broadway, is a very small world even thought it is so big, and one bad review from a man of power can ruin any chances you have in the business. People like Harvey knew that they had that power over certain people, and they used that power to accomplish the horrible things they did.
So its time for these horrible people to see their days in court and to receive punishment for their crimes, but it is also time to change the culture that led to these perpetrators being able to do these horrible things.
Another thing I have thought about recently are the false accusations that have come to light in some cases over time. In cases like Harvey Weinstein's where there are scores of accusers with their individual, unconnected allegations, it is easy to determine that in most every case there was truth in the accusations made. In other cases it becomes more difficult. There are cases where one person came forward to accuse a Hollywood Celebrity like Aziz Ansari or Famous person from another industry. The accusation is very serious, and it becomes a very difficult thing to sort through and figure out. In the case of Aziz, it was an anonymous individual who came forward with an accusation online against Aziz, that when sorted through and unpacked, turned out to be more of a misunderstanding than anything else. It was a woman who Aziz had been on one date with where they did perform some sexual acts on each other. Everything seemed consensual to Aziz, until the following day when he received texts from the woman talking about how it was uncomfortable for her the night before. He immediately took it seriously and let her know that in no way did he mean for it to be uncomfortable, and didn't know that because she never said anything.
The situation ended up being much different than it was originally portrayed in the accusation, but one thing unfortunately sticks in my mind about false accusations. In the court of public opinion, one false accusation can ruin a person's career even if it is proven false. Aziz, to some extent, will live with that fog over him for the rest of his life, and his case is a very simple one that ended quickly. There are more that didn't.
So the #MeToo movement is something that this world obviously needed in order to bring some very horrible acts to light. Moving forward, however, it is imperative that we not only continue to drive for people to feel free to voice their accusations without fear of reprisal, but continue to drive for a change in the culture that has existed for so long in society surrounding people of power, which has been the underlying fact to many of the cases that have become public. Without a culture change, another Harvey Weinstein will pick up where he left off and continue the horrible crimes for the next few decades. Another Charlie Rose will harass people at a news agency. New men of power, and for that matter women of power, will continue to do the things the #MeToo movement is trying to stop.
My message to those out there who are thinking of coming forward with false accusations against someone just because you don't like them or want to cause them pain, don't do it. No one should have to live under the fog of a false accusation of sexual assault for the rest of their lives just because you have a problem with their personality. Think of the impact before you make the accusation. If you are in a situation where you were truly harassed or abused, stand up and speak up with confidence, and do it now. Don't wait. It will be painful for you to go through, especially living through it all again in court, but it will be far less painful than living with it in secrecy for the rest of your life.
DUNK
To list just some of the people with accusations against them you have Ben Affleck, Scott Baio, Mario Batali, Luc Besson, David Baine, Nick Carter, Vincent Cirrincione, Louis C.K., David Copperfield, Junot Diaz, Andy Dick, Michael Douglas, Richard Dreyfuss, Charles Dutoit, James Franco, Morgan Freeman, Gary Goddard, David Guillod, Paul Haggis, Dustin Hoffman, Ethan Kath, R. Kelly, Andrew Kreisberg, John Lasseter, Matt Lauer, James Levine, Peter Martins, Benny Medina, Murray Miller, T.J. Miller, Nelly, Carter Oosterhouse, Jeremy Piven, Brett Ratner, Twiggy Ramirez, Charlie Rose, Chris Savino, Nev Schulman, Mark Schwahn, Steven Seagal, Gene Simmons, Russell Simmons, Bryan Singer, Tom Sizemore, Travis Smiley, Kevin Spacey, Morgan Spurlock, Sylvester Stallone, George Takei, Jeffrey Tambor, Boyd Tinsley, James Toback, Ben Vereen, Bruce Weber, Bob Weinstein, Matthew Weiner, and Ed Westwick.
The vastness of this partial list is troubling. These people have all been accused of different levels of harassment by one or more individuals. The #MeToo movement has been getting larger over the past months, and stories have been stared across social media by people around the globe.
My first question is how did we, as a country and a world, let things get this bad before bringing light to them? Harvey Weinstein for instance. Someone as rich and well known as Harvey who has allegedly done more improper things with women in his career than many other offenders combined, cannot get away with this horrible behavior for as long as he did without others knowing. I guarantee you that others within Harvey's life were well aware of the type of person he was and the advances he made on these women. That, coupled with word of mouth of the victims, who in many cases confided in people close to them after experiencing the violations they did, makes it very difficult for me to believe this was all happening to the surprise of everyone in that world.
I bring that up because this movement needs to be about bringing these perpetrators to justice, but it also needs to be about completely changing the culture that exists in Hollywood, the News, and in other areas of society that has allowed people to do these horrible things and get away with them for years. In many cases, these people are people of power, like Harvey Weinstein, who use their power to take advantage of young actresses who are trying to make it in the business. Those actresses know that Hollywood, similar to Broadway, is a very small world even thought it is so big, and one bad review from a man of power can ruin any chances you have in the business. People like Harvey knew that they had that power over certain people, and they used that power to accomplish the horrible things they did.
So its time for these horrible people to see their days in court and to receive punishment for their crimes, but it is also time to change the culture that led to these perpetrators being able to do these horrible things.
Another thing I have thought about recently are the false accusations that have come to light in some cases over time. In cases like Harvey Weinstein's where there are scores of accusers with their individual, unconnected allegations, it is easy to determine that in most every case there was truth in the accusations made. In other cases it becomes more difficult. There are cases where one person came forward to accuse a Hollywood Celebrity like Aziz Ansari or Famous person from another industry. The accusation is very serious, and it becomes a very difficult thing to sort through and figure out. In the case of Aziz, it was an anonymous individual who came forward with an accusation online against Aziz, that when sorted through and unpacked, turned out to be more of a misunderstanding than anything else. It was a woman who Aziz had been on one date with where they did perform some sexual acts on each other. Everything seemed consensual to Aziz, until the following day when he received texts from the woman talking about how it was uncomfortable for her the night before. He immediately took it seriously and let her know that in no way did he mean for it to be uncomfortable, and didn't know that because she never said anything.
The situation ended up being much different than it was originally portrayed in the accusation, but one thing unfortunately sticks in my mind about false accusations. In the court of public opinion, one false accusation can ruin a person's career even if it is proven false. Aziz, to some extent, will live with that fog over him for the rest of his life, and his case is a very simple one that ended quickly. There are more that didn't.
So the #MeToo movement is something that this world obviously needed in order to bring some very horrible acts to light. Moving forward, however, it is imperative that we not only continue to drive for people to feel free to voice their accusations without fear of reprisal, but continue to drive for a change in the culture that has existed for so long in society surrounding people of power, which has been the underlying fact to many of the cases that have become public. Without a culture change, another Harvey Weinstein will pick up where he left off and continue the horrible crimes for the next few decades. Another Charlie Rose will harass people at a news agency. New men of power, and for that matter women of power, will continue to do the things the #MeToo movement is trying to stop.
My message to those out there who are thinking of coming forward with false accusations against someone just because you don't like them or want to cause them pain, don't do it. No one should have to live under the fog of a false accusation of sexual assault for the rest of their lives just because you have a problem with their personality. Think of the impact before you make the accusation. If you are in a situation where you were truly harassed or abused, stand up and speak up with confidence, and do it now. Don't wait. It will be painful for you to go through, especially living through it all again in court, but it will be far less painful than living with it in secrecy for the rest of your life.
DUNK
Comments