Hollywood Responds to Harvey Weinstein
Angelina Jolie. Cara Delevigne. Gwyneth Paltrow. Kate Beckinsale. Ashley Judd. All five women, along with many others, have come forward with allegations against Harvey Weinstein that span from harassment to rape. The allegations start as early as the 1990s, and only now have these allegations seen the light; however, the responses to his actions are something to be happy about.
Predatory men have been a part of Hollywood’s history for as long as anyone can remember. In Shirley Temple’s autobiography, Child Star, when the actress and her mother went to go see the bosses at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, she and her mother were both sexually harassed. The curly-haired child star, who was eleven years old at the time, met with Arthur Freed, the associate producer of “The Wizard of Oz”, who pulled out his penis in front of her. Her mother was similarly assaulted by Mayer.
“Not for nothing was the M.G.M. lot known as the ‘factory,’ a studio perfumed with sultry, busty creatures with long legs and tight haunches, and more than its quota of lecherous older men,” Temple recounted in her book.
And now, we get the story of Harvey Weinstein, Hollywood tycoon, the guy an aspiring actress would want to get a meeting with in order to jump start their career. Weinstein was a rare type in Hollywood, who was known for having good tastes when it came to movies. He used his good tastes to get his company, Miramax, to become a leading independent film motion picture production and distribution company. Weinstein was always looking to making moves that had powerful roles for women of all demographics, and was an advocate for making Hillary Clinton the first woman president. The Obamas even had their daughter intern at his company.
It’s no wonder then, that with this image he presented to the world, so many were completely blindsided by the many allegations against Weinstein that sent the media into a frenzy. With the promise of leading roles in his upcoming movies, Weinstein would get actresses to visit his hotel room or his office, and make them perform inappropriately intimate acts with him. This ranged from massages to making them watch him take a shower.
Many actresses were stuck with the question: do they say no to him, and destroy their futures as leading actresses, or do they let him continue to use them for his own disgusting desires, thereby securing futures as leading actresses? Reading some of the encounters women have had with him is enough to enrage. Some actresses were silenced with money, like Rose McGowan. Some actresses, like Gwyneth Paltrow, decided to continue to work with him, despite his many inappropriate advances, because they reasoned that the benefits outweighed the negatives. Some actresses, like Angelina Jolie, decided to never work with him again.
It may be discouraging that it has taken so long for this side of Weinstein to see the light, despite the many women who were harassed or assaulted by him. However, one can take comfort in the overwhelming response condemning Weinstein, and applauding the women who had the courage to step forward.
Weinstein was fired from the company he cofounded, and is now facing immense backlash from the film industry. “The ill will towards him for getting away with it all for so long has unleashed something so primitive,” a prominent male Hollywood producer told a New York Times reporter. “If people could rip him apart, they would. Literally everyone in Hollywood is taking marshmallows to roast at his burning corpse.”
The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, the organization responsible for the Oscars, stripped him of his membership. The members held a vote on Saturday, and the decision to expel the producer was nearly unanimous, according to The Washington Post. This is extremely rare, considering the swiftness of the Academy’s decision, and the fact that other Academy members, such as Bill Cosby and Roman Polansky, haven’t been stripped of their membership despite similar allegations against them. The Academy released a statement about their decision, saying that: “We [have voted to expel Weinstein] not simply to separate ourselves from someone who does not merit the respect of his colleagues but also to send a message that the era of willful ignorance and shameful complicity in sexually predatory behavior and workplace harassment in our industry is over.”
Hillary Clinton and the Obamas were also quick to condemn Weinstein, saying that they are “disgusted by the recent reports” and that his behaviour is “intolerable.” The Obamas said, “And we all need to build a culture—including by empowering our girls and teaching our boys decency and respect—so we can make such behavior less prevalent in the future.” And judging by the overwhelming response, I think that future may be closer than we think.