Kate Winslet: Time’s Up on abuse, unless the abuser is Woody Allen

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Kate Winslet has not attended any awards shows this season. Because she wasn’t nominated for anything. From the way she was promoting Wonder Wheel last year, I definitely believe that she thought she would be short-listed for some Best Actress nominations. No nominations came. What came instead of #MeToo, Time’s Up and a larger movement, an increased conversation around predators in Hollywood and how men who abuse are able to float through the industry with their careers intact. Kate Winlset would know all about that, since she was doing the most to defend Woody Allen, her Wonder Wheel director, for months. Last month, she said vague words about her “bitter regrets” with her work with well-known predators. And now Winslet is getting credit for being one of the big-name British celebrities to sign on to the British version of the Time’s Up statement:

Almost 200 British female entertainment stars called for an international movement to end sexual misconduct across society in a letter published ahead of Sunday’s British Academy Film Awards. Kate Winslet, Kristin Scott Thomas, Emma Thompson, Naomie Harris, Emma Watson and Gemma Arterton are among those saying that 2018 should be “the year that time was up on sexual harassment and abuse.”

Announcing a fund to support women and men battling workplace abuse — modeled on the “Time’s Up” movement in the U.S. — the stars said “with our collective power, we can galvanize others.” Former “Harry Potter” star Watson has given the fund 1 million pounds ($1.4 million), according to its page on the Go Fund Me website. Keira Knightley and Tom Hiddleston are each listed as having given 10,000 pounds.

In a letter published in The Observer newspaper, 190 female stars called for an end to impunity for abusers and said “this movement is bigger than just a change in our industry alone.”

“We believe we need to use our power as communicators and connectors to shift the way society sees and treats us,” they said. “We need to examine the kind of womanhood our industry promotes and sells to the world.”

[From Page Six]

The letter is a great thing, as is the British Time’s Up GoFundMe. Good for Tom Hiddleston and Keira Knightley and Emma Watson. Good for Emma Thompson, good for Kristin Scott Thomas, good for Naomie Harris and Gemma Arterton and more. But… as I said, Kate Winlset is getting a lot of credit for this. Her photos are being used in a lot of the coverage of this. In last month’s Winslet post, I wrote this: “I’m actually shocked that Winslet isn’t trying to pretend that she alone came out against Woody Allen first.” That’s what this is – she’s pretending like she’s always been all about Time’s Up and she’s always stood against abusive predators. When we have receipts proving otherwise. I also wrote that this is Winslet’s having-her-cake-ism – she gets “credit” for doing SO much for Time’s Up now while never really having to address her own f–ked up work with Woody Allen.

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Photos courtesy of WENN.

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25 Responses to “Kate Winslet: Time’s Up on abuse, unless the abuser is Woody Allen”

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  1. Nicole says:

    See? Lip service.
    Have a seat kate

  2. WMGDtoo says:

    I stopped liking her a long time ago. Long before Woody or MeToo. She always seems so full of herself. Just no

    • Moe says:

      I’ve been really disappointed how kates has handled this whole thing. I know she worked with woody and I understand the temptation for a great actor or actress to want to work with a director like him. And it’s a hard thing to stand up and say ‘ I worked with this man it’s a mistake I regret it. It won’t happen again.’ I personally would then give her a pass. But she seems very ambivalent about him so now it seems she’s talking out of both sides of her mouth.

      • perplexed says:

        I think she genuinely likes him. She talked about her mother’s adoration of him. I think that might be what’s off-putting about her — she seems to actually like him rather than simply working for him for career reasons (I assume some of the others, like perhaps Selena Gomez, just wanted the career boost, but wouldn’t necessarily want to hang out with him otherwise.)

    • Alix says:

      I stopped liking her when she started drawing crazy attention to her supposedly untouched face.

  3. Rapunzel says:

    I don’t think she’s having her cake. Seems like folks see through her attempt to change the narrative.

  4. Lucy2 says:

    Kudos to Emma Watson for getting this going for the UK, and for those donating. Which Kate has yet to do, unless she donated anonymously. That’s really all she should do here, give money, for her to speak on this at this point is kind of ridiculous. She’s made it very clear that her own career is more important.

  5. monette says:

    Very good PR move on Late’s part. I wonder when will Time’s Up be on her hypocrasy??
    Why isn’t anybody asking her the questions?

  6. Ally says:

    Yep, she lost the Woody Allen scandal game of musical chairs.

    Let’s also spare a thought for Justin Timberlake, who’s also in the movie, and has been less excoriated. However, good news, his album sales are down 76% in week two and getting its butt kicked by the Black Panther soundtrack, which seems appropriate (#janetjacksons hadenfreude). Also in the UK, his single is some thirty spots behind Rita Ora, lol.

  7. kate says:

    Lena Dunham’s older sister.

  8. Vex says:

    in recent years I’ve gone from just finding her annoying to actively hating her. she makes my blood boil – i think she’s disgraceful

  9. BaBaDook says:

    Kate Winslet, Kristin Scott Thomas, Emma Thompson, Naomie Harris, Emma Watson and Gemma Arterton. Its like a game of ‘one of these things is not like the other’.

    Watson, Harris, Arterton, Thompson and Scott Thomas are all British actresses who I’ve heard interviewd about sexism (and in some cases racism) in the industry and beyond. Emma Watson has become a literal spokesperson for feminism. Emma Thompson is obviously a queen.

    Kate Winslet literally defended a rapist director as someone who writes amazing female characters up until like…8 weeks ago. She was totally fine telling the story about how she had to work with him, “its Woody Allen!” until it didn’t benefit her anymore. I’m assuming when she signed the Times Up letter, she thought it meant Times Up on her tactic of willingly sticking her head in the sand and time to start pretending she’s been cool all along. Nah, sorry Kate, it’s too late.

    • ell says:

      she was also saying what a wonderful human being he is, because apparently he sent a copy of their film to KW’s mum who was sick at the time (and the passed away).

      i grew up with winslet and used to really love her, she’s such a disappointment.

    • Mia4s says:

      Kristen Scott Thomas worked with Roman Polanski.

      Why do people still keep insisting this is all black and white? It’s all very very complicated. All we can do is move forward and let these actors do the same, however imperfectly.

      • BaBaDook says:

        @MIA4S It’s not black and white at all, and I dont think any one is suggesting it is. Lots of these women have worked with less than savoury directors and producers. The difference is, Kate Winslet was asked about it while this movement happened and she still defended him.

      • perplexed says:

        I think it’s the high praise for these men from some of the actresses that people find jarring, not necessarily that they worked with them. Kate Winslet didn’t have to gush about him — I’ve always liked her verve and enthusiasm personality-wise , but this last go round I’ve come to the conclusion that she might be a little odd. No one can possibly like Woody Allen as a person that much! (well except for maybe Diane Keaton, although she seems to be holding on to the conviction that he’s innocent for some reason and she had a romantic entanglement with him that goes back decades. Maybe she can’t bring herself to think she was involved with a predator so I think her reasons for supporting him might be different from that of the average actress).

        I guess Winslet’s publicist must have pulled her aside and told her to stop going against public sentiment. As talented an actress Winslet is, I’ve begun to wonder about her critical thinking skills. Maybe she doesn’t know how to respond to an issue until the team around her tells her how to think about it. She could also be super ambitious like Meryl Streep is, but I’m starting to think Winslet might not be smart enough to know how to read a room (on her own, that is). Everyone made fun of Blake Lively for praising Allen so enthusiastically — the situation with Kate Winslet isn’t much different (and, like I said, this is coming from someone who has always generally liked her spunk and talent).

  10. xena says:

    I really used to like her as an actress, but now I am internally cringing whenever I see her. She’s currently ruining some of my favorite films, similar to Matt Damon.

  11. minx says:

    Oh, Kate. I used to be such a fan…

    • ell says:

      me too, but now i’m over her i realise i should have been ages ago. i remember a few years ago when talking about the pay gap she was like ‘talking about money is tacky’ or something of that effect. she’s been the worst for a while.

  12. starkiller says:

    Tom Hiddleston donated? How nice. Still waiting for someone to ask him about working with Allen.

    • jetlagged says:

      I’m going to assume your list of people who need to answer the question includes more than just Hiddleston*, because depending on what you consider the cut-off date for when working with Allen became a damnable offense, there should be a shit-ton of other people who also make the list.

      Just out of curiosity, are we including everyone who has worked on an Allen film since 1992 (when his affair with Soon-Yi was first discovered and Dylan’s abuse was first alleged)? Maybe we skip forward to 1997 when Woody and Soon-Yi were officially married? Or does the clock start running in 2013 when Dylan herself first spoke of the abuse to the press?

      *In the right context, I actually want to hear him answer this question too.

  13. Bug says:

    Now I don’t feel so bad about being put off by her mouth.

  14. Burdzeyeview says:

    I can’t stand her….she is full of it. She’s an insufferable hypocrite. She’s got some nerve.