George Clooney’s first statement about Harvey Weinstein was an interview with the Daily Beast. Clooney got real about what he knew and which rumors he had heard and what he really thought of Weinstein. This William H. Macy interview – also with the Daily Beast – sort of reminds me of that Clooney piece. Not because Macy is claiming total ignorance of Weinstein’s behavior, like Clooney, but because of the way Macy frames the Weinstein conundrum, and why so many people – MEN – looked the other way about Weinstein. Clooney made special mention of how Weinstein was often the only producer interested in difficult films, in offbeat films, in nurturing avant-garde talent. Macy notes the same thing – that there were two Harveys. You can read the full Daily Beast piece here. Some highlights:
He executive produced Transamerica & Steve Bannon’s company got a cut of the sales: “You know, I heard that. I heard a whole story on NPR about his early film days. It’s pretty crazy. He was making money off a transgender movie and now he’s this. There are very few people in this world who have an ethic that they carry with them. People…change.
Whether people knew the extent of Harvey Weinstein’s behavior: “Of course people knew. A lot of people knew. A lot of people knew. It’s the shame of our industry that it took so long for this to blow up. You know, I’m going to miss Harvey in a way. There are two Harveys: there’s the Harvey who’s abusive to women, and the Harvey who would make films that no other producer would touch, and would champion those films. The same aggressiveness that he brought to chasing women is the same aggressiveness that he brought to pushing these films. When you think of it in the macro, these guys who are so driven, so smart, and they become so powerful, and they’ve got egos that are outsized—you have to have that to be Harvey Weinstein. You have to be the toughest dog on the block. So, we need no ghost from the grave to think that they’re going to be rough on women, and to take advantage of that. It’s a power thing, and it’s just so wrong.”
All the young actresses: “What makes me saddest is that a lot of these women, when they were propositioned by producers—where it’s put this way: if you want the job, you’ll have an affair with me—they didn’t get mad, they were crushed. It destroyed their belief in themselves that this a–hole had done this…. somebody says, “No, no, no. All you are is pretty.” That’s just devastating. That’s the saddest part of it: that it was so insidious that people couldn’t speak out angrily about it until years later.”
What he would say to his daughters if they wanted to be actresses: “Well, the business is evolving and as painful as this is, all these charges of sexual predation that are being thrown around, it had to happen. So my daughters, yeah, we can put a pin in that. I pity the poor fool that hits on my daughter, Georgia. She’ll knock his teeth out. It’s a different generation, you know? Things are evolving. My daughters are healthier than I ever was. I’m so glad I have daughters.
“Of course people knew. A lot of people knew.” Granted, I’ve started to believe that a lot of producers, directors, agents, publicists and assistants knew exactly what was happening. But Macy’s wife Felicity Huffman said that she didn’t know the extent of Weinstein’s behavior and I believed her. Should we believe that William H. Macy knew all along too? He worked on Weinstein films a lot in the ‘90s. Hm. And what do you think of Macy’s take on Weinstein in general? It’s bugging me, but I don’t have the energy to yell about it.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
Good to hear that Harveys anger and force wasnt ONLY used to rape women. Thanks, William.
Yah, that was a bit too “troubled artist” for me. It’s more that sociopaths exist across professions, and Weinstein’s profession gave him unfettered access to victims and enablers galore.
“they didn’t get mad, they were crushed.”
This line, plus the line that his daughter would get mad (not crushed) is problematic. It minimizes the experience of the victims by suggesting all the needed to do was be more “spunky” like his kid in that moment.
I have huge problems with this. It’s another variation on victim blaming as you say. It implies that this shit will change if women change– because they are why this happened, right?–that this only happens to women who are somehow broken, and oh nothing will happen to his daughter because she has been raised so well and is so awesome. I have heard that sort of thing so many times. It’s so wrong. Men need to be the ones to change, yo. The women are fine.
Yeah, I don’t like that line about his daughters. Most daughters don’t fall into that category. He has no idea what it feels like to be in that position. He makes it sound like all the victims should have Just Said No. Sometimes No isn’t an option.
Also, what about the victims who haven’t come forward. There must be hundreds of women who just did what HW asked and can’t come forward and will never recover. Think about that, William. But, yeah, I’m glad HW was good for your career.
Yeah, his daughter knows that she can tell someone to F Off because her dad is well known and she can get other meetings and auditions.
Those were unrelated answers though. In responding about his daughters, he was bending over backwards not to sound patriarchal. He skirted around saying he’d a. Ban them from becoming actresses or b. Defend them himself from predators.
He emphasized “this generation” to move away from discussing his own privileged kids and point out that a certain naivete has been stripped entirely from the industry. Predators will, hopefully, no longer have the luxury of silence, and a new generation may feel more empowered.
But isn’t he saying exactly what women have been saying? That it’s a soul crushing experience?
@Bridget
Yes, and I follow some of the victims and interact with them and from my own experience, it does affect women differently. It depends on so many factors and predators choose the “weakest” prey. It does crush people, so I am not sure what the problem is with that part.
This reminds me of what Drew Barrymore said about how it had never happened to HER because she’s so scrappy. I’m sorry, but that sort of talk really is victim-blaming at its most insidious. For Macy to suggest that it couldn’t happen to HIS daughter because she’s “spunky” is the height of insult to all women who have been victimized in this way. Hell, I’m spunky, scrappy, and badass as hell when I need to be, and yet it happened to me in varying degrees all my life. It’s fucking hard to go up against your employer and blow the lid off his abusive habits when you’re alone in the world and desperately need your job to support yourself, and even more difficult when you’re a single divorced mother with children to provide for as I eventually was.
And for seasoned, cynical men of power like Weinstein to prey on the young and innocent is especially horrible for so many reasons, among them the fact that these fledgelings don’t yet know how to defend themselves or even that they have a RIGHT to defend themselves…and they fear being destroyed before their budding careers have even begun.
If one more celebrity says any version of this “It couldn’t happen to me [or someone else] because I’m [s/he is] so spunky or scrappy” I swear to God I will boycott their damn movies for the duration. I’m mad as hell about this because it trivializes the profound personal and professional injuries that so many have sustained at the hands of these voracious, disgusting predators.
@fhmom. No is ALWAYS an option. Always.
Ya I know — If they wanted the job etc., but then we are simply talking prostitution. Who among us has a daughter who we would counsel to submit ???
He seems to be skirting around the fact that some of these women were raped. It wasn’t just a matter of saying “no.” There were also women like Anabella Sciorra who were not only raped but were also terrorized for years.
What was the right answer to the question about his daughters?
@BettyRose: I really appreciate the fact that his answer wasn’t anything like “Ban girls from pursuing careers in the entertainment industry”, or “Let’s start questioning the way famous women are dressing/dancing/posing” or, “Let’s side-eye any girl or woman who becomes successful from now on.” (Homophobes are responding the same way about young gay and bisexual males who pursue careers in Hollywood: “Welp, now we know how those men get work.”) A feminist author discussed a long time ago how, too often, people respond to the existence of sex crimes by discouraging or even lashing out at women and girls for the rights they choose to exercise. Unfortunately, the only lesson some take away from what’s been happening is “See what happens when we allow our women too much freedom/ You reap what you sow.”
@cintrac. Excellent point. If it’s outright rape then no is not An option. I should have included that in my comment above.
But it’s true. He DID push a lot of good films that we’re being picked up elsewhere. Very bad people can do good things. Maybe it was a mask for him. Maybe it was profitable. Maybe he is an evil man with a tiny bit of good in him.
@Nic
This is no good in Harvey, it all comes down to money and award for him.
I love what he said. It was insightful and truthful. The truth is not always comfortable. And he’s right. This is a new generation. My daughter would also knock someone’s teeth out if they tried to undermine her as a person or her talent or take advantage of her. All of this coming to the surface is causing a shift. A much needed one.
I hope there is a shift coming, but I don’t think the shift is a change of women’s behaviour. I sure hope not, since we aren’t the problem.
Can we also just not say stuff like I would do this, my daughter would do this, it’s a round about way of saying – this wouldn’t happen if you reacted like me, or my daughter.
Hey there. Sadly, women ARE part of the problem. I have not worked in entertainment, but I have worked in an environment full of “powerful” men. I have met and talked to women who have plotted to “sleep” with the upper echelon in order to advance their own careers. I have known women who have moved to the very top and have used their power to coerce men to sleep with them. This is NOT a one-sided story. Women have to look at themselves as well. It is not all about men abusing power.
Argon, that’s the type of logic a rape defense lawyer might use: “She willlingly exchanged sex for a promotion, your honor.”
I think what Aragon is saying is that there are women who use this to their advantage. That is true. That has absolutely nothing to do with the problem of being a predator though. I know of one supermodel that slept with the right photographers and men who pulled strings, and she is now still considered one of the big models by the public. Not by anyone in the industry and you will rarely see her named as one by anyone in fashion. At the time she came out the reaction to her was meh and she is still meh, but that was her game plan. Personally, I don’t judge that because it is consensual, but predators aren’t looking for consent. They are looking for control and power.
These women aren’t the problem.
@Argon: Nope. Again, this is no different from saying, “Men wouldn’t/couldn’t rape if women would stop being whores.” Whether it’s premarital sex, prostitution, casual sex, being some married man’s mistress, cheating on her own spouse with some other man, pornography/sexting, a threesome, or any other traditionally frowned-upon sex act: A woman ‘just saying no’ to unchaste behavior doesn’t stop men from raping.
@magnoliarose you’re talking about MK aren’t you lol
@Aragon The other thing too is these questions should be asked to the guy who requires sex to promote women to positions instead of merit. The problem is not the women it is the men who create that atmosphere.
I wanted to make that clear.
@Aragon – I understand what you’re saying. When I had my own “You’ll never work in this town again” speech, the person cited that “most women would be lining up around the block for an opportunity like this.” And he was right. They would.
My acting teacher told us in college before graduation that “there will ALWAYS be someone out there who is hungrier than you are, who wants a part more than you do and who is willing to do what you are not to get it.” I found out he was right.
As long as there are men in power in Hollywood who control the casting/jobs of films, the casting couch will be alive and well. It’s wrong, but what is a person to do about it? If they (an upcoming actor/actress trying to get a break) speak out about it, they are labeled “difficult.” They are no longer considered for casting calls. And who do they tell? There’s no hierarchy in Hollywood like in a company. There’s no Human Resources department someone who wants to break into the business can go to and say, “He wants me to sleep with him to get a part in his movie.”
@ detritus Boom! You said it all. I’m so tired of the “I would have done this…or that” or “my daughter won’t put up with it”. Sorry, but you have no idea what you or your daughter will or won’t do until you’re in the situation (hopefully you never are).
This Monday morning quarterbacking has got to stop!
The shift is hopefully one where everyone feels empowered to do the right thing. I was thinking about this and I think that just because you know someone is a sleazebag doesn’t make you accountable for their misuse of power.
The film industry is cutthroat, dealing with awful people like Weinstein is part of it. Even if you know there’s a risk of having to counter someone’s avances, doesn’t make you the culprit. These predators have very refined ways of bringing people in impossible situations. Now if you were an assistant and you knew what was about to happen, that’s when you can be held accountable in my book. But not by knowing about rumors.
Now if everyone knows we will stand up for each other and bring the a**hole down in stead of each other, that’s what empowers everyone (not just women) to do the right thing and to tell someone that’s not how it’s done.
So women don’t have to change their behavior, we as a society become more aware and sure of each other’s intentions.
What he said just screams to me that if Hollywood had structural safeguarding procedures, Wankstain could still have done all that championing of creators and NEVER ABUSED A SINGLE WOMAN.
It screams to me that it’s not about Wankstain or any of the other wankstains: it’s about the bloody system.
I don’t want to gainsay you or anything, Alexis, because I see what you are getting at. But, in truth, it doesn’t matter how ballsy (pun intended!) your daughter is – individuals can’t beat systemic power. The system has to change.
We cannot post links here on CB, but has anyone read the Guardian and Weinstein’s ‘hit list’????
It also includes.. Brett Ratner???
He had someone to fill a list of people who were going to speak out. Unbelievable, the power this man had!
@Alexis
I’m afraid your daughter would succumb to him as anyone else if threatened with ‘deletion’, both in matters of career or life.
Found the whole statement off. First off the saddest thing is not that some women were deflated about just being sex symbols. The saddest thing is that several women were raped. Second my daughter would punch a guy in the mouth therefore she wouldn’t be raped. No different than what Drew B said last week. I’ll give him that no one wants to think of their children in a situation like that but the reality is physically speaking being scrappy can’t prevent rape.
My take if he actually knew HW was harassing and raping and didn’t care because-art. Like Tarantino and Affleck he’s an ass. If he misspoke and just knew about rumors of philandering then he’s an awful speaker and needs to clarify.
This! And does he get that if someone wants to rape his daughter and she punches him the face, the rapist will simply knock her out and then rape her. He’s ridiculous.
I would really like these men who are being confronted with the ‘did you know’ question to just say, ‘yeah I knew, but he made my movie, took my calls, and besides, all the producers do it. It didn’t affect me, if it affects me now that everyone knows I have no ethics, so be it’. These guys trying to talk like they’re good guys caught up in it, pisses me off to no end. And also, people can hold up these token actresses who hold power in the industry and say the film industry values women as human beings, but really that double talk just masks the fact that the majority of women are just objects in the film industry and Harvey just sees this as a side perk of his job. He wanted to watch every movie he made and think to himself, ‘did her’. I get it, and every one else that was benefitting was fine up until they all got found out. Pathologizing him is just nonsense. When will people get it that if they allow their cultural narratives to be written by these people, then people will be programmed subconsciously into seeing the world through their twisted perspectives.
Yes, this isn’t sitting well with me for the same reasons.
HW wasn’t “chasing” women, he was threatening and intimidating and assaulting and RAPING them. “Chasing” sounds like a playboy flirt. That is not what this was.
I’m glad Macy feels his daughters are tough and strong, but I bet a lot of the victims’ parents though their daughters were too. You never know how you’re going to respond in a threatening situation, when there is a huge imbalance of power, or you feel your career, your safety, or your life is at risk. Saying these kinds of things belittles those who have been assaulted, as it implies they weren’t strong enough.
I don’t think Macy is a bad guy, and he has a few good points here, but overall it doesn’t come off very well.
Alexis, it does make a difference. Men can still physically over power women, but the cultural expectations of silence and victim shaming serve to empower rapists. All the voices speaking up now should signal a change to future generations.
I agree @bettyrose. I think the expectations now are pretty different than they were even just 10-20 years ago. The stories really shine a light on the specifics of what is egregious behavior and has a way of illuminating what actions are just plain wrong. I think the stories are super helpful in defining the boundaries of appropriate behavior and with how quickly this type of info amplifies these days, it’s a very different landscape for our youth.
I was his daughter once. A lot of people were. Don’t underestimate people’s capacity to be exhausted by the onslaught. I’m such a different person now due to constant harassment. I’m boundary city now, I dress conservatively, no personal conversations, I create distance when I get a vibe. Less joy too. Kicking people in the teeth loses you jobs. Going through title ix loses you friends. Getting disappointed several times a year erodes your faith in yourself and others. The only reason this generation’s women will be different is if it is truly different for them. And I hope it is.
@ Alexis
You can talk all day about what you think your daughter would do in that situation, but you have no idea what would happen in the moment she might freeze up or just be in shock.
I’m not impressed by anyone who wants to claim they knew; because they didn’t try to do anything about it.
Then, what are they supposed to do with it? Many of them doesn’t know the extent of Harvey’s behaviour. Should they try to find out?
If people want to blame the actors, crews, everyone in the industry, then they should blame themselves too. We are all the consumers of their product. Many of us glorified their role in society. In a way we also give power to people like Harvey.
Exactly! What were they going to do? What could they do? I believe they knew about Harvey using his position and power to sleep with starlets, but I doubt they knew about the sexual assaults/rapes. But again, what could they do?
They could have supported these women. Some of these women have been talking about it publicly for years these men could have come out then to confirm what they ladies were saying was true and publicly show support.
I like him. I also think that abuse doesn’t happen because women are unhealthy. It happens because men are unhealthy. And in the stories we have heard, women absolutely fought back. It’s the culture, the other men who did nothing, and a flawed legal system stacked against abuse and rape victims, that are unhealthy.
He was like two people, one when he dealt with women, one when he dealt with men!
No sh*t Sherlock.
This is the thing, all soulless assholes who are successful, especially at Harvey’s level, have worked at being disarming, or charming, or so talented people want to look the other way. They aren’t wearing their assholery on their sleeve. They don’t show the world their dirt.
This is why you need to read between the lines, and this is why it’s so bloody annoying when Macy says two Wankstains. No. There weren’t two. There was one, and he knew men were going to be the best ones to ’court’, and the easiest to convince because of our culture.
It’s like everyone forgets that abusers don’t just groom their victims, they groom everyone around them.
Bingo. Well said.
Um, Harvey Weinstein wore his assholerly on his sleeve. All Macy was saying was that he used his assholery to also champion those movies.
He was selective, and he had support because of it. At least until very recently.
Most assholes do this, you can’t be an indiscriminate jerk, you need to be charming at a point. If you notice, most people also talk about bout how Wankstain could turn on the charm. I’m not saying he was never an asshole, just that he was selective about it because he was grooming the people around him as well.
It’s dangerous to assume monsters look and act like monsters all the time, they definitely do not.
Agree with you, Bridget. He’s describing his view of Weinstein which I believe is many peoples view at the time. He’s an ass but we made need the ass to get our film made. I don’t find this unusual but I hope our collective reaction of people like this does change. In my job we have a few management types like this and it’s exhausting and you’ll more likely stalk your career if you try and do anything. If you go up against them in your line of work more power to you.
@Detritus: Weinstein is a legendary asshole. He was not selective about it. He may not have been raping and sexually harassing men, but he is exceptionally well known as a bully.
Exactly. HW sexually abused but he abused in other ways too. We are only focusing on the sexual part, but he used his power to do a lot of horrible things to people. He destroyed the careers of men who did try to say something. There was never going to be a hero until his power waned and someone exposed him. Sad but true.
I think my problem with his statement is the “You have to have that to be Harvey Weinstein” part. It almost sounds like a driven, aggressive successful man has to have a dark side. Which I completely disagree with. However, overall it was an honest, well thought out response to a tough question.
I disagree as well. I think you generally have to be tough to achieve big success, but you don’t have to be an asshole, you don’t have to be a bully, and you certainly don’t have to be a predator.
I really, really wish people would quit using the “this would never happen to my (wife, kid, other female I know-they would have kicked his ass!!”) because while I feel like it is meant well, all it is doing is re-framing the argument over and over again that somehow the women involved on these case did something wrong to allow it to happen.
None of these women were raped or groped or harassed in any way because they were weak or stupid or complicit. These things happened to them because they were vulnerable to men is powerful positions and those men knew it. They knew they had easy targets because of the atmosphere they worked in and they knew they had all the strength. Like, Drew Barrymore-I’m glad you’re a scrappy little street fighter. You’ve also got the family name behind you and that carries clout. You’re extremely lucky. Most women don’t have that.
Like most rapes and harassment – it isn’t about sex. It is about power. Put the blame squarely where it lies and don’t try to qualify it.
Yes exactly’ this generation of women are different’ is still saying the generation before was lacking in something that caused them to be raped F-that
Also, if you have never been in a situation like that you have no way of knowing how you’d react. You can talk all you want about fighting back but in that situation you might just freeze and be unable to do or say anything. I know I did.
It also discount that we are taught, from a very young age, to be polite. Assertiveness isn’t ladylike. It’s still hard for deal with people that are making me uncomfortable, because the need to be polite overrides my instincts. I know he wants to believe it could never happen to his children, but it’s so much more complicated than just punching someone in the face.
That two Harveys comment. Ugh… ‘Sure women’s lives were destroyed, but we made really good films!’ Um no. The reality was that if Harvey was passionate about films and the people he made them with as having inherent value, then he wouldn’t have gone marauding through life making it clear that they were expendable. Being an asshole wasn’t the Hyde to his genius Jekyll. Being an asshole rooted out anyone with integrity and idealism from his circle and beyond. His actions ruined his films and his company just as much as they ruined other people. I do think that even he himself lost perspective of the scale of what he was doing because he must have been surrounded by these sycophants that he created in his own image. It’s disturbing to have this idea that the only way anything gets done is through fear, megalomania, and self loathing.
Yes. The fact that he can admit without shame that he and others knew and chose to work within Harvey’s system so their work would get made just highlights how entrenched the system is.
I remember going to parties for dance companies sponsored by Phillip Morris (back in the 90s) with cups full of cigarettes as centerpieces and wondering–how can this possibly be justified if this is what you have to do to get it made? (And I love dance.)
I don’t know why people are making statements like this…
“Of course people knew. A lot of people knew. A lot of people knew. It’s the shame of our industry that it took so long for this to blow up.”
Because it’s the truth and they keep getting asked the question.
Yep. There is nothing else they can say.
I hate when people are like “My daughter wouldn’t get sexually abused because she would hit the guy!” like no woman who has been victimized has ever tried to fight back physically to stop the assault with every bone in her body.
Yes. It’s stunning the amount of either ignorance or denial in these kinds of statements. As if a woman’s right hook is going to stop an abuser from carrying out intent. Often times, it fuels the abuser’s action.
He’s a parent and feeling as though his daughter can protect herself from unwanted sexual advances allows him to sleep at night.
I have a very shallow theory about violence – in my country 1 in 2 men are victims of severe physical violence, while 1 in 2 women have been sexually harassed (assaulted in about 1 in 8 I believe). I think that a lot of society is formed around male violence – I think women attacking other women often incite males to be violent to those women rather than being physically violent themselves. And I think that there are people who would be violent regardless of consequences or chances of ‘getting away’ with something, and people who are only violent when they think they are unassailable. Weinstein strikes me as the latter. My theory is that the kind of ‘wannabe’ violent people build up a lot of resentment to those they are intimidated by, and they love to abuse power and humiliate people who, if not for the power imbalance, would intimidate them. So that includes women who ‘threaten’ their ‘rights’ – these people’s demands for unpaid (often domestic) work, to disregard other people (generally anyone non-white), to be able to act without restrictions (for example around children) – but also men who have healthy relationships with others, who are well-liked, who just seem to have it together.
So I’m thinking maybe people like Macy and others who imagine that being violent to these people will curb abusive and violent behaviour are sort of stuck in this fundamental belief that violence is a person’s most valuable tool.
Like I said, it’s not really fleshed out. I’ve just been thinking it’s so systemic and so often about men’s violence – maybe a stretch, but I think this extends to a lot of youths who support terrorism. Thoughts? /end rant
@ellipses
I understand what you mean and like you I try to understand it but can only understand some types of violence such as self-defense or mental illness. But Harvey’s brutality to me is like you described. I think there are many men in entertainment (and other fields) where the men gather power to get revenge on the kinds of people they always resented. They enjoy destroying people and crushing their spirits. If they think someone is looking down on them or rejecting them, they want to own them, and then they keep wanting more until they are hooked on getting away with violence.
You see it in some of their films or music. Pablo Picasso was a ruthless man who hated women, and he showed it in his portraits. They have their power, so they get a sought-after woman and then cheat, belittle or even abuse. Womanizers don’t love women, they hate them, and they are usually cruel to their daughters or treat them like possessions.
They get involved in businesses where attractive women are plentiful and then destroy as much as possible.
@magnoliarose
Thank you! You said it far more articulately than I could. Those examples are perfect. Yeah, it just feels like this is accepted so much as an entitlement of successful people – I mean, this sort of abuse isn’t explicitly endorsed, but there’s always an undercurrent of ‘now I can wreck all the people who didn’t believe in me’. There’s so much of that wrapped up in celebrity in general – I can see why predators are even more concentrated in Hollywood.
I am sad that most of the men calling out Weinstein still widely seem to have this sort of ideology of hegemonic violence embedded in their statements and interviews.
All I have to say is I love him and his wife and their still on-going love affair, and I love his talent.
No person can say it all perfectly about this situation, and even so, I have no desire to pick apart his statement.
Rock on, William H. Macy
And I agree with him, for the most part. Because I keep going back to this: he has to say the right thing, the right way, or folks here are going to pick it apart.
He’s right, too. Weinstein, in addition to being a predator and a bully, was also one of the biggest supporters of independent cinema. There will most definitely be a void. It certainly wasn’t a worthy trade-off, and these consequences must be paid, of course.
I can’t either because he really is one of the good guys. It is popular to think everyone in Hollywood is a weird freak but it isn’t true. The scandal makers tend to be same crew of people and types, but plenty others are living a relatively healthy life.
There is no right way to answer this question, and it is absolutely the truth that Harvey loved films and really did love good independent films and worked very hard to get them made. He took a chance on material no one else would and backed it up with promoting the projects. Actresses were given an opportunity to play roles outside of the wife, mother, girlfriend and show their talent, directors and a slew of people who worked behind the scenes. Actors made comebacks like Travolta (nicknamed- Revolting), and that was the source of his power. He had something people desperately wanted. He also used his influence to get people work on other productions to help their careers. It isn’t an industry with a lot of career-making opportunities.
Miramax-http://www.imdb.com/company/co0022594/
Weinstein Co.-http://www.imdb.com/company/co0150452/
No other company comes close to these lists.
As horrible as that sounds it is true for almost any business. The genius that everyone tolerates because he keeps coming up with visionary ideas like Steve Jobs or Jeff Bezos-bullies and perfectionists.
It doesn’t make anything right or just or acceptable but he is just describing a part of the reason it took so long to out him.
I don’t know. Men don’t get it in the way we want them to get it. My husband doesn’t even get it like I want him, too. Maybe you have to have a woman’s experience to understand how soul crushing an unwanted sexual advance can be or continual sexual harassment certainly must be. Or how exhausting and sometimes anger producing it is for a woman to be vigilant when in a parking lot alone at night or some similar situation in which you are alone and so feeling vulnerable… Men don’t get this. At least my husband doesn’t. I remember trying to explain it one time to him – what it is like to be a woman in this regard – and he was surprised that women feel the need to be so … watchful or alert. I honestly still do not know if he believed me.
My husband didn’t know about the elevator thing…about having a sudden change of plans to avoid boarding an elevator alone with a man. He never had to think about it. He could always be on time for a meeting or go in and out of a tall building freely.
That’s it exactly. They never have to think about things in the way women do.
I’ve been commenting on this issue in trade magazines for several years now. I have been puzzled by all of the Hollywood men and women who march for women’s rights, and then stand by for this. The hypocrisy has been incredible for decades. I’m just happy that they finally decided to out these predators who misuse power and and destroy the dreams of thousands of would-be actors/actresses.
I’ve always seen the majority of Hollywood celebs as sanctimonious hypocrites who are just as thirsty for money and power as any one on Wall Street. When people are driven by greed and narcissism all the virtue signaling in the world means nothing.
He likes to think that his daughter would knock a predators teeth out. But that’s lies people tell themselves- no your daughter is no different thAn any other potential victims….
Being spunky really doesn’t help. When I was a teenager I was friends with a guy who decided to grab my ass hard when I gave him a birthday hug. My response was to knee him in the groin and cut him off as a friend.
However, I had internalised that being one of the guys meant that it was normal for guys to make sexual comments or proposition me for sex or pull me onto their lap, so even though with certain unwanted contact I had no issue lashing out I’d internalised a lot of misogyny that made me accept behaviours I now know to be predatory and inappropriate and harassing. I had one guy (who was over a foot taller than me, so quite physically intimidating to me) follow me around a famous beach demanding I fuck him even though I told him I had a girlfriend and wasn’t interested. He physically stole my phone from me to put in his number. At the time I wrote it off as ‘oh, he was just being persistent, I should probably be flattered’ even though it made me incredibly uncomfortable. I was underage and in fact my parents were at the beach with me on holiday, not far away. I’m sure my dad probably thought I was too spunky to let myself get harassed too.
You can never know how you, or anyone else will react in the face of imminent danger and you might not even recognise you’re in a bad situation until it’s too late. If you haven’t been the victim of sexual assault you are LUCKY, not in any way better than any other woman. This is an especially prevalent thought in fundamentalist Christians.
Everyone knew. From the Meyrls to the Clooneys to even the Obamas and Clintons. They all knew while preaching feminism, human rights, liberal issues all while covering for this POS.
I am especially disgusted with how the Obamas sent Malia all the way to NYC alone to work for him. I don’t care if she had SS. Weinstein even preyed on women who even had ties to Hollywood. This was wrong and dangerous of them to do that. They could have very easily looked up his past. Its not like it was hidden.
I hope Malia goes into law or medicine or public service. Film and Hollywood right now is not a good idea for anyone to join into.
I would add that making a virtue of aggression in business is part of the problem. The business and media cultures shouldn’t reward the biggest relentless a-hole who berates everyone and harangues/assaults decent people out of his company and projects. Aggression does not equal leadership and know-how. But yet corporations and the partiarchy still function on that neandarthal level. It’s partly why Trump is the U.S. president: “but, he’s so loud and confident about all the bs he says… it must be true and righteous!”
Too many people decide they don’t care about competence. They just respond to the signals and entrenchment of the current power structure, where rich, aggressive white men are regarded as the natural leaders. I regret that Macy here for instance also falls into that narrow-sighted trap.
100% agree with you. I think violence is one of the things society holds up as a virtue – like you say, the exercise of violence is equated to being powerful. It’s like, some awful man will be violent and then all of his previous actions are reevaluated as being strong and decisive, rather than abusive and just plain sh*tty. Then people (like Macy) who still hold these values (though perhaps less consciously) think the way to break away from these people is to answer with violence. Story of the (patriarchal) human race.
I think many people knew Harvey Weinstein was a bully. I think they knew he chased women, he was aggressive with women and looked for sexual favors in exchange of finding them a place in Hollywood. I think they even suspected he harassed them. I don’t think many knew he was a rapist too, though, or that he forced himself on so many of them.
I think Macy does a good analysis of Weinstein, in the sense that he was a valued member of Hollywood because he could make difficult movies happen and be successful. I think he’s a predator, but he was able to exercise that because he became powerful. I don’t think many people can be blamed for not getting involved. In cases like this, unless a victim speaks up, there’s not much you can do except refuse to work with the guy. But so much of it was rumor level that many chose to just ignore the buzz and go to work. Now, after this blew up, they will have to change that policy.
I really don’t want to read any other interviews if there’s no appropriate representation of anger. No more diversified excuses, ubiquitous nodding and fallout acceptance and appreciation. If you’re not incensed, livid and out for retribution blood, step aside. Lives have been ruined. RUINED. You don’t get through that with these homogenized ‘introspections.’ The detached atmosphere these actors choose to reside makes me angry.
My problem is that WHM is good friends with David Mamet. Several of Mamet’s works are misogynistic, at best.
Another one who just doesn’t get it. Privileged men will NEVER get what happens to women when women are sexually assaulted andor harassed, something most of us experience from an early age. Acquiescence is ingrained in us culturally from an early age–yes, even now–and even if we grow past that, we still have the professional problem of speaking up and not being believed, being considered a troublemaker, and being publicly attacked. I was and am a very outspoken feminist from the age of 12, and in every harassment and assault situation I did not speak up and told no one except perhaps a close friend. Men in general just don’t get it. They think a spunky outspoken attitude is all it takes to protect yourself. It doesn’t work that way. Men run the world and all industries and they are physically able to overpower even the strongest of us. It is impossible to explain to a man what happens when you are physically and professionally and emotionally intimidated in a situation, and how deeply ingrained in women the need to avoid confrontation (which I even suspect is an ingrained if not biological protective mechanism that has to be overridden by training and active involvement of parents and schools)–usually for a good reason, like the fact that in each situation it is our word against someone more powerful who will shame and deride and protest and attack in order to protect himself. Look what happened to even Taylor Swift when she called out a guy for grabbing her butt in a photo-op…HE sued HER. So no, it doesn’t really help to be “woke” like his daughters. He may find that out the hard way down the line. And regardless–you can be a strong and tough woman and that doesn’t prevent assault or rape. It doesn’t even prevent harrasment. The act still happened. If you work for a Mark Halperin and he sticks his erection at your or masturbates in front of you but you cannot prove it–the damage is still done. being outspoken or spunky doesn’t prevent that. You still endured it.