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‘Hollywood needs to step up’: Sexual harassment after Weinstein
LOS ANGELES, Jan 4, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – The #MeToo movement sparked by sexual
assault charges against movie mogul Harvey Weinstein brought down many
Hollywood celebrities, but insiders believe the entertainment industry has a
long way to go to change its culture and handling of harassment.
While the conversation surrounding predators in positions of power in
Tinseltown has moved into the open, the underlying behavior often continues –
– as do attempts to cover up incidents by people surrounding the accused.
Only two years ago, before #MeToo erupted, it was “kind of unthinkable …
to even ask Gwyneth Paltrow or Rosanna Arquette, ‘Did you get assaulted by
Harvey Weinstein?'” said the Hollywood Reporter’s Kim Masters.
But even now, “I hear stories all the time that we can’t even get to the
point of publishing,” said Masters, who has written extensively on the
scandals.
Recent films such as “Bombshell” and the Apple TV+ series “The Morning
Show” have earned praise for portraying predatory sexual harassment in the
media world.
Yet some studios and agencies still threaten lawsuits to try to prevent
true stories emerging, and only take action against the accused individuals
once they get publicly caught, said Masters.
“When you finally fight your way through it, they suddenly say that ‘We
take it very seriously’,” she said.
It is a far cry from the hopes raised when an October 2017 investigation by
two New York Times reporters revealing Weinstein’s predatory behavior sparked
the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements.
Weinstein has since been accused by dozens more women, both famous and
anonymous. He denies any form of harassment.
The once-powerful producer of “Pulp Fiction” and “Shakespeare in Love”
faces a criminal trial in New York from Monday, which is separate from
charges levelled by dozens of other women that he settled for $25 million
last month.
“There’s no question that some of the secrecy around sexual harassment and
sexual assault has been shattered,” said Megan Twohey, one of the two New
York Times journalists who broke the story.
For a long time, reporters had people “slam the door in our face” and the
fact that “tips and victims are now coming to us is massively significant,”
she told Vanity Fair.
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“At the same time, there hasn’t been the type of systemic reform” that
everyone was expecting, said Twohey, pointing to the enduring use of
financial settlements and confidentiality clauses that “helped conceal the
conduct of Harvey Weinstein for years.”
– ‘Step up’ –
While many actors and actresses in Hollywood are reluctant to speak
publicly on the issue, others have voiced fears or anger that the harassment
is not being tackled.
Actress and model Emily Ratajkowski appeared on a recent Hollywood red
carpet with the words “Fuck Harvey” written on her arm in black marker.
Weinstein “won’t have to admit wrongdoing or pay his own money” under last
month’s settlement with some of his victims, she wrote in an angry Twitter
message.
“Ratatouille” star Patton Oswalt told AFP the industry was “seeing a lot of
visible progress.”
“But what I’m worried about is the stuff underneath that we don’t see,” he
added. “You read these reports, and you’re like ‘Oh my god!’ … Sadly you
know it is (still going on), you know it is.”
Jodi Kantor, the other Times reporter who broke the Weinstein scandal, told
Vanity Fair that “everything’s changed and nothing’s changed.”
She does believe the industry has finally realized that attempting to cover
up a case is ultimately more damaging in reputation terms than confronting
it.
But that does not necessarily ring true for Masters, who believes that “any
woman who speaks out is going to be the one who ends up having problems, not
this (accused) star.”
It is a feeling echoed by the Think Tank for Inclusion and Equity, a
consortium of television writers, whose members asked not to be individually
named by AFP for fear of harm to their careers.
“I think people are still very scared for their jobs and scared to be
blacklisted,” they said.
Actress Rose McGowan, who has accused Weinstein of rape and frequently
speaks out against sexism in Hollywood and the media, recently tweeted that
she has been “unemployed for almost five years, ever since I started pushing
truth & fighting the lies.”
“Hollywood needs to step up, if not for me, then for my fellow Silence
Breakers,” she wrote.
“We need people to step up for us, as we have for them.”
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