My name is Nick Monroe. I’m a freelance journalist who started up their own blog here instead of returning to the chains of management that come with working at a media outlet. This article that turned into a book is dedicated to the topic of Harvey Weinstein and the cases that came to light in the weeks since that news first broke. We as a society have seen a widespread reaction to the horrifying story of Harvey. That reaction is essentially a purge of individuals who engaged in bad behavior and sexual harassment/assault. They’ve been dragged out into the public light and had their sins laid bare for all to see. Given the professions and occupations of these people, more often than not they lose their jobs afterward. Some disappear from the public eye altogether.

I call this phenomenon the Sexodus for that reason. There’s never been anything quite like it before. Given the nature of the internet, this is the first time in our history that we’re able to witness something of such caliber in our society. The point of this book is to make sure we’ve got things in order and recorded, to some degree. I’m not as handsome as Ronan Farrow, or as charming as the ladies over at New York Times. They started the heavy lifting for the media. It spurred me on to want to do my part and help.

Since this is a book, I suppose I should take the time to write a dedication portion of some kind.

• My patrons on Patreon, of course. Thank you @thenerdcity, John, and an Anonymous Cat for supporting my work.
• Brittany Pettibone. My best friend and one of the smartest ladies I know. If you wanted to know why I was able to give 120% to my work and go through with this book? It’s her. I consider myself one hell of a lucky person to have them around in my life.
• The people who cheer me on from Twitter. You guys are the best followers in the world and I couldn’t ask for a better fan club of support for morale.
• I was a part of a Twitter DM group with some women who work in media, a few months back. During my time talking to them I got a better understanding of where the ladies in the industry are coming from with this issue. I appreciate and thank them for their insights and putting up with little ol’ me.

Here’s a table of contents so you can skip ahead to whatever part you want.

Part I: Pre-Sexodus. Devin Faraci and Harry Knowles.
Part II: Dawn of the Sexodus. Harvey Weinstein’s story and the initial backlash.
Part III: Kevin Spacey.
Part IV: Inside Hollywood.
Part V: Andy Signore.
Part VI: Outside Hollywood.
Part VII: Conclusion/The End

If you enjoy or appreciate this, feel free to thank me via Patreon or Paypal. I think information should be free but I also need to eat and pay bills. Of course. It will help me not die and keep doing what I do. ^__^

Pre-Sexodus Era

In the time before the great Sexodus came to pass, the conversation surrounding workplace sexual harassment was more of a whisper. Compared to the loud shouting it is now. That’s the dilemma of it all. In the last half of the 2000s through the first part of the 2010s, the politics bogged down this issue. The conversation surrounding sexual harassment and women’s rights in the workplace was limited to theoretical dogma. That, or the examples of bad behavior were too far and in-between to make a dent in people’s perceptions. Everyone likes to make their own mind up about things. The optimal solution to that is present them with enough substantial data to maximize that opportunity for them.

An educated stance is better than ignorance. Even if the person’s opinion is one you disagree with.

Here’s what we had to work with in the pre-Sexodus days.

In the month before Harvey Weinstein’s story first broke, the film critic community had a tremor of similar scandals. Two different cases happened.

The first was the resurfacing of a story that broke last year. Someone by the name of Devin Faraci stepped down as editor-in-chief of a film news and review site because of a sex assault allegation brought forward. His story is worth revisiting here because it serves as a glimpse about how people’s memories might be for the long-term. A possibility of what might come to pass a year down the road for some of the people thrown into the spotlight for their alleged scandals.

The second is Harry Knowles of Ain’t It Cool News, which serves the same purposes as Devin Faraci’s Birth.Movies.Death site he helmed. Knowles and Faraci positioned themselves as reporters and critics of the movie industry. Harry’s case is interesting in the fact that how he reacts to the allegations made against him. In similar shoes as Faraci, women Knowles interacted with in the past revealed his impropriety.

Devin Faraci fessed up almost immediately and accepted the professional consequences to his career. Harry Knowles denied any wrongdoing and went about his work like the news never even happened.

Devin Faraci

I wish there was a different picture suitable to use here. But the only thing people can recall about Devin Faraci now is this one. This press conference style serious image of him, as if he’s explaining to the public his perspective of some scandal.

Too bad it fits.

I never dreamed this would’ve all began where it ended last. As mentioned earlier, Devin Faraci was the Editor-in-Chief of Birth.Movies.Death until October 2016. His career in the film industry ended when a woman came forward with accusations of sexual assault against him.

I recommend reading my earlier Devin “Gone Too” Faraci medium article for context. But you’re pressed for time. I get it. Devin Faraci was the man in charge of Badass Digest and Birth.Movies.Death. He was the verbose film critic who wasn’t afraid to let his mind loose on a subject. Let that be movies or the people behind them. It all came to a halt when some Twitter user named @spacecrone came forward with an accusation of sexual assault.

Faraci stepped down. People assumed his career was lost in the fallout.

According to Alamo Drafthouse’s Tim League, Faraci had been in recovery and was sober since the 2016 allegations But dust started to pick up again. Brought on by a Facebook post from longtime viewer George Hickman. The Fantastic Fest schedule guide had posts written under Faraci’s name, which many had seen as their subtle attempt to reintroduce him to the mainstream.

To get to the point. People got mad in September 2017 because they realized Devin Faraci was quietly hired back to Alamo Drafthouse. Devin himself admitted he came back in February (responding as Devin Fnord on Facebook).

The problem was the ambiguity of it all. Which is why it seemed best to just cut to the chase so you’re not as confused as people were at the time this all became public.

The statement which Tim League officially put out about Faraci on the 12th of September was taken down for reasons that’ll be clear momentarily. But it was saved multiple times, with this screenshot in particular taken by a person who lamented that Faraci was getting second chances while they were still out there trying to make their first big break.

“Nearly a year ago, sexual misconduct allegations were brought against an Alamo Drafthouse employee, Devin Faraci. Though Devin did not recall the event, he did not doubt the allegations. Instead, he acknowledged the wrong, conveyed his sincere regret, and vowed to make the necessary changes in his life to prevent something like this from ever happening again. Devin took the allegations seriously, as did I, Alamo Drafthouse, and Birth.Movies.Death. As a result, we agreed the only course of action was for him to step down from his role as Editor-in-Chief of Birth.Movies.Death. We needed to make a clean break and change the leadership, and accordingly terminated his employment. Devin has not written for Birth.Movies.Death. since.

A culture of sexual harassment and gender inequality persists in our society and specifically within the film industry, and much work remains to fix this problem. By engaging in dialogue about these issues, and by holding people responsible for their actions, we can begin to bridge the gap between where we are now, and where we need to be. Without question, sexual misconduct is impermissible. The question is whether there is any path to redemption, and if so, what that path looks like.

Devin has spent the time since this allegation examining the choices he made that led to it. He has recognized and acknowledged his struggles with substance abuse; after stepping down, he immediately entered recovery and has been sober ever since. This is an important step in the right direction.

His departure from Birth.Movies.Death meant losing his job, his livelihood, his career, and his place in the film community, but Devin has started the work to rebuild himself first with the understanding that all else is secondary. Seeing the work that Devin has been doing to acknowledge his faults, to address his addiction, and to better himself, I thought it was important to contribute to his recovery process by helping him with some means to earn a living. Once it became clear that his efforts were sincere, I offered Devin copywriting work at Alamo Drafthouse and have recently expanded that to include writing blurbs for our Fantastic Fest festival guide. He does not hold any leadership position at Alamo Drafthouse or Fantastic Fest and is not involved with Birth.Movies.Death. in any capacity.

I understand there’s some discomfort with the idea that Devin is once again employed by the Alamo Drafthouse. However, I am very much an advocate for granting people second chances, and I believe that Devin deserves one. He continues to confront his issues and to better himself with the help of his friends and family. I am proud to consider myself a part of this process.

Human beings make mistakes, and when they acknowledge those mistakes and embark upon a journey of personal improvement, they deserve forgiveness. If, god forbid, I somehow find myself in a similar place down the road, my hope is that my actions up until this point have warranted others to offer the same help to me.”

League starts out his statement by laying out the facts. Alamo Drafthouse, Birth.Movies.Death. and all the management involved took it seriously. Tim recognizes the culture of sexual harassment that exists. In Devin’s case, League says that Faraci recognizes his personal struggles with alcoholism and entered recovery. By the 4th paragraph, Tim reveals that Devin had been doing copywriting work on the side just to make ends meet. His hope was that the public would go for the “we’re all flawed humans who deserve forgiveness” approach.

They did not.

Some people felt deceived that Tim League was hiding this right in front of their eyes. As seen here with this picture of Faraci taken with a work badge only a few months following the 2016 allegations. One analysis said that Tim League used passive language distancing Faraci from his actions, in an attempt to keep the man’s honor. Another person called it a “poorly kept local secret.” Another accuser revealed their own encounter with Faraci to Tim League last year and was asked to keep it private.

It’s strange. Seeing a piece I wrote in 2016 being strong enough with its content to take on a second life a year later. All I did was lay the situation out as it was. I didn’t force people to read it, nor did I force them to take Faraci’s past into consideration when reacting to the news surrounding him.

People were still pissed off though. Gauging by the reactions on social media, you’d be fooled into believing it all happened yesterday. Rather than months ago (initially). It’s worth pointing out that this was in part because people were led to think Faraci faced a more permanent punishment. That’s what they wanted to happen, too. Something more than a few months break. It’s not my place to judge what ramifications Devin “deserves.” People weren’t convinced he had changed at all, either. The bottom line here though was people felt bamboozled by Alamo Drafthouse, and that Devin still didn’t deserve a platform like that.

What does rehabilitation back into public life look like?

It was enough of a debacle that on the morning of September 13th Fantastic Fest’s international programming director Todd Brown parted ways with Drafthouse over it.

Brown made his resignation letter public. In the opening paragraph alone you can Todd’s disappointment.

“For the past eleven years I have been proud to be a part of the Fantastic Fest team and – by extension – a part of the Alamo Drafthouse family. For more than a decade Fantastic Fest has been a key element of my personal identity and a community that I was proud to have had a hand in building. Many of my closest friendships have been forged at Fantastic Fest and I have been privileged to work with a host of immensely talented people who have become more than colleagues – they are my confidants, my tribe, a sort of surrogate family spanning the globe. And so it was a very emotional decision to part ways with Fantastic Fest earlier today, a fact made even more emotionally difficult by the sad fact that it was not difficult at all. It was essential.”

“Anyone who has ever suggested that Fantastic Fest and the Drafthouse is just the geek friendly equivalent of the classic Old Boys Club, you have just been proven correct. We have just seen that Club in action. There it is, the Club utterly ignoring the victim while it creates a protective ring around the perpetrator. Telling every woman who has ever been harassed or assaulted that the predatory males around them will be protected if they are a part of the Club. Telling every woman that the Sad Man whose life is a shambles because of his own actions deserves help and support in putting himself back together while she deserves … nothing.”

Evening of September 13th. Alamo publishes the following.

The decision to bring Devin back on board was reversed within 48 hours. Faraci agreed to part ways with Alamo Drafthouse permanently. Meaning at least he wouldn’t try this “comeback tour” stunt again.

It was by now that @spacecrone directly addressed their stance on this. They said last year Tim League called her personally and told them they were removing Devin from staff. She specifies she didn’t ask for this but thought it was a good idea when brought up. This year @spacecrone was as surprised as anyone else when they saw Tim League’s recent letter revealing Faraci’s rehiring. She felt lied to for the sake of a PR scheme. “Sloppy” is the word @spacecrone uses. League and her email back and forth, and her final thought is Tim really loves Devin Faraci. But the reality is Devin hurt people, and this was contributing to a hostile atmosphere where women were uncomfortable with discussing these matters.

Faraci too would speak out. This was done by the morning of the 14th in a letter that was briefly published to medium, before being taken down shortly after.

Someone saved it though.

“After eleven months of silence and many people speaking for and about me, I figured it was time to speak for myself.

In October of last year a woman (it’s not my place to name her) came forward to accuse me of groping her in 2003. I don’t remember the incident, but I know that I have been a blackout drinker. Faced with this serious accusation I had only one choice: believe the woman making the claim and accept personal responsibility. I felt that the morally correct action was to remove myself from my position and my world and to be quiet.

Over the course of my life I have hurt people. While this experience was not the first time I had people telling me how awful I was (I had made a career of it), it was the first time I truly faced how much I needed to change. I am not the man I was in 2003, and I am not the man I was in October. I take personal responsibility for all my actions and decisions, positive and negative, and I have begun the work of understanding the conditions that led me to take those actions, and to untie the knots of pain and fear that made me, frankly, an asshole.

Recovery and therapy introduced me to mindfulness meditation and a new spirtuality (that I won’t get into here because it’s just going to read as phony and hokey) that has allowed me to start the hard work of making myself a better person. As I continue that work I look forward to making amends — at the proper time as dictated by a 12 step program — to those I’ve hurt. I’m not there yet, but it’s coming.

I have spent the last eleven months lying low and focusing on my recovery and spirituality. A few months into my recovery I was given the chance to do low-level copy-writing as a way to keep my rent paid as I continued the journey. Now circumstances have arisen that leave me unemployed and back in the news.

I can tell you what I won’t do next: I won’t drink about this. My sobriety remains my rock. I am not a victim here. I accept and embrace this challenging new stage of my life, because change is the only constant in this world. I will continue the endless journey of making myself a better person. I accept the karma I have created and must continue to work through. I know that no matter how far down the scale I have gone, my experience can be of benefit to others. I meet all with love and kindness because I refuse to submit to darkness. I will use my life and my talents in service of others.

These are hard days for everyone. I am sorry to have made them harder for anyone, especially survivors of sexual abuse and assault who have had to relive traumas because of headlines and tweets about me.

If you are struggling with alcohol or drugs, there is a fellowship that exists to help you.

It is in your power to be a better person. You can begin today, right now, this instant. Do not wait, like I did, until your whole life falls apart.

Believe women. Especially when they’re talking about you.

May you be happy, safe and at peace.”

What we’re left with is exactly where things were when they started. A flustered @spacecrone and a remorseful Faraci trying to move on or better themselves in recovery. Devin admits that Alamo Drafthouse signed him back on a few months after his incident to help him pay rent. That mention alone is probably why the letter was taken down. I don’t think Faraci has any personal shame left to lose at this point.

We’ll see where Alamo Drafthouse stands in all this later on.

The Daily Beast published a previously unknown encounter that a female film journalist had with Faraci.

“A source who requested anonymity told The Daily Beast that Faraci’s misogynistic modus operandi was well-known within the larger film community.

She told The Daily Beast that she and Faraci—both film journalists at the time—“both went to the set of [REDACTED] for our respective outlets and as usual, the studio wined and dined us.” She recalled, ‘Somehow, Faraci and I ended up stumbling around the last bar together, everyone was drifting back, and Faraci said we needed to go back too. He kept complimenting me, something came up about my not having a boyfriend, and he stopped me in front of the hotel and kissed me. I think he stopped and kissed me a few times. I was VERY drunk, so I can’t say it was entirely consensual. I know I wanted out of the situation… Something finally came to in my brain and I politely excused myself, pointing out he had a girlfriend and it was not something I would do.'”

The aftermath of that was Faraci unfollowing the woman on Twitter and totally phasing her out of his life. It underlines the domineering and predatory nature of Devin that he was known for in the years leading up to October 2016. What happened to him and Caroline @spacecrone on Twitter was just breaking the illusion of public legitimacy Faraci wielded.

On September 15th, Variety posted an exclusive scoop about the film “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” pulling out of Fantastic Fest.

“‘In light of recent events, the makers of ‘Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,’ have decided not to participate in Fantastic Fest,’ a Searchlight rep said in a statement when reached for comment. The studio would not comment further.”

A snowball began that week. The initial momentum force spurred on by this small incident with Alamo Drafthouse and Faraci had cracked Hollywood’s blinders once and for all. Nobody fully understood that yet at the time.

Harry Knowles

But the end of Faraci was the beginning of the end for Harry Knowles of Aint It Cool News. To clarify, Harry was basically a pillar of the film critic community. Little did the world know that pillar was the dark and disgusting underside of that world.

September 21st. Harry Knowles tells IndieWire via phone call that Aint It Cool News wasn’t going to sponsor Alamo Drafthouse’ Fantastic Fest film festival. The reason he gave at the time was it didn’t feel right because of the Devin Faraci controversy. Responding to the claims of a Boys Club in the Alamo Drafthouse, Harry seemed clueless. He played himself off as the married guy in a wheelchair who works all the time. Knowles made it appear as if he had no idea what Todd Brown was talking about.

But on the other side of his rationale was something more ominous. Knowles admits to IndieWire that he stepped back because of accusations made against him personally.

“There was a rumor about me and an ex-girlfriend that felt ugly,” he told IndieWire. “They’re a complete fabrication and lie.”

Those words came back to haunt him. On the afternoon of September 23rd, Harry Knowles tweets out this.

“There’s a story coming about me that is 100% untrue. I was this person’s friend and confidant. I wish her nothing but the best. But untrue”

Normally this happens when someone gets a request for comment and they don’t exactly like the story they got asked about.

This was one of those times. An hour later, Kate Erbland of Indiewire published an exposé on Harry Knowles. Hot off the Devin Faraci incident, more fire would come down on Alamo Drafthouse after the head of Aint It Cool News is accused of inappropriate behavior.

Jasmine Baker accused Harry Knowles of sexually assaulting her during Alamo Drafthouse events back in 1999-2000. It was done on multiple occasions. The first time, Jasmine just wrote it off as an accident. But he did it again later on. That time, she confronted him about it. He just laughed. Jasmine says Harry also put his hand under her shirt at one point. The Indiewire reporter spoke to Baker’s friends who backed up her account. Knowles denies this behavior, saying he and Baker were friends until 2002. Jasmine later went on to work for Alamo Drafthouse for 4 years and even told Tim League and his wife about the incident with Harry. They were reportedly horrified but didn’t know how to respond either. Tim League and Knowles would go on to co-found Fantastic Fest in 2005.

People got pissed off on social media again. Of course. Beyond the one–on–one approach, folks lumped Knowles together with Faraci. Some compared and contrasted the two. It could’ve been due to the fact both men were involved with Alamo in some way.

But most important is that people were beginning to have the “is this an industry-wide problem” conversation again. Entering that self-reflection phase within themselves and the community.

On the 25th Aint It Cool News writer Eric Vespe posted his resignation letter to Twitter. He, along with two other staff members, were stepping down as a result of the allegations brought forward against Harry Knowles. Vespe was a part of the website for 20 years. This decision didn’t come lightly.

By the 26th, Tim League put out a statement addressing the Knowles matter.

“I’ve been reflecting on twenty years of decisions as a business owner. In the early days, Karrie and I conferred on all tough decisions, and we always tried to do the right thing. To this day, the core value of the company is just that, the simple principle to always “do the right thing.” Recent perspective has made it clear that we didn’t always do the right thing, despite what we thought were good intentions. To the women we have let down, Karrie and I both sincerely apologize.

We’re now a big company with over 4,500 employees. We have over a million guests come through our doors every month. Now we have a great HR team and are a vastly better company than we were in the mom and pop days.

I’m currently writing this update from a hotel room in Kansas City. As many of you know, I decided to skip Fantastic Fest this year. I feel that the most important thing I can do right now is to travel to all of our theaters, talk with our staff and listen. I’ve hosted 12 sessions so far and there are many more scheduled for the next three weeks all over the country. As much as I’d like to be at the event, I need to be with our staff and lead a positive path forward for the company.

On the festival front, in light of recent events and feedback we have gotten over the last few days, we have taken some first steps on the path to listening and ensuring that we create a safe, inclusive environment for our staff at both the theater and the festival as well as the community at large. I’ll be sharing more about this in the days and weeks to come.

Moving forward, we have severed all ties with Harry Knowles and he is no longer affiliated with the company in any capacity. We are striving to better respond to allegations of sexual assault and harassment, and will take actions so those who work at the theater or attend as a guest are not made to feel unsafe.

The festival is actively working on building out a new Board of Directors whose focus will be to further enhance and refine the experience of the festival; nurture and provide more opportunities for young genre filmmakers; and provide the best, most open and inclusive environment for this unique film community. This board will be run by the festival’s Executive Director, Kristen Bell, and should be finalized and announced shortly.

The festival team has spent the last five days talking to badgeholders and gathering feedback on ways the festival can be better. We’ve made real-time changes to the festival this year and will also be sending out a post-event survey to all badgeholders to collect further feedback on how we should improve and grow. We greatly appreciate all the feedback we have received so far, both positive and negative, as it continues to give us a wider, better perspective on the future of the festival.

At the festival and at the theater, we are committed to providing a safe and welcoming environment for all of our staff and guests, and I am committed to the work ahead to ensure that goal.

Tim League”

In a sense, this letter wasn’t just speaking of the Knowles situation. Rather it explores the Alamo Drafthouse as a community entity stuck in the middle of this ordeal. In both cases here, this was true. They rehired Devin Faraci and failed to take action against Harry.

It’s worth noting the misconception of “two sides” to every story here. It isn’t just the perpetrator and the victim. Rather, it’s them plus the shared environment they both co-habit for a particular period time. One which allows violating behaviors to take place. I’m not one to entirely damn Alamo Drafthouse either. Even though after my Faraci piece I was mysteriously blocked by a majority of their staff. Regardless, I still see the human element that Tim League was referring to in his initial letter back during Faraci’s attempted return. But there’s a right way and wrong way to do things. Having people discover Faraci’s name crop up in the Fantastic Fest program for themselves is certainly an easy way to get the public pissed off at a company. I’m not surprised they had a PR team involved in damage control.

Later that day IndieWire needed two pages to release their follow-up. The scandal brought more people out of the woodwork to speak, as four more women came forward with accusations against Harry. Gloria Walker wrote on Twitter “On more than one occasion HK has grabbed my ass and other parts of me. I just learned to not go within grabbing distance of him.” Her story involved seeing Captain America back in 2011 at an Aint It Cool News sponsored screening at the Alamo Drafthouse in South Lamar. Walker tried contacting Knowles, and reportedly he said he’d get her in for a kiss. Walker did not agree to this but Harry put her on the list anyway. She hugged him when she saw him. Later on, Knowles grabbed her ass and thighs as she was walking by at a Halloween party. Before she could even react, Knowles was already laughing at something else, pretending it didn’t even happen. ScreenCrush Associate Editor and Writer Britt Hayes also came forward with their own story. “Harry sexually harassed me. he has sexually harassed other women in this community for years. this wasn’t an anomaly. he is a predator,” they said. Attending a “Butt-Numb-a-Thon” 24-hour movie marathon in 2011, she was unsure that next year if she wanted to participate again. Contacting her on Twitter, Harry said the real way to get into BNAT was “show me your tits.” While Hayes managed to unfollow him, Knowles was still in the same community as her so there were uncomfortable run-ins. A third female film writer named “sick__66” had been harassed by Knowles on Twitter. They never met in person, but the Twitter direct messages they exchanged show an uncomfortable atmosphere. He leveraged his connections to Guillermo del Toro, Kevin Smith, and Peter Jackson. Harry came onto her saying she could have his “vienna [sic] sausage anytime.” A fourth case happened to Alamo Drafthouse employee Jill Lewis. During Fantastic Fest at the Highball bar, Harry grabbed her arm. Telling Jill he was high on mushrooms, before proposing that she get naked in front of Knowles and his wife.

Instead of publicly apologizing for the allegations made against him, Knowles took a different approach to their situation than Faraci did to his own. Harry announced he was going to take a leave of absence from his site. For “therapy, detox, and getting to a better place,” according to him. In the interim, Knowles was going to have a replacement. That afternoon Harry announced he was teaching his sister how to run the website. There were allegations that Knowles was ghostwriting in this arrangement, but those were quickly addressed as the result of this transition phase.

An in-depth article on The Wrap traces the rise and fall of Harry Knowles. One of the authors was a contributor to the site, giving them an insider’s understanding of Aint It Cool News history. This sexual assault allegation controversy wasn’t something that caused Knowles to “fall from grace.” According to sources TheWrap spoke to, that had already happened slowly over the course of the past decade.

The proud early days of Aint It Cool News happened because Harry Knowles ignored the boundaries of traditional media as it was in the 1990s. His story began in 1994 when he bought a computer with the insurance money Harry received after his mom died in a fire. The following year, Knowles tripped on a hose while he was in the middle of setting up for some of collectibles sale. Spending months confined to bed, Aint It Cool News was born out of necessity for Knowles to carve a path for his future. The breaking away from traditional media protocols that made him a success were a quality that came about because of that. To stand out from the rest, Aint It Cool News got stories from leakers on film sets and members of test audiences that got early looks at upcoming movies.

In 2002, John Patterson of the Guardian released a piece revealing the growing flaws and gaps in Harry Knowles website empire. He had insider information on Harry because one of the ghostwriters in Knowles auto-biography was also a friend of Patterson’s. John calls out Harry for blowing his load too early. He tells readers that Knowles has been accused of being easily influenced by producers. All in all, eroding his credibility with the public.

As the years went by, other websites were catching up to a more modernized reporting style (think how Entertainment Weekly does coverage these days), and Knowles got lazy.

Slashfilm.com founder Peter Sciretta told TheWrap: “Harry got pulled in other directions. He wanted to produce movies and he wanted to make TV shows. … I think he spent more time trying to do those things while the staff minded the store.”

Harry doing other projects while failing to maintain his core business proper did some damage. TheWrap mentions Aint It Cool News staff being mistreated by one of the managers, Roland De Noie. Harry didn’t understand the ramifications of Roland’s alleged ignorance in responsibility with things like tax paperwork.

Which in turn was all a part of the slow burn of Aint It Cool News.

Harvey Weinstein

Seth MacFarlane announced the 2012 nominees for best supporting actress at The Oscars: Sally Field (Lincoln), Anne Hathaway (Les Misérables), Jacki Weaver (Silver Linings Playbook), Helen Hunt (The Sessions), and Amy Adams (The Master).

“Congratulations, you five ladies no longer have to pretend to be attracted to Harvey Weinstein.”

It got big laughs from the audience. More than you’d expect in this kind of setting, anyway. There was a reason for that. It was because it’s true. In his public statement, Seth says the joke came from a place of anger and loathing. Back then, he found out a female colleague of his was targeted by Harvey.

Reflect a bit closer in Hollywood’s past and you’ll find muffled cries for help. At a 2005 red carpet event for Pamela Anderson’s Comedy Central Roast, Courtney Love was asked to give advice for young women trying to make it in Hollywood.

“If Harvey Weinstein invites you to a private party in the Four Seasons? Don’t go,” she said.

Many call it the open secret of Hollywood. I think of it as the supernova of sex scandals and abuse. A situation that explodes in such a bright massive ball of light, that everyone on the planet turned their heads to see.

In brief, Harvey Weinstein and both his company’s films were some of the more noteworthy in the past few decades of the movie industry. With the founding of Miramax (Harvey and Bob’s run lasted from 1979 until 2005), the two brothers helped bring some of my favorites to life: Clerks, Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, and Good Will Hunting. When they left Miramax and formed The Weinstein Company thereafter, they continued being a powerhouse. But the films were just something to do. As more important than the quality of the movies was the quantity. Weinstein’s influence in the industry was in part because of how many films he helped see release. The veins of blood pumping a continuous flow of money and life into Harvey’s sex machine.

Let me smack you upside the head on this point. Harvey Weinstein was in the center circle of Hollywood’s powerful people. I’ve put together this collage to better portray that.

Harvey Weinstein was thanked as much as God was when it came to Academy Awards acceptance speeches (based on an analysis done from 1966 to 2016). 34 times. God and Harvey are in a second-place tie, with the only one ahead of both being Steven Spielberg.

It’s one thing to show individual pictures of Harvey hanging out with the global elite. But that only goes far in demonstrating the extent of his reach. Also, this is just a fraction of what Weinstein’s socialization potential can do. This is only the stuff they caught on camera.

Consider everything that’s not. I recommend reading this entire article on the Huffington Post. It goes in-depth over how Weinstein took advantage of a charity auction and leveraged it for personal gain. Teaming up with someone on the inside named Kenneth Cole, Harvey’s intention was to simply move money around quietly. But everything didn’t go according to plan as people from Kenneth’s side began asking questions. The response from Weinstein’s side was self-serving and incompetent enough to make the situation worse. Blowing it so out of proportion that the charity launched a formal investigation into what went down. While Harvey’s treatment of women wasn’t a factor going into this at all, the investigators looking into the matter fell down that rabbit hole the deeper they got into their work.

Weinstein knew what was coming. On October 4th Variety reported Harvey enlisted a team of attorneys.

On October 5th 2017, Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey of the New York Times published “Harvey Weinstein Paid Off Sexual Harassment Accusers for Decades.” This bombshell report revealed how actresses like Ashley Judd and employees like Emily Nestor were treated by Harvey Weinstein. It wasn’t just one or two situations, either. These Weinstein scenarios span across three decades. The New York Times backed up their findings with: interviews from employees and industry people, emails, legal records, and other internal documents they obtained. Eight different settlements with women, going from a young assistant in 1990 to an Italian model in 2015. A memo by Lauren O’Connor was a key piece of initial evidence. One that Lisa Bloom said Weinstein thought was “off base” in the midst of denying these claims.

“I am a 28 year old woman trying to make a living and a career. Harvey Weinstein is a 64 year old, world famous man and this is his company. The balance of power is me: 0, Harvey Weinstein: 10.”

Lisa Bloom had spent the past year giving Weinstein guidance on gender and power dynamics. She “explained to him that due to the power difference between a major studio head like him and most others in the industry, whatever his motives, some of his words and behaviors can be perceived as inappropriate, even intimidating,” according to Bloom herself.

The memo detailed complaints that many others coming forward about Weinstein shared. O’Connor expressed concerns that people like her and other female staff were unsuspecting go-betweens that gave women Harvey went after a false sense of security.

The sheer scale of the situation redefines the word scandal. As it applies to Hollywood and the Media Entertainment Industry. The New York Times piece mentions Sex, Lies, and Videotape, Pulp Fiction, Good Will Hunting, and Project Runway as some of the media content Weinstein helped release. They even highlight some of the political hypocrisy. The piece mentions how Weinstein distributed a documentary about campus sexual assault with 2015’s The Hunting Ground. Also, how Harvey threw his weight behind the democratic party. Doing things like fund-raising for Hillary Clinton and having Malia Obama intern for him. Elsewhere, I came across a piece from the Independent written by Weinstein himself back in 2009. In it, he makes an argument for Roman Polanski to be freed from his sexual abuse charges.

Months later, the aftershocks are still coming and coming. I would not be surprised if it continued through 2018, at this rate. Before this came out, people knew that there was an issue with how women were treated. After the Weinstein saga became public it removes all doubts about how people in Hollywood can take advantage of the system.

Something is wrong. Right now we’re all just trying to come to terms with the extent of what that is. The best place to start is by getting a grasp on the facts. You can find the foundation of those in the aforementioned The New York Times piece, along with The New Yorker’s own investigation published on October 10th. Stuff like an audio file from 2015 where Harvey Weinstein admits to groping Ambra Battilana Gutierrez is cold-hard evidence. The odds of Weinstein being able to explain his own words away is the most difficult challenge he has for himself, in his long road of litigation ahead.

Obviously, both men and women can fall victim to sexual harassment, abuse, and rape. But when it came to Harvey Weinstein, in particular, he targeted ladies. It’s worth taking the time to study the instances of this and narrowing it down to a pattern of commonalities. Even so, it’s difficult putting a blanket label on each case. The easiest term would be victims. But when it comes to consent on a situational basis, some might disagree with that phrasing. Harvey treated these women like targets as if his exploits were a sport. In a game that changed lives for those unfortunate enough to be involved. The best label here is survivors. Anyone who crossed Weinstein’s path and lived to tell about it survived an ordeal. I should point out that a majority of my list is sourced from what Asia Argento (one of Weinstein’s victims) posted on Twitter and available in this Google Doc. I made this Twitter list as well. If you preferred to further hear from the people involved themselves.

Harvey never drugged any of these ladies. He wasn’t after their bodies. Weinstein loved the thrill of the hunt. No. Harvey Weinstein went after these women to fulfill some sort of psychological need for domination, control, and having power over others. In both the immediate sense, as well as the long term. It starts with meeting the target. Weinstein is able to adapt to whatever situation he’s presented with. Whatever opportunity comes his way. Generally speaking, he goes for a method of professional pretenses. Something along the lines of wanting to discuss career plans with his target, and needing to meet them privately. Sometimes it involves a date of some kind beforehand. Sometimes it doesn’t. What matters to him is getting the girl alone in his hotel room. That’s his operating table. Much like how TV serial killer Dexter Morgan used plastic sheeting and a “kill room,” Harvey Weinstein tries to get his victim trapped in a controlled environment on his terms. But like I said. He doesn’t drug them. Instead, Weinstein disrobes and tries to convince his targets into sleeping with him. Sometimes he goes for the “I need a massage” line. He often says “YOU KNOW HOW MANY WOMEN SLEPT WITH ME AND HOW I HELPED OUT THEIR CAREERS?” to them. That’s on purpose, dangling opportunities in front of his victims like a carrot on a stick. He does get angry too, in the heat of the moment. Angered at the rejections, whenever he switched from his professional tone to the sexually charged one. It all goes back into the control fetish he has. Every time, the women try to escape Harvey’s trap one way or the other. Sometimes he rapes them. Sometimes the women break free. But every time, his targets are left with that traumatic incident scarring them, regardless. The game didn’t end then, either. Harvey ended many of their careers and blacklisted them out of the industry, or he settled.

All these words pale in comparison to just observing Weinstein in his habitat. The intimacy of restaurants feels this close in some of the stories from Harvey’s victims. If you wanted a snapshot “in the life” of Weinstein, it’s with pictures like these. Working to dazzle and wow his target. A flaunting of his sphere of influence.

While Harvey had a thirst for actresses and models, it’s worth pointing out how employees were treated. A few were mentioned in the photo gallery above.

Morgan Shanahan wrote a piece on Buzzfeed reflecting back to the early 2000s when she interned at Miramax. She saw Harvey Weinstein for 15 seconds while on a smoke break as he walked in and out of work. Morgan idolized him, receiving comments on her clothing and body Harvey threw her way. Shanahan says that the normalization of that surface level initial engagement is what opens up the doors for Weinstein’s style of abusing women in Hollywood. Alan Brewer was the lead producer on Playing for Keeps back in 1984. It came as a shock to him to hear from a young lady crew member that Weinstein lured her to his hotel room under false pretenses. Performing the ol’ work turning to sex switcharoo. Allegedly Harvey forced onto the bed and made her give oral. Lisa Rose was only 22 when they got their Miramax gig in London back in 1988. She dealt with Harvey at the Savoy Hotel. When Weinstein wanted a massage, Rose got the memo from other staff to put her foot down and deny his request.

Later on, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Elizabeth Karlsen didn’t even work for Weinstein. She’s a film producer. But this female executive working for Miramax at the time came to her with this sexual harassment horror story about Harvey.

“She came to me directly and said that [Weinstein] had appeared naked in her bedroom,” Karlsen said. They note this happened in a house Miramax rented in London to cut down on costs. “I don’t know the extent of what did happen, but there was an out-of-court settlement and she left the company.”

The decade or year mattered not to Harvey. He was still soliciting sexual advances to temp employees like Emily Nestor towards the end of 2014. Weinstein’s actions are the center of it all. Even in the cases where we don’t know the name of the victim. The Guardian listed several anon victims of Harvey Weinstein that the cops were looking into. An unknown victim spoke up to British police about a sex assault happening back in 1992. The anonymous sexual assault case of 1994 in London, and another anonymous U.K. case in the mid-1990s. Another anonymous female victim alleges three incidents of sexual assault in 2010, 2011, and 2015. A separate lass going through the same thing had it happen to her in 2012, 2013, and 2014. While it wasn’t much of a secret, anonymous cases didn’t always end up in settlements like the one a young woman employee Kathy DeClesis supervised in the early 1990s got. Not to get that confused with the young assistant in New York who got a settlement in 1990. Could these two instances in this New York Times article be referring to the same woman? Who knows. The problem is we have to ask that line of a question in the first place.

In 2015 A female assistant was left in a state of “distraught” by Harvey according to her colleague Lauren O’ Connor. She told Lauren that Weinstein demanded the assistant massaged him while he was naked. “There is a toxic environment for women at this company,” she wrote to the Weinstein company executives in a fiery memo.

Harvey used settlement money to make her go away, too.

It wasn’t just harassment needing cover-up either. In one case highlighted by The New Yorker, an unnamed woman was raped by Harvey in his hotel room. Weinstein allegedly did this to someone he worked with here. The necessity to maintain her livelihood and career quashed her capacity to come forward about it to the public. They weren’t the only one reportedly raped. Someone going by the alias Sarah Smith (wanting to keep their real name anon) spoke with the Daily Mail.

“‘He grabbed me and he was so big and powerful. He just ripped my clothes away and pushed me, threw me down. Then… I kept shouting, “No! Stop!” and tried to push him off. But he forced himself on me.

‘And I remember, this is the one thing I remember most clearly: I thought, I have to keep saying “No!” I was very aware that if a woman says no, it means no. And that was the one thing going through my mind throughout, “No, no, no, no!” It was over very quickly and then he just said, “Get out!”

I remember walking home that night and it was cold and sodden. I was mortified and ashamed. I didn’t tell anyone.
‘We live in more enlightened times now, but back then I just thought no one would believe me.’”

Former employee Ivana Lowell wrote about working at Miramax Books in her Why Not Say What Happened? memoir. This includes the time Harvey showed up to her apartment without notice wanting a massage. Weinstein wasn’t thrilled when this memoir was published and threatened to sue Ivana over it.

So while there’s the Giovanna Rei cases (exposing himself to an actress), and the Lina Esco ones (Harvey repeatedly asking a director for a kiss), there are situations like Laura Madden and Zelda Perkins in the eye of the storm. Getting a paycheck for being in Harvey Weinstein’s orbit.

What was it like for those in The Weinstein Company workplace though? How much did the Weinstein company know?

The New York Times revealed information from sources inside the company shedding light on that. Bob Weinstein and David Glasser’s response to employees about the Harvey allegations was shock and surprise. The board of directors said they had no clue about this behavior going on. According to an anonymous source, Harvey sent an email to the board calling them out about denying knowledge about payoffs. According to David Boies (the lawyer that represented Weinstein during a contract renewal), the Weinstein Company board of directors in 2015 knew of either 3 or 4 settlements Harvey had made during the time of these contract negotiations. Board member Lance Maerov admitted being aware of these settlements, but since there was no financial ties or legal liabilities for the company to worry about, they didn’t mind giving Harvey’s contract a thumbs up. As it turns out, Harvey got paranoid after the Ambra Battilana sting. He hid his personnel file from the board, and instead hired a legal intermediary H. Rodgin Cohen, to review it and speak on its behalf.

The New Yorker posted a few examples of these settlement agreements up close if you wanted a look.

Of course, it seems obligatory to share Harvey Weinstein’s initial response to the allegations made.

“I came of age in the ’60s and ’70s, when all the rules about behavior and workplaces were different. That was the culture then.

I have since learned it’s not an excuse, in the office — or out of it. To anyone.

I realized some time ago that I needed to be a better person, and my interactions with the people I work with have changed.

I appreciate the way I’ve behaved with colleagues in the past has caused a lot of pain, and I sincerely apologize for it.

Though I’m trying to do better, I know I have a long way to go. That is my commitment. My journey now will be to learn about myself and conquer my demons. Over the last year, I’ve asked Lisa Bloom to tutor me, and she’s put together a team of people. I’ve brought on therapists, and I plan to take a leave of absence from my company and to deal with this issue head on. I so respect all women, and regret what happened. I hope that my actions will speak louder than words and that one day we will all be able to earn their trust and sit down together with Lisa to learn more. Jay Z wrote in 4:44 “I’m not the man I thought I was, and I better be that man for my children.” The same is true for me. I want a second chance in the community, but I know I’ve got work to do to earn it. I have goals that are now priorities. Trust me, this isn’t an overnight process. I’ve been trying to do this for 10 years, and this is a wake-up call. I cannot be more remorseful about the people I hurt, and I plan to do right by all of them.

I am going to need a place to channel that anger, so I’ve decided that I’m going to give the NRA my full attention. I hope Wayne LaPierre will enjoy his retirement party. I’m going to do it at the same I had my Bar Mitzvah. I’m making a movie about our President, perhaps we can make it a joint retirement party. One year ago, I began organizing a $5 million foundation to give scholarships to women directors at USC. While this might seem coincidental, it has been in the works for a year. It will be named after my mom, and I won’t disappoint her.”

So how the hell did it all go down? Part of it was a back and forth between Weinstein and the media. His first interviews were filled with shock and denials. Peppered in there were statements of commitment to self-reflect on how to act like a better person.

It’s easy to assume if Harvey was apologizing because of The New York Times piece, he implicitly agreed there was truth to that. But Weinstein was also going to sue. Charles Harder (one of many attorneys representing Weinstein) announced the lawsuit threat in a statement to Variety:

“It relies on mostly hearsay accounts and a faulty report, apparently stolen from an employee personnel file, which has been debunked by 9 different eyewitnesses,” Harder said. “We sent the Times the facts and evidence, but they ignored it and rushed to publish. We are preparing the lawsuit now. All proceeds will be donated to women’s organizations.”

But the Times said they were “confident in the accuracy of our reporting. Mr. Weinstein was aware and able to respond to specific allegations in our story before publication. In fact, we published his response in full,” in their rebuttal.

It’s true. They did.

That contradiction is addressed in an interview Harvey Weinstein did with The Wrap. He states The New York Times didn’t give him adequate time to respond. Harvey explains he was given two days to address the allegations presented. A Times spokesperson considered the time they gave Harvey was sufficient enough. Furthermore asserting that — along with publishing his entire response — Harvey didn’t challenge any of the facts within the original piece.

It started as an indefinite leave of absence. Reading the statement from the Board of Directors gives us a sense of what their first response to Harvey’s public scandal was.

Some director names are missing from that sign-off area at the bottom, there. Variety confirmed three board members: Marc Lasry and Dirk Ziff (billionaire investors), as well as deputy CEO of Technicolor Tim Sarnoff, all resigned.

October 7th marked the day Harvey’s adviser, Lisa Bloom, resigned (sidenote, she had a deal with Weinstein to turn her book into a miniseries). The New York Times said the last two days were filled with a heated back and forth between Bloom and Bob Weinstein plus Lance Maerov. There were disagreements over how Lisa wanted to handle the problem on their hands. Board members disagreed with Bloom’s proposed abrasive method that included publishing photos of Weinstein with his accusers in a friendly capacity after the date of alleged incidents. Another adviser named Lanny Davis had already jumped ship before Lisa.

Let me make it clear. Things were moving pretty damn fast here. Everything was tumultuous and up in the air as everyone was trying to deal with this sudden issue on their doorstep. That Morning Joe chick Mika Brzezinski had a book deal with Weinstein books but vowed to pull out unless Harvey Weinstein resigned.

In the days before, Lisa Bloom was making statements on Twitter and to Variety about how she was standing by Weinstein.

On Twitter the day this all came out.

In a Variety interview a day later. It’s worth noting that Bloom was serving as an adviser, and not as a lawyer for Harvey.

“Had I been asked by Mr. Weinstein to represent him, I would have declined, because I do not represent individuals accused of sex harassment,” Allred’s statement read. “I only represent those who allege that they are victims of sexual harassment. While I would not represent Mr. Weinstein, I would consider representing anyone who accused Mr. Weinstein of sexual harassment, even if it meant that my daughter was the opposing counsel.”

In response to her mother’s shocking remarks, Bloom tells Variety, “I have a different kind of law practice. My mother does only plaintiff side discrimination and harassment work. I have a successful, 12-lawyer general practice law firm that includes business litigation, defamation, revenge porn cases, entertainment matters, family law, and much more. … I believe that we can do good by suing, but also working behind the scenes to encourage accused people to respond with dignity and respect.”

“In light of new information about misconduct by Harvey Weinstein that has emerged in the past few days, the directors of The Weinstein Company — Robert Weinstein, Lance Maerov, Richard Koenigsberg and Tarak Ben Ammar — have determined, and have informed Harvey Weinstein, that his employment with The Weinstein Company is terminated, effective immediately.”

Harvey resisted being fired over that weekend interim between the 5th and the 8th. He had a 20% stake in it, after all.

October 9th it came out that the company was planning to erase Harvey’s name on current TV shows and upcoming movie releases.

On October 10th, PEOPLE revealed Harvey Weinstein’s wife Georgina Chapman left him as a result of these allegations coming out. “My heart breaks for all the women who have suffered tremendous pain because of these unforgivable actions. I have chosen to leave my husband. Caring for my young children is my first priority and I ask the media for privacy at this time,” she told them in a statement.

Harvey responded to the news by saying he supported her decision, and that the two of them sat down what to do for the sake of their family. The move is more striking once you consider Weinstein’s earlier statements about his wife supporting him beforehand. During the first few days of the allegations being public, he made it seem like Georgina was going to be by his side. Harvey was confident that she and people like Lisa Bloom would be motivating him on his path in his treatment process to becoming a better person.

Now both Lisa and Georgina were gone.

In Bloom’s case, she ultimately came out regretful for the decision to represent Harvey Weinstein in any capacity. The whole Weinstein experience was a rollercoaster for Lisa Bloom. She was someone who made her name by helping people get restraining orders from Rob Kardashian, represented Cosby rape accuser Janice Dickinson, and prevented Mischa Barton’s ex-boyfriend from releasing a sex tape. The public’s perception of her with the Weinstein scandal made it look like she was out of the touch with Harvey. Which in turn makes her look like a failure based on the fact she was there in the first place as an advisory role. In this Buzzfeed News interview, Bloom’s rationale was she thought she could get to the heart of the problem from within on this one. Naively believing Harvey was capable of reacting to all of this publicly in a more favorable fashion. When The New Yorker piece on October 10th upped the allegations to rape, Lisa was as shocked as everyone else.

It didn’t take long for the emotional toll to hit Harvey’s brother Bob, either. This in-depth interview he did with The Hollywood Reporter details the strained relationship between Harvey and Bob Weinstein. It reveals the relationship between the two was already strained, and that Bob did not like his brother. Bob was aware that Harvey engaged in routine cheating on his wife, but not to the egregious extremes that were presented in The New York Times. Bob took care of the business from Los Angeles and Harvey was over in New York. They had barely spoken in the past five years because Bob couldn’t take his cheating, lying, and overall attitude with people. He was often the person who cleaned up after Harvey’s outbursts and messes. When it comes to how Harvey reacted to The New York Times allegations, Bob thinks his brother has no remorse and needs to pay for what he’s done. All in all, the fact these two are brothers means nothing when it comes to the legal disputes entangled between them and The Weinstein Company. Bob outright says he voted to fire Harvey as a member of the board of directors. Even further, he told The Hollywood Reporter that they were working to sever Harvey’s ownership interests in a timely fashion. Bob says The Weinstein Company employees were looking forward to moving on from this controversy and rebuilding. With himself at the wheel taking the steps to get things in a more positive direction. As to where Bob’s optimism came from? The Weinstein Company needed cash and got financial aid from Colony Capital. Colony and Weinstein’s company produced films together, and they were in negotiation talks for selling assets. Obviously, the controversy made the financial situation for Weinstein’s company worse, as nearly every deal that was previously set-up was now terminated.

The day before this interview happened, Amazon Studios cut business relations with the Weinstein Company. Fully aborted a two-season drama series with Robert De Niro and Julianne Moore. They decided to still go forward with The Romanoffs from Matthew Weiner, but in a way that cut Weinstein Company out of the equation. Apple had cut ties on an Elvis series they had planned with Weinstein Company, and Hachette Book Group ended their agreement with Weinstein Books.

Bob Weinstein faced sexual harassment allegations from Amanda Segel (executive producer on The Mist). Summer 2016 onward through a three month period, Bob was overtly romantic and asked her to join him for private dinners. It stopped after Segel got her lawyer to tell The Weinstein Company’s executives that she’d leave the show if Bob didn’t stop. In response, a representative for Bob Weinstein fired back and said Bob and her had dinner in LA in June 2016 and denied claims of alleged behavior. Bob’s lawyer took the counterargument a step further saying Ms. Segel was being misleading and could back that up with email evidence. Further, even if they humored Amanda’s claims there was not any inappropriate physical contact involved. It’s a grey area situation where you need to look at the full story and make up your own mind about who was right or wrong within it.

Harvey ended up losing every kind of professional membership you can imagine. The Directors Guild filed disciplinary charges. The Producers Guild of America voted to ban him for life. The Writers Guild (East and West) condemned Weinstein’s actions. The Television Academy expelled him for life.

All of these groups recognized the importance of how women should feel safe in the entertainment industry, vowing to take steps towards that goal and make a meaningful change. Reforms were needed, as seen in the case of policies from places like SAG-AFTRA.

The board of governors that run the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voted to expel Harvey Weinstein. The academy also swore to establish an ethical code of conduct for academy members to abide by.

“We do so 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. What’s at issue here is a deeply troubling problem that has no place in our society.”

This sort of move by the Motion Picture Academy has (pretty much) never been done before. There were calls to act on controversy cases in the past against other Hollywood actors, but nothing then was followed through on. Permanent expulsion happened with Carmine Caridi, but that was for violating Oscar voting rules.

Awards were on the chopping block too. Harvard University revoked the W.E.B. Du Bois medal they gave Weinstein in 2014. It’s Harvard’s highest award they give out for contributions to African/African-American culture. Elsewhere, French President Emmanuel Macron posted on Twitter he was “taking steps” to rescind the Legion of Honor award Weinstein got in 2012 from Nicolas Sarkozy. He was serious. Telling interviewers on TV that he “launched procedures” for the process.

October 19th was a game changer. That day, the Los Angeles Police Department shared something worthwhile.

“#LAPD Robbery Homicide Div has interviewed a potential sexual assault victim involving Harvey Weinstein in 2013. Investigation ongoing,” they tweeted.

According to the replies, it falls under that division because there’s a sexual assault special section for high-profile occasions like this. CNN was able to get direct confirmation from one of the officers. But it was LA Times who scooped the full story.

An unnamed Italian model/actress came forward and spoke to detectives for a few hours that day. She provided an in-depth account of testimony saying that Weinstein sexually assaulted at some hotel back in 2013. Harvey came to the Mr. C Beverly Hills hotel where this victim was staying in February 2013, to attend the 8th annual Los Angeles, Italia Film, Fashion and Art Fest. Weinstein invited herself into the victim’s room after midnight, barging his way in. His line of questions for the victim went down the “I want to see you naked” path. Harvey was aggressive and told the victim not to fight him because he was a powerful guy. This culminated with Weinstein grabbing the victim by the hair and raping her in the bathroom.

Given how recent the incident is, defense attorney Dmitry Gorin said it could “open the door to a prosecution if the evidence exists.”

Harvey denied the allegation on the grounds of the complaint being anonymous. This person came forward when he was at a rehab clinic in Arizona.

On October 20th TMZ revealed Weinstein completed his Arizona rehab outpatient program after one week. A psychologist that Harvey let speak to the press told TMZ that “he took it seriously.” They tried putting him in group therapy at first, but doctors came to see possible confidentiality concerns could happen from that. So they switched him to private one-on-one sessions instead. The TMZ article update clarifies Weinstein was spending another month in rehab, beyond this initial one week stay. People think this pricey spa-like treatment is all for show in an effort to keep up appearances. A facade while the story eventually dies down, allowing Harvey to try and irk his way back into the entertainment world. The issue with that is the media cycle with this story expounding on itself as people see this opportunity to call out other people in Hollywood.

The following week on the 26th, reports came out that Weinstein was suing his own company to get access to records and emails. The complaint said Harvey believed the materials within this account could help him defend himself. Not just for exonerating him in the public eye, but to pursue a wrongful termination claim against Weinstein Company. He alleges news reports that came out about his behavior were leaked from his personnel file, breaching confidentiality.

By the end of October, police investigations against Weinstein began ramping up. Beverly Hills police confirmed multiple complaints were sent in, and that they’re investigating. British press outlets said London Metropolitan Police were now looking into allegations spanning from the 1980s to 2015, from incidents brought forward by seven different victims. The source for this was anonymous and police refused to comment on the matter.

By November 2nd, Harvey was facing investigations in Los Angeles and New York. LAPD spokesman Josh Rubenstein wasn’t providing details, but he said the department was investigating Weinstein allegations from 2015. This was in addition to the report from that Italian actress/model they revealed earlier. Manhattan’s DA office said a senior prosecutor was investigating the allegations brought forth by Paz de la Huerta, who says in 2010 Weinstein raped her twice in her own apartment. Detectives interviewed Huerta and thought her story was believable. In addition, two people are willing to corroborate that testimony.

At the end of the month, there were conflicting stories coming out about the investigation’s status. The CNN interview with Paz’s lawyer Carrie Goldberg shows her people are frustrated at the apparent standstill. The outlet spoke to an NYPD source with knowledge on the investigation, backing that notion up. But the Manhattan District Attorney was quick to respond. In a PEOPLE article that was published hours later, they rejected that characterization.

When it came to how Hollywood and the world reacted, responses came from all over. It was less a matter of if and more of a when. As it became inevitable that everyone had something of their own to say. From the outset on October 5th and 6th, there was a rally of support from Amber Tamblyn, America Ferrera, Brooklyn Decker, Brie Larson, and Megan Ellison, among countless others. It shook up the world of politics and caused Democrats who received donations from Weinstein to react. Cory Booker donated his $7800, Elizabeth Warren donated her $5000, and Chuck Schumer donated thousands to women’s charities. Christian Slater focused on the truth being hard, and how these obstacles could be avoided in a society that had universal equal accountability. Ewan McGregor sounded overjoyed about Weinstein facing consequences for his actions, saying he heard rumors of Harvey’s inappropriate behavior in years past. Emma Watson tweeted she stood with all men and women who’ve had to deal with sexual harassment. Leonardo DiCaprio said there’s “no excuse” for sexual assault and harassment, no matter what gender you are or what your career is.

The #MeToo campaign was established on October 15th. “If you’ve been sexually harassed or assaulted write ‘me too’ as a reply to this tweet,” Alyssa Milano tweeted. It was done at the suggestion of a friend of hers. The purpose was to help the public at large understand how extensive the issue sexual harassment is.

I’m going to need a separate page for this. This is the moment during the Weinstein controversy fallout where we began to see a snowball effect. People saw the momentum of Harvey’s scandal and used that as an opportunity to speak out about cases of sexual harassment and abuse that they’d been keeping quiet until now.

It didn’t stop in Hollywood either. Women in media got together and pooled their knowledge into a list of men who reportedly committed dirty, unwanted deeds. The restaurant industry felt the Weinstein wave after 25 women came forward to tell their stories of sexual harassment at the hands of John Besh. CEO Abigail Johnson of Fidelity Investments told employees that the company has a zero-tolerance policy for harassment. She had to clamp down after reports surfaced that two of their company executives were ousted for sexual harassment. Fashion photographer Terry Richardson acknowledged his controversial workplace practices, which involve having sexually explicit interactions with models. Vogue Magazine ended up banning him.

They call it The Weinstein Effect.

On October 17th at Elle’s Women in Hollywood event, Jennifer Lawrence told the audience about the rough early days in her career. Film producers told her to lose 15 pounds in two weeks, with the pressure being on as they fired someone already for not losing weight fast enough. It was around this time period when a female producer made Jeniffer do a nude line-up with five other women. Afterward, the producer told Lawrence to use those photographs as inspiration for a crash diet. Other speakers like Kristin Stewart spoke to the effect of knowing first-hand that sexual harassment occurs in even the lower levels of industry work (think camera assistants and makeup artists). Resse Witherspoon made a speech as well, reflecting on the strength of Hollywood’s women for coming forward together about this topic. Witherspoon felt so confident in fact, that she revealed a director assaulted her when she was 16. Reese says there was a lasting frustration at the agents and producers who created the feeling her career’s survival depended on keeping quiet.

Ben Affleck’s initial response to the Weinstein controversy was sadness and anger. In the same fashion as George Clooney and Matt Damon, Ben Affleck was disgusted at the fact someone he worked with used his power to take advantage of women. People got uppity and said Ben has a past with women too. Then Halie Burton posted a video clip of her Total Request Live hosting days, alluding to an incident involving Ben Affleck. The clip has her in a TRL documentary recalling that Ben Affleck “tweaked” her left boob. Looking at a video of the incident itself shows that it did happen.

“I didn’t forget,” Burton said on Twitter.

Affleck acknowledged his mistake in judgment. “I acted inappropriately toward Ms. Burton and I sincerely apologize,” he tweeted.

But Ben was determined to show people he was taking this seriously. A few weeks later Affleck announced he’d donate any future checks he got from Weinstein movies to charity.

Channing Tatum terminated the project he was working on with The Weinstein Company. It was an adaptation of a novel about a boy whose life falls apart because of sexual abuse. Quentin Tarantino did an interview with The New York Times. He was publicly known for his close working relationship with Weinstein, and here Tarantino admitted to knowing “enough to do more than I did,” he says. Regretting not taking more responsibility at the time, Quentin told The Times he heard about what happened with Mira Sorvino and another actress, as well as Rose McGowan’s settlement with Harvey. Tarantino says he thought these were isolated incidents and not part of a much larger routine of misbehavior. Screenwriter Scott Rosenberg said during the golden years of Miramax “everybody-fucking-knew” about Harvey Weinstein’s aggressiveness and lust. He says he knows everyone knew because he talked about Harvey with everyone around town (journalists, screenwriters, agents, actors, etc). Scott says everyone knew something was awful, but not how awful it was. Also, that they lived in an era where there was nowhere to go to address it.

There are people who ask why the men of Hollywood didn’t speak up sooner. The thing is – they did – as we can see in the case of Robert Lindsay. His case didn’t involve sexual harassment, but it shows what Harvey does to people who get in his way. Robert Lindsay and Molly Ringwald made Strike It Rich back in 1990. But it wasn’t called that originally. Harvey changed it from Loser Takes All because he said “Americans couldn’t stand to have the word ‘Loser’ in the title,” according to Ringwald. Her essay explains how Weinstein manipulated aspects of production. Before filming had finished, the two were being asked to deviate from the agreement and film things not in the script. Robert stood up to Harvey about it and the ripple effects impacted his career long-term. He was slated to be a part of Shakespeare in Love, but Weinstein had enough pull with the director to cut Lindsay out.

With that in mind, you can see why some people chose to not make their stories public until now. Harvey Weinstein ran a movie media empire that printed money and fame for the benefit of those who worked there. Instinctively, they’d want to defend that gravy train with an army of lawyers and PR handlers. For any press outlet that wanted to expose Weinstein, they had to confront that titan. The massive size of the company means it takes months and months of work for a reporter to delve into it all. In return, they had to expect lawsuits and attempts at derailment at every turn. Harvey’s women he targeted had to do a dance with the court system too. In doing so, it makes it difficult for the reporters who want to contact the victims.

The best way to sum up the Weinstein experience is by looking at the case of Rose McGowan. She was in the eye of Hurricane Harvey, and it helps demonstrate how all these different elements at play come together. Hell if anyone in the world has the right to become a mega-turbo feminist to the extreme, it’s Rose McGowan. In a little bit, you’ll see why.

As described in this New York Times piece, what Happened to Rose was in early 1997 she was at the Sundance Film Festival for her “Going All the Way” flick. McGowan’s manager Jill Messick arranged for her to meet with Weinstein at the Stein Eriksen Lodge for an early morning meeting. When she got there, assistants had directed her to Harvey’s room. The two had a short business talk in his suite. When Rose went to go leave, Weinstein then mentioned he had a hot tub. After that, McGowan alleges Harvey raped her. At some point later lawyers got involved and confronted Harvey Weinstein about what happened. Eventually, he reached a $100,000 settlement with Rose to cover the costs of therapy. It was after this experience that McGowan’s friends say the actress had a personality shift. She started making strange life choices like dating Marilyn Manson and showing up to an MTV awards show pretty much in the nude (her dress was a bunch of tiny beads).

In the years that followed, word got around Hollywood about what happened to Rose, according to Alec Baldwin.

Rose McGowan first tweeted her story back in October 2016. While she didn’t call out anyone by name, the details given are enough for people to figure out the rest. This will trigger Weinstein into a state of paranoia and he’d retaliate. But again, we’ll go over that in a bit.

In the weeks prior to the Weinstein article dropping, McGowan came to realize there was no confidentiality clause in the settlement she signed so long ago. Word had gotten around about what happened to Rose enough that someone from Weinstein’s camp offered her $1 million in “hush money” back in September. Rose was intrigued by the offer given in part by the fact she spent all her cash taking care of her father on his deathbed.

“I had all these people I’m paying telling me to take it so that I could fund my art,” McGowan said. She upped the ante to $6 million. “I figured I could probably have gotten him up to three. But I was like — ew, gross, you’re disgusting, I don’t want your money, that would make me feel disgusting.”

In the final days before the New York Times article came out, she turned the offer down.

It became clear as this Weinstein situation played itself out online, that Rose McGowan was among those impacted the hardest. The day after shit hit the fan, McGowan called out Amazon’s Roy Price for entering any sort of deal with Harvey in the first place. Rose says this was done despite warning Price about Weinstein’s predatory behavior. In a series of tweets to Jeff Bezos, she provides more context to how things unfolded.

“I told the head of your studio that HW raped me. Over & over I said it. He said it hadn’t been proven. I said I was the proof. I had already sold a script I wrote to your studio, it was in development. When I heard a Weinstein bailout was in the works I forcefully begged studio head to do the right thing. I was ignored. Deal was done. Amazon won a dirty Oscar. I called my attorney & said I want to get my script back, but before I could, #2 @amazonstudios called to say my show was dead.”

During the rest of October 2017, she went all-in guns blazing, going to war against Harvey Weinstein, his allies, and the Hollywood establishment. At one point there was a petition effort launched for getting the Weinstein Company board to dissolve. Rose’s stance was the Weinstein Company was tainted beyond redemption or repair. Everyone who worked there is in their own ways responsible for a part in Harvey’s actions. The company wasn’t the limit, here. Anyone who had a hand in in Weinstein projects in general who helped propagate his sick desires was on McGowan’s list of targets.

Rose McGowan referred to her public support on social media as the #ROSEARMY. In the face of the Weinstein situation coming out, she took up the mantle as being a leading voice for the victims. Initially, Rose tried rallying the public masses and other Hollywood women to come join her in speaking out. She got frustrated that people weren’t fast or hardcore enough on the front, and to remedy that must’ve decided to just take the helm herself. With #ROSEARMY she called out people like the talent agencies (UTA/CAA/ICM are named) who set women up with Weinstein in the first place.

“I am a Witch. And I will hunt wrongdoers. In Hollywood, in government, in business. Stop hurting us or there will be consequence. #ROSEARMY,” she tweeted.

Rose ballbusted the media too. When NBC reported Weinstein in a humanizing light, she accused the company of “giving rapists a platform.” McGowan called out Matt Belloni of The Hollywood Reporter in particular for having a hand in quashing a Roy Price exposé. In addition, she made sure people didn’t forget the LA Times killed a Weinstein story from hitting the public back in 1997.

On October 12th Twitter locked her out of her account for violating site rules. While many believed it was a result of her calling out Ben Affleck and saying he knew more about Weinstein than he implies. But the Twitter suspension ended up being because McGowan shared a screenshot with phone numbers in it, according to the company’s statement on the matter.

In an interview with Variety, Robert Rodriguez said he knew about Weinstein’s sexual assault of Rose McGowan. Robert and Rose were in a relationship from 2006 to 2009, and he cast McGowan as a “badass” to get back at Harvey. The story between the two is long but worthwhile to read when you have the time.

But to cut to the chase, Rodriguez explains.

“But because of the NDA Rose told me she had signed, at Rose’s request I had to keep it quiet from everyone until now as to why we were even making that film together, especially Harvey. We knew that strategically we couldn’t rub it in his face why we were REALLY doing this movie, because then he’d just bury the movie, not sell it well, and everyone would lose. To our horror, Harvey buried our movie anyway, and because we did not want to risk getting sued, we never spoke publicly about the matter. It would have been much easier on both of us if we could have just revealed why we were doing it.”

What happened next seems like it’d come out from a movie as outrageous and over-the-top as Grindhouse. On November 6th, Ronan Farrow of The New Yorker blew the lid on Harvey Weinstein’s efforts to suppress the controversy surrounding his behavior.

In May 2017 Rose McGowan got an email from someone named Diana Filip. She claimed to be the deputy head in charge of investments at a firm called Reuben Capital Partners. Based out of London. Filip told Rose she was starting a program to combat workplace discrimination against women and offered McGowan $60,000 to speak at the launch event. Over the next few months, the two hit it off on that common interest in lady liberation. Rose told Ronan Farrow that Filip was kind to her. Diana had a keen interest in McGowan and wanted to invest in Rose’s production company. willing to meet them from coast to coast. Los Angeles, New York, didn’t matter where. What was important was during this time Filip squeezed more info out McGowan. This included Rose revealing to Diana she spoke to Ronan Farrow. As a result, Filip tried to get in Farrow’s good graces. Unsuccessfully. As Filip met up with McGowan more often, they eventually introduced another Black Cube agent named Paul. They said they were a co-worker over at Reuben Capital Partners as well. The goal of this effort was to get more leverage out of Rose McGowan.

A reporter over at New York, Ben Wallace, was also looking into Weinstein. They told Farrow some lady named Anna told Ben she had some Harvey story to share with him, getting in contact back during October 2016. It turns out Anna was the same lady going by the name Diana Filip. They ended up having two meetings and it set off some red flags for Wallace. Anna wouldn’t tell Ben who gave her his contact info, and her line of questioning pried into the details of Wallace’s Weinstein investigation. During their second meet-up it became clear to Ben she was recording the encounter. Diana Filip/Anna went after Jodi Kantor of the New York Times much like she went after Wallace and Farrow.

The cell-phone numbers that Rose and Ben Wallace were given ended up disconnected. From the looks of it, Reuben Capital Partners was a front company. The address they listed on their website was owned by another company that never even heard of them. Ronan confirmed with sources familiar with this Black Cube stuff that the firm makes up companies for their agents. The one Filip used was one of those. In a statement given to Farrow, Black Cube says their work follows and respects the law. Both in the United States and internationally. It’s pointed out that this friction the firm’s tactics has with the law are commonplace. Sources told Ronan they thought Harvey hired Black Cube to investigate business rivals. But the contracts and early targets of interest from the get-go were reporters and actresses.

Here’s the 5-page contract signed between Black Cube and Harvey Weinstein’s people on July 11th, 2017.

The outlined objectives involved a two-fold endeavor. One was to stop the publication of the New York Times piece that’d come out on October 5th. While the other was to get content from Rose McGowan’s memoirs. While they didn’t stop the article, Ronan says documents indicate Black Cube handed over a hundred pages of transcripts relating to the book. Taken from hours of conversations that their female private investigator recorded. Weinstein’s reps, of course, deny any “assertion” Harvey got his hands on this book.

The contract they agreed to in July had bonus goals called “success fees.” Black Cube would score an extra $300,000 if they provided “intelligence which will directly contribute to the efforts to completely stop the Article from being published at all in any shape or form.” Another goal had a $50,000 reward for getting a “readable” and “legally admissible” copy of the second part of Rose McGowan’s book. Black Cube’s toolset and capacities are also described within this document. Page 2, in The Research Team portion. Intelligence analysts working social media to gather data and find patterns of behavior. Something called “Avatar Operators” for media relations (mostly for making fake IDs). But don’t get that confused with the Operations experts they’ve got for social engineering assignments. The most important element at play here is the full-time agent “Anna.” Working out of Los Angeles and New York, and making themselves ready at a moment’s notice for Weinstein at any point in a given day over the term of the contract. Ronan said sources confirmed this was who Rose McGowan and Wallace came into contact with.

An “investigative journalist” was also thrown into the mix by Black Cube, at the request of Weinstein. This journalist had to do ten interviews a month for four months, to get $40,000. Sources and documents indicated to Ronan that this freelancer got a plethora of contact information from Black Cube. In addition, the interview work this freelancer did was given to Harvey’s lawyers for review. The person in question said they were working on their own Harvey Weinstein story using Black Cube’s info as a foundation. But he denied that Harvey or Black Cube paid him.

In January 2017 some freelancer called Rose McGowan and recorded the phone call without her knowledge. Afterward reporting to Black Cube. Annabella Sciorra told Farrow about the phone call she got in August. Sciorra found it to be bizarre and hung up rather fast. Ben Wallace and Ronan Farrow got calls too.

“It struck me as B.S.,” Annabella told Farrow. “And it scared me that Harvey was testing to see if I would talk.”

There were other journalists in Harvey’s corner. Ronan Farrow mentions a December 2016 email exchange between himself and Dylan Howard of American Media Inc (the folks who publish the National Enquirer). The contents in question were goods from one of Howard’s reporters, seemed to be relating towards disproving Rose McGowan’s rape allegation. After thanking him for sending a contact list, Howard told Harvey about a call one of his reporters made to Elizabeth Avellan. Robert Rodriguez’s ex-wife. He left her for McGowan. Avellan remembered the interview when Farrow asked her about it. This reporter was harassing her with phone calls and eventually submitted to this incessant nagging out of fear the guy would go after her kids. The long exchange that resulted ended up being a quote mine for slammer quotes against Rose McGowan. The call was recorded (against Avellan’s wishes), passed on to Dylan Howard, who shared it with Weinstein in great excitement. Dylan Howard’s statement to Ronan about it was a self-justification that he felt obligated to help Harvey. This was due to the fact American Media Inc. had a television-production agreement at the time with Weinstein. Dylan asserts he separated this project from his journalism duties.

Harvey’s ties to the Kroll agency has more of a history to it. The 2015 settlement Ambra Battilana Gutierrez came to with Harvey mandated she give Kroll all her technological devices. So the firm could wipe evidence. Ronan highlights Kroll’s recent work too. October 2016 emails from Knoll’s chairman Dan Karson to Weinstein include things like photographs of McGowan and Weinstein together at events where assaults allegedly took place.

The investigative firm known as PSOPS (based in Los Angeles) had their investigators Jack Palladino and Sara Ness putting together personality dossiers. It got into the personal stuff and made notes on info that could be used to discredit them. To give an example. December 2016 Sara Ness sent Harvey over a hundred pages on Rose McGowan research she did. On one hand, you’ve got the nitty-gritty details like where she lived and relationships she had. Things of that nature. But on the other, things were taken a different direction. How to make Rose look like a hypocrite, things in the past she lied or exaggerated about, and attacks on her character. There were several investigative firms involved in making these in-depth personal profiles. Ronan notes a focus they had on particular attributes of these women on speaking out against sex abuse. They had Rosanna Arquette, traced her relationship with Rose McGowan, and combed her social media for posts relating to the topic of sex abuse.

To give an example – if the firm was hypothetically still collecting social media data for Harvey? They’d consider a simple tweet like this a gold mine.

It was all about digging into who the Weinstein reporters’ sources were. Finding out where they came from. The reporters themselves got probed by Harvey’s investigators. In April 2017 Ness of the PSOPS group sent Weinstein an analysis of Ronan Farrows’ interactions with “persons of interest” in the overall story. It went into the minutia of things like “is Jodi Kantor following Ronan Farrow on Twitter” and small stuff like that. But on a more serious note, they went after the sources both Kantor and Farrow interviewed. On one occasion Farrow says they tried getting Ben Wallace in a meeting. Based on the timing and people involved it looked like an ambush. Emails Karson sent Harvey included extensive background research on both Ben Wallace and his editor-in-chief at New York, Adam Moss. They looked into incidents as far back as a U.K. libel suit from 2008 about the rare-wine market. PSOPS was ready to get Wallace’s ex-wife involved, doing a character profile on her.

Ben Wallace and the editors at New York ended up putting their Harvey Weinstein work on hold in January 2017. He hit a brick wall when it came to getting victims on the record. But there was also this interference playing a factor. Weinstein communicated with these private investigators via his law firms. This was intentional. Harvey wanted the shield of attorney-client privilege on his side to prevent any of this from being brought up in court.

David Boies is named as one of Harvey’s lawyers at the center of signing off on all this. His signature is on the Black Cube contract that directs the firm to find information in order to stop the New York Times from publishing their article. But within this same period, Boies also served as legal representation for the Times. He was hasty on talking to The New Yorker but he came around in light of the questions Ronan’s story raised about David’s place in all this. The response Boies gave was a denial about the circumstances being a conflict of interest. But he regrets getting involved with these investigators (paying two of them and getting reports from one) in retrospect. “We should not have been contracting with and paying investigators that we did not select and direct,” Boies told Ronan. “At the time, it seemed a reasonable accommodation for a client, but it was not thought through, and that was my mistake. It was a mistake at the time.”

Boies had made it clear to Harvey from the start. The only thing that’d stop the New York Times article was somehow proving no rape took place. David says he didn’t pressure any news outlet and thought the profiling work to try and sabotage the Weinstein reporters wasn’t appropriate. Generally speaking, David regrets not doing more to rectify the Weinstein issue when it came to his attention back in 2015.

Weinstein got people involved in helping his goals whether they want to or not. Harvey asked Asia Argento in December 2016 to go to Italy and vouch to private investigators on his behalf. She was going to say yes until her partner Anthony Bourdain convinced her to back out. It was commonplace for actresses to be enlisted by Weinstein to try and milk reporters for their sources of info. Weinstein roped two former employees, Denise Doyle Chambers and Pamela Lubell, to unknowingly get involved in ID’ing people who might rat to the press about Harvey allegations. It was done under the guise of being “research” for a Miramax book. But the lists in question were given to the Black Cube firm. In Lubell’s case, they had visited Weinstein’s office in July 2017 to sell him some app she was working on. During their meeting, their chat turned into Harvey suggesting Lubell and Doyle Chambers write a book about the old days of Miramax. It entailed writing employee names down and contacting them. They came back to Weinstein in August with this list. That’s when Harvey pulled the bait and switch. He put the book on hold and asked both Chambers and Lubell to call their friends on the list. To see if the press got in touch with them. In September this extended to calling not just the friends anymore. But now people just connected to particular actresses.

In the end, it didn’t even matter. On October 5th Harvey Weinstein threw every scrap of info he could at the New York Times story when it came out. But none of the pictures or counterarguments he had made a difference.

But the worst was yet to be revealed.

On November 14th, The Hollywood Reporter revealed McGowan turned herself in to the police on felony drug charges. The warrant went out back on February 1st. Where the charges came from is McGowan left luggage behind on a United airplane flight, back on January 20th. Ronan Farrow did an interview with Rose to go over how everything went down with this particular snafu.

She landed at Dulles International Airport in Virginia on the 20th because she was attending the Women’s March happening the following day. The police report says at 2:32 AM on the morning of the 21st, airport staff contacted Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Police Department. A worker found McGowan’s wallet when they were cleaning out the plane. Two small bags of what was apparently (according to tests done) cocaine were inside. Airport police detective Jerrod Huges called McGowan and told her to swing by to get her wallet back. He didn’t tell her about the cocaine in that call. Rose was unsure if Hughes was a real detective or not. McGowan recently started speaking up about Weinstein (not by name but by title) and was worried private investigators were stalking her. She ended up leaving the Women’s March by bus and not the airport, avoiding the detective. An anonymous throwaway account told Rose: “You left your wallet on your Saturday flight with your 2 bags of coke,” in a message. McGowan saved screencaps. By February 1st, a warrant for McGowan’s arrest was issued. She says she was going to turn herself in but given the fact she was being followed, McGowan didn’t trust anything with this situation.

The key bit of this happens later on. In September Weinstein had a meeting with his private eyes about trying to get McGowan arrested. Harvey wanted to leak the info to the New York Post. At some point after, a reporter from that outlet contacted McGowan about the arrest warrant. Beating the snoop to the punch, Rose tweeted about the charges ahead of time.

Rose’s argument is the drugs were planted, and she entered a not guilty plea. Given the particulars of the Weinstein situation, there are solid odds in her favor in having that defense hold up in court.

On November 18th, The Observer shared an extract of Harvey Weinstein’s secret hit list. In a desperate effort to go after people who knew about his behaviors, Weinstein kept a tally of nearly 100 people and what they knew and if they’d go public about it. Reporters allege this is was distributed to the team Harvey hired to suppress his victims. More than 50 of the names were given a special red highlight to specify their greater importance as a target.

While the Weinstein Company bought time by selling Paddington 2 to Warner Bros. for $28 million, the walls of finance are still closing in. They didn’t get the full amount with $20 million going to Canal Plus (the film producer). In one corner they’ve got a lawsuit from Al International Holdings. According to the November 10th filings, Weinstein Company allegedly defaulted on a $45 million loan. The fate of that is to be decided on December 13th. But the suit is aimed against both the Weinstein Company and Harvey Weinstein, separately. This is due to the fact Harvey signed a personal guarantee for the loan in question. If Weinstein Company goes for bankruptcy, it freezes them out of the litigation process. Variety says the company is reaching out to potential bidders on assets. But these interested buyers tell Variety the company’s record-keeping is atrocious.

That isn’t the only lawsuit on Harvey’s plate. Earlier that week Gloria Allred filed a lawsuit (for sexual battery, gender violence, battery, assault, and negligence) on behalf of an anonymous actress. Jane Doe says she was raped by him at a Beverly Hills hotel in 2016. Further, alleging the company was keenly aware of Weinstein’s “repeated acts of sexual misconduct” prior. Harvey’s lawyer says he’s going for the defense of believing that all of these relationships were consensual.

The day after that particular lawsuit, both Harvey Weinstein and the Weinstein Company (Miramax too) were hit with a class action. This suit desires to reclaim financial damages for the ladies and chaps who wanted to work in Weinstein’s movies but got stonewalled, as well as those lured into sexual scenarios they didn’t consent to. The Jane Doe at the center of this had a Weinstein encounter much like Argento or McGowan but hers involves a Miramax office audition. Instead of a company office, she was lured into a private one of Weinstein’s. Harvey demanded to see her breasts. Jane Doe refused. He locked her out and left her in a dark stairwell. This class action was brought forward by Cris Armenta, and she’s got experience with these sorts of matters in addition to helping women in Hollywood.

“The goal is to create a national, cohesive vehicle so that the claims of the plaintiffs who are scattered across the country — if not the world — can be handled in a very expedient and efficient fashion,” Armenta said to the Wrap. Using RICO “gives all woman across the country and the world the ability to bring their claims in as safe an environment we can create.”

By the end of November, Michael Moore’s fight with Weinstein was spilling over into the public sphere. Snagging this exclusive on this were the folks over at Deadline. The fuss was over Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 11/9 documentary. The movie itself is a sort of sequel to his 2004 project Fahrenheit 9/11. This time he’d be going over Donald Trump’s election win in the 2016 Presidential race and his first year in office. The distribution rights the Weinsteins have allowed them to block Moore and his people from setting it with a theater distributor or outlet to broadcast from (think Netflix or something). The Weinstein brothers had already paid Moore a little over $2 million out a $6 million agreement. This cash gave Michael the funds necessary to make the thing a reality. But the arrangement was made before the New York Times article came out on October 5th. Now the Weinstein Company wants their dough back, while Michael wants them to just forfeit as a loss. He doesn’t want to pay a dime to someone he sees as a sexual predator.

By erasing Harvey Weinstein from history and taking his name off of the credits in his work, we’re enabling this sort of disaster to repeat itself. There’s a reason why it was an “open secret” in Hollywood all these years. Further than that, there’s a reason why a frenzy of people came forward after Harvey’s misdeeds were made public knowledge. Entertainment industry’s standard protocol stuck with always taking the easy route out, instead of embracing the hard truths. Sticking to the bottom line of making sure a production turns out fine creates a cluster of “stars” and high-level players, with planets of enablers and yes-men orbiting them to make sure everything runs smooth. That dynamic is designed in such a way that it sustains itself for as long as it can. Even as the whispers of bad behavior seep in. Initial reactions from everyone are just to keep their head down and keep working. Not looking into matters further if they don’t have to. Harvey knew that. Moreover, he bragged to people about hooking up with women. This cycle of self-temptation made Weinstein want to keep going. Push the envelope a step further and give himself that twisted thrill. It’s not just the story with Hollywood, but any industry. Now that the world has seen this Weinstein monster in front of them, people are embracing that reality full force. In a way, it’s because they want to return their lives to the state of ease it was before.

What people see in the case of Harvey Weinstein is someone with a sense of entitlement, who perfected their predatory nature to get what they wanted. The reason that his victims stayed quiet for as long as they were because Harvey mastered the psychological mind game of wielding power over others. He could keep people quiet, sure. But if Weinstein made his own targets silence themselves? That was his sure-fire pass to get away with acting like he did. Every problem starts with the action. That means putting Harvey Weinstein’s actions targeting women as well as how he attacked his business opponents at the center of discussion. From that foundation, it’s much easier to have an even playing field for discussion.

I don’t think any of us are fools. The clear solution to fixing this problem is making it a smooth process for victims to report sexual harassment and assault. In doing so, making a long-term deterrence for that behavior in the workplace. We gotta make sure this is done properly, though. Taking it too far will end up causing an environment where men and women are fearful of each other. But on the other hand, there needs to be a decent dose of the “scare tactic” technique involved. That happens by looking at the issues at hand with a critical eye. By making the lines of appropriate behavior have much less of a grey area, clear definitions of what’s ok and what’s not. That grey area in-between is the breeding ground for the problems we’ve got now.

What exactly are those problems? Next, we’ll take a look into that.

Kevin Spacey

Kevin Spacey

I loved Kevin Spacey movies. I turned my head toward the television whenever a movie trailer of his came on TV. I appreciated his work. Full disclosure. With Harvey Weinstein, nobody really is shocked to discover a fat fuck Hollywood producer big-shot is a sleaze. But actors and actresses? People look up to those. To see what came out into the public spotlight hurt. It stung like hell, below the belt, to see someone I looked up to have a sinister side. You can see why I’m bothering to write about it. I need to make sense of what he did. For my own sake.

But I understand this large of a stain he left on the casting couch of the world isn’t going to be clean anytime soon.

The end of Kevin Spacey began early on October 30th, when Anthony Rapp came forward to Buzzfeed News to tell a story. The one about the time Kevin Spacey was on top of him and making sexual advances.

To be clear. This is all because of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, according to the piece:

“After the accusations leveled against Harvey Weinstein sparked an unprecedented conversation about sexual abuse and harassment in the entertainment industry, Rapp said he feels compelled to come forward.”

We’ve got a world record butterfly effect going on, for sure.

So, on one hand, we got Kevin Spacey. In current times, people best know him for House of Cards. On the other hand, we got Anthony Rapp. He snagged a role on Star Trek: Discovery. Maybe not the same level of fame as Spacey, but at the very least both of them were working in the same caliber of the field.

As a kid, Anthony Rapp was on Broadway. Buzzfeed posted the playbill and an old photo of the show as proof of that.

Good? Good.

Anthony Rapp crossed paths with Kevin Spacey in 1986. Rapp was a blossoming Broadway star doing Precious Sons. While Spacey’s career was taking off with a Long Day’s Journey into Night revival. Their shared popularity meant both Spacey and Rapp went to cast parties and celebrations. It was at one of these where Spacey and Rapp first met. One day Anthony and a 17-year-old buddy of his that came to visit New York ended up at the Limelight nightclub with Spacey. That evening was relaxed and easy-going. The two boys just chilled with Spacey in a VIP part of the club. At some point during that, was when Spacey invited Rapp to a party at his apartment in Manhattan. Alone.

“I imagine that I might be opening my poor late mother up to some criticisms for how she parented, but, you know, it was a different era,” Rapp said. He recalls telling his mother that attending an adult Broadway actor’s shindig alone wasn’t going to be dangerous.

Anthony Rapp went to Spacey’s apartment party and saw he was the only kid there. But the more significant and pressing issue of that moment was he didn’t know anyone. So Anthony ended up watching TV in Kevin Spacey’s bedroom. Time flew by. Long enough that the party ended. Long enough that Rapp found himself turning his head to see Spacey standing by the door to the bedroom.

““My memory was that I thought, Oh, everybody’s gone. Well, yeah, I should probably go home,” Rapp said. Spacey, he recalled, “sort of stood in the doorway, kind of swaying. My impression when he came in the room was that he was drunk.” Rapp doesn’t remember Spacey saying anything to him. Instead, Rapp said, “He picked me up like a groom picks up the bride over the threshold. But I don’t, like, squirm away initially, because I’m like, ‘What’s going on?’ And then he lays down on top of me.”

“He was trying to seduce me,” Rapp said. “I don’t know if I would have used that language. But I was aware that he was trying to get with me sexually.”

Rapp recalled this all happening — Spacey appearing at the door, coming into the room, picking him up, and putting him on the bed — in one clumsy action, with Spacey landing at a slight angle on top of him. He said Spacey “was, like, pressing into me,” and that he remembers Spacey “tightening his arms.” But while he can’t recall exactly how long Spacey remained on top of him, Rapp said he was able to “squirm” away after a short period.”

Rapp pushed Kevin Spacey off of him and fled to the bathroom. Long enough to collect his thoughts, and realize Kevin was gay “I guess.” Anthony opened the door and told Spacey he was leaving. “Are you sure you wanna go?” Kevin said. “Yes, good night,” Rapp replied.

But that was only the beginning for Rapp. In the years to come, he’d try to make sense of the confusing encounter he had that night. In the immediate aftermath, it was easy for Rapp to repress it. He certainly wasn’t going to tell his mom. She’d freak out and give him the sex talk. Theater kids compartmentalize tons of experiences. There was even a similar scene in Precious Sons that mirrors aspects of Spacey/Rapp interaction. By 1988 though, Rapp jolted out of his seat when he saw Spacey in Working Girl. It started a gradual encroachment into Anthony’s life. The more famous Spacey got, the harder it was for Rapp to forget about what happened. By the time 1993 came around, Anthony Rapp was filming Six Degrees of Separation. One day at lunch he glanced over at another table to see Kevin visiting a friend. Rapp realized this shit he went through wasn’t going to go away entirely.

Anthony told friends and acquaintances about his experience with Spacey as the years rolled by. With Weinstein came the right moment for Rapp to talk.

“And not to simply air a grievance,” Anthony said, “but to try to shine another light on the decades of behavior that have been allowed to continue because many people, including myself, being silent. … I’m feeling really awake to the moment that we’re living in, and I’m hopeful that this can make a difference.”

Difference is one way of putting it.

Kevin Spacey responded on October 29th, 2017. 9:00 PM. I’m going to link the tweet so you can see for yourself that I’m not lying to you.

Holy shit. Kevin Spacey decided it was a good time to come out as a gay man. Right when the public eye was on him about this scandal. He makes it sound like an excuse that what he did to Anthony Rapp was ok. Zachary Quinto made a Twitter statement in response to Spacey’s, detailing the egregiousness of how Kevin Spacey’s move looked to the public.

Twelve hours is all it took for Kevin Spacey to lose his House of Cards gig after Anthony Rapp’s story hit. High noon on October 30th over at Deadline, we see Netflix kick Spacey out. Media Rights Capital were the show’s producers so this is their official word as well.

“Media Rights Capital and Netflix are deeply troubled by last night’s news concerning Kevin Spacey. In response to last night’s revelations, executives from both of our companies arrived in Baltimore this afternoon to meet with our cast and crew to ensure that they continue to feel safe and supported. As previously scheduled, Kevin Spacey is not working on set at this time.”

There will be more of these “Kevin Spacey is fired from House of Cards” articles. But the way Netflix and Media Rights Capital respond to it evolves alongside the revelations of Kevin’s wrongdoings.

On October 31st, filmmaker Tony Montana came forward to RadarOnline.com to tell the world of a groping incident that happened with Spacey. It happened in 2003 at the Coronet Pub in Los Angeles. Kevin Spacey arrived with an entourage.

“I went up to order a drink and Kevin came up to me and put his arm around me,” Montana said. “He was telling me to come with him, to leave the bar. He put his hand on my crotch forcefully and grabbed my whole package.” Tony says Spacey appeared wasted on booze. “This designates ownership,” Montana alleges Kevin told him. Montana says he pulled Spacey’s thumb back to get free. Tony paid for his drink and escaped to the bar toilet. Kevin followed him in. “I backed him out the door and I pushed him,” he said. “One of his friends was in line and I said, ‘It’s time to take your boy home.’ They all ended up leaving.’”

It fucked up Tony pretty bad. He didn’t tell anyone about the incident except for therapists. The emasculation of it all gave him PTSD for half a year. Whenever going to the bar, Montana took a cursory glance around to make sure Spacey wasn’t there. He felt the need to keep his guard up.

The only reason Tony went public about the ordeal was that he saw Anthony Rapp tell his story.

On November 1st, BBC published an article detailing an anonymous man who came forward recounting his experiences with Kevin Spacey. Giving him the name “John,” it’s said that he met Spacey at age 16 in 1984 at a summer theater gig. John and Kevin were pen pals. A year goes by and Spacey invites him over for a weekend at his place in NYC. While it started out “charming and brotherly” with Kevin showing John around the city, Spacey ended up trying to make things intimate by the end of the first night. By that, meaning putting his hand on John’s thigh and putting his arm around his shoulder.

When it came time for bed, Kevin wanted John to come to bed with him. John said he was going to hit the couch instead. This seemed to piss Spacey off as he was cold in his “good night” to John. He says he heard Kevin weeping from his bed that night.

John woke up with Spacey in his underwear, head on his stomach and arms wrapping around him.

This awkwardness continued the second night, as Spacey told John he felt “misunderstood,” To which John reacted with tears because he had no idea what the hell was going on anymore.

The transition between November 1st and 2nd is pretty spectacular. As pointed out by Deadline, Kevin Spacey’s publicist said on November 1st Kevin “is taking the time necessary to seek evaluation and treatment.” But on November 2nd, it’s announced that Spacey’s talent agency CAA and his publicist Staci Wolfe cut professional ties with Kevin.

Also on November 2nd, a man spoke with Vulture about the “alleged extended sexual relationship” they had with Kevin Spacey back when they were 14. The man came forward now because he was pissed off at how Spacey responded to Anthony Rapp.

The man was introduced to Spacey in 1981. The man was 12 years old. Kevin was 22 years old, working as a guest teacher at this weekend acting class Man took at Saint Thomas’s Church in Mamaroneck, New York. Nothing happened then. But it serves as a pretext for when Man met Spacey again. In summer 1983, Man was 14. He went with his family to Shakespeare in the Park. When Man was in line waiting for tickets, Spacey and Man saw each other and recognized one another. Enough so that the two ended up going for a walk.

“Yeah, and we’re talking. He was kind of in high seduction mode and gave me his phone number and asked me to call him. He said, “I want to see you, and I want you to come to my apartment.” He said he’d always been really drawn to me at the acting classes, but had stayed away because I was 12. So I’m like [laughs] … now that I was 14. That was probably a 15-minute walk, and then I went back to be with my parents.”

Man’s parents knew Man was gay, he came out to them in the eighth grade a year prior. He was sexually active and in a relationship with his cousin. So when Kevin Spacey came along, Man felt like they hit the jackpot. Their options for exploring their sexuality were limited, and in Man’s eyes, this was a golden opportunity.

The following day, Man called Kevin Spacey on the phone. Kevin told Man he was in love with him and needed to see him. The man went to Spacey’s rented apartment on the Upper West Side of NYC.

The man started their sexual relationship with Kevin Spacey on the first visit. It entailed Man fucking Kevin Spacey (and not the other way around). The man was working through his own emotions at this point in life, and here he felt drawn to Kevin Spacey. While their relationship didn’t result in any sort of professional rewards for Man, Spacey put that on the table. Kevin told Man he could get him auditions. It was certainly something the both of them had in common. Acting.

Man and Kevin Spacey saw each other on a few occasions. Things came to a head during the winter, after Man turned 15. Spacey was in a different Upper West Side apartment. The man called him on a pay phone, wanting to swing by for 15 minutes before having to see his parents for a dinner.

The man thought Spacey him were going to kiss and tell their love for each other. But Kevin wanted to fuck Man.

“I guess he must have come up behind me and yanked down my baggy jeans, and he goes to fuck me and I’m like, ‘No, I don’t want to.’ And he pushes hard, and grabs me, and starts shoving up against my asshole, and it hurts like a motherfucker. I again tell him no, and he tries again. I am strong enough, thank God, both somewhere in my brain and in my body, to get him off of me. I’m sturdy, thankfully. I throw him off of me and I run crying down the stairs and out into the street and then suck it all up and go have dinner.”

Man says it was an attempted rape, given the fact he wasn’t penetrated. The relationship between him and Spacey died down after that. Man came to terms with his obsession with Kevin and eventually broke things off.

The House of Cards house of cards came tumbling down after eight employees told CNN of incidents that occurred during filming. The most egregious revelation came from a former production assistant. His assignment was picking up Spacey from somewhere offsite and bringing him to the House of Cards set. On the way to dropping him off, Kevin put his hands down the production assistant’s pants in the midst of him driving.

“I was in a state of shock,” he said. “He was a man in a very powerful position on the show and I was someone very low on the totem pole and on the food chain there.”

In prior months, this production assistant complained to supervisor staff that Spacey was sexually harassing them. Their solution was to never let the assistant be in a position where they were alone with Kevin. It stopped just long enough for this incident to occur. Upon arrival to the set that day, the production assistant proceeded to help Spacey take his things from the car to Kevin’s trailer. While inside, the actor blocked the door and made more improper contact with this person.

“I told him, ‘I don’t think I’m ok with this, I don’t think I’m comfortable with this,'” said the production assistant.

It was after that Kevin Spacey became “visibly flustered” and left for the rest of the day. The production assistant didn’t tell management or police about the ordeal, only sharing the story with a coworker.

Here’s what Netflix had to say in response to the CNN article.

“Netflix was just made aware of one incident, five years ago, that we were informed was resolved swiftly,” their statement said.

“On Tuesday, in collaboration with MRC, we suspended production, knowing that Kevin Spacey wasn’t scheduled to work until Wednesday. Netflix is not aware of any other incidents involving Kevin Spacey on-set. We continue to collaborate with MRC and other production partners to maintain a safe and respectful working environment. We will continue to work with MRC during this hiatus time to evaluate our path forward as it relates to the production, and have nothing further to share at this time.”

There was more this piece brought to light. One member of the crew who did work on all six seasons says he experienced routine unwanted touching and harassment from Spacey. They didn’t “feel comfortable” with telling Kevin to stop.

“He would put his hands on me in weird ways,” this crew member said. “He would come in and massage my shoulders from behind or put his hands around me or touch my stomach sometimes in weird ways that in normal everyday conversation would not be appropriate.”

A former camera assistant told CNN they witnessed Kevin Spacey’s behavior. They say everyone did. It was done out in the open. People didn’t complain because they knew it meant losing their job. A woman who had worked on several seasons as a production assistant said men complained to her about how unbearable Kevin Spacey was. His “thing” was instigating play fights in order to touch people. Also according to her, Spacey had gone up to various people to “say hello, greet them, shake their hand and pull their hand down to his crotch and touch their crotch. I have friends say he reached up their shorts on set.”

Now let’s hear from MRC.

“We are deeply troubled to learn about these new allegations that are being made to the press concerning Kevin Spacey’s interaction with members of the crew of House of Cards,” said the MRC statement.

“As the producer of the show, creating and maintaining a safe working environment for our cast and crew has always been our top priority. We have consistently reinforced the importance of employees reporting any incident without fear of retaliation and we have investigated and taken appropriate actions following any complaints. For example, during our first year of production in 2012, someone on the crew shared a complaint about a specific remark and gesture made by Kevin Spacey. Immediate action was taken following our review of the situation and we are confident the issue was resolved promptly to the satisfaction of all involved. Mr. Spacey willingly participated in a training process and since that time MRC has not been made aware of any other complaints involving Mr. Spacey.”

The war was on though. “A lion does not ask permission before he eats a zebra,” Underwood once said.

The next stage of this legal procedure in firing Kevin Spacey came on November 3rd. Variety published an article detailing his suspension from the House of Cards show. Sources told the publication this suspending was a required step in permanently ending his employment.

The statement (this time) from Media Rights Capital:

“While we continue the ongoing investigation into the serious allegations concerning Kevin Spacey’s behavior on the set of ‘House of Cards,’ he has been suspended, effective immediately. MRC, in partnership with Netflix, will continue to evaluate a creative path forward for the program during the hiatus.”

The statement (this time) from Netflix:

“Netflix will not be involved with any further production of House of Cards that includes Kevin Spacey. We will continue to work with MRC during this hiatus time to evaluate our path forward as it relates to the show.”

The two companies here are doing a dance called “litigation tango.” Spacey’s contract no doubt made the firing process as intricate as it is here. Cha-cha-cha.

It was on November 3rd that three more men came forward to Buzzfeed with stories of inappropriate behaviors done by Kevin Spacey.

Justin Dawes. A 16-year-old back in 1988, opposite Kevin Spacey aged 29. As a high school junior who wanted to get into acting, Dawes did a volunteer usher gig at Long Wharf Theater in New Haven, Connecticut. Justin’s buddy was the assistant house manager. It was here Kevin Spacey (doing a play called National Anthems) invited Justin Dawes and his assistant manager friend back to his place to watch Chinatown. They both arrived back at Spacey’s house to discover a “bare” rented apartment. Kevin made them cocktails, and gay porn was playing on the living room TV.

“We all had a drink, and we were kind of like, ‘Oh, no one else is coming?’ And he’s like, ‘Oh, no one else decided to come,’ and he never mentioned that this porn was playing. It was really awkward,” Dawes said.

Justin says he made it clear he was a minor. But he says the overall experience was pretty tame compared to what Anthony Rapp had to deal with. He even felt a bit bad for giving Spacey the wrong impression, himself being straight.

An Anonymous journalist in his early twenties. He set out to interview Kevin Spacey in London for a magazine. The actual interview part in Spacey’s Old Vic theater office went off without a hitch. It was after accepting Kevin’s invite to go out for drinks afterward that led to trouble. It wasn’t long after they entered the club that Spacey began a groping spree on this journalist.

“He just kept reaching between my legs and, you know, just grabbing my dick,” the journalist said. “I would move his hand away, and say something that I thought was pretending was funny or whatever at first. And then I was starting to get annoyed by it, and that was pretty clear.”

The journalist got up to leave, but Spacey grabbed him in an effort to make him stay. The dude sat back down, while Kevin went to work rubbing the guy’s leg. In an evasion effort, the journalist moved seats. Spacey played cat and mouse, moving himself to be next to the journalist. This all happened despite the journalist making it clear to Kevin Spacey he was in a serious relationship with a woman.

Eventually, the anonymous journalist left the club. Kevin didn’t like that.

“[Spacey] came out after me and literally stood between me and the door,” he said. “This man was screaming in my face outside of the main bar area, red-faced, spit flying out of his mouth, screaming at me with fury because I didn’t want to fuck him. He was actually saying that I did want to and I was a coward. That was his tactic. It was unbelievable.”

Upon arriving back home, the journalist relayed the evening’s events to his editor. There was an air of disbelief and confusion. The journalist washed his hands of it, handing over the interview tapes. His editor was surprised Spacey did this to a journalist, who could easily “fucking hang him” by going public.

But there was a problem. Going public meant outing Spacey. In the end, the anonymous journalist held off.

Mark Ebenhoch. 35-year-old military advisor working on Outbreak back in 1995. He says there was a “harem” of young guy assistants hanging out in Spacey’s trailer all the time (Kevin played Lt. Col. Casey Schuler in the movie). There were four weeks left during the filming process when one of the harem assistants invited Ebenhoch to Kevin Spacey’s trailer.

“They asked flat out to engage in a sexual act. It was enough to stun me. It blew me away,” Ebenhoch says.

Mark doesn’t recall what said in particular. But it was a sexual proposition, no doubt. Ebenhoch turned it down.

“As a military adviser the last thing you’d want anyone to know is that you were gay,” he said.

More Spacey stories came out that day. Also on November 3rd, the Telegraph reported the Scotland Yard was investigating an alleged sexual assault that took place in 2008. A British actor reported to police that he woke up to Spacey performing a sexual act on him. He was 23 at the time, and Kevin requested this person not tell anyone after the actor demanded Spacey stop. Meanwhile, on the Huffington Post, Danny Lanzetta wrote about Spacey grabbing his thigh back in 1991 when he was 13. He’s thankful Kevin didn’t do worse.

On November 4th Harry Dreyfuss wrote an article on Buzzfeed News telling the story of how Kevin Spacey groped him. It happened in 2008 when Harry visited his father Richard Dreyfuss on Christmas Break. At the time, Richard and Kevin Spacey were doing a play called Complicit at the Old Vic theater in London.

Harry gives us a walk-through of how this Spacey encounter came about. The young Dreyfuss looked forward to meeting Kevin Spacey. He recounts seeing the dude’s eye light up and being nice. When there was a snafu with Harry being in the audition area on stage, our good old buddy Spacey swooped in with a cool head to save the young Dreyfuss from embarrassment. So when Harry’s father met up with Kevin Spacey at his apartment to run some line practice, the young Dreyfuss hopped on the chance to tag along so he could hang out with this cool second father figure.

Kevin and Harry Dreyfuss had a moment alone in Spacey’s kitchen while Harry’s dad was using the restroom. Kevin got close to Harry’s side and asked the youngster how his Christmas was. Harry confessed to Spacey it was horrible, saying he was too shy for socializing much. Rather, he grabbed his first legal alcoholic beverages and hung out in a hotel room watching Tropic Thunder on repeat.

That’s when Kevin slid his hand into Harry’s and told him “don’t be shy.”

It all went down in Spacey’s living room. Harry and his father sat down with Kevin to read this script. Spacey and Harry ended up sitting close to each other, and the younger Dreyfuss was preoccupied with how cool it was he was going to read lines. It wasn’t until Spacey put his hand on Harry’s thigh that the kid knew something was wrong. He was in denial that Kevin would be getting sexual in front of Harry’s own father. So Harry decided to play it coy and make his way over to the other side of the couch. Spacey followed suit though, and Kevin’s hand found its way back on Harry’s thigh area. Harry did the same maneuver once more and added a security measure of putting his own hands on his own thighs, to deny Spacey the real estate for his own.

“Once again Kevin followed me, sat down, and with considerable effort, slid his hand between my right hand and my right leg. He’d snuck in. At this point I didn’t think there was anything I could do short of alerting my dad to what was happening. But I didn’t want to start a feud between them. I didn’t want the play to be threatened. This job really mattered to my dad, and Kevin was his boss. And besides, I thought, ‘He isn’t really doing anything wrong…’

And then he did. Over the course of about 20 seconds, centimeter by centimeter, Kevin crawled his hand from my thigh over toward my crotch. My mind went blank. Suddenly, he had completed his journey and now he had all of me in his hand. I stopped reading the script and my eyes went wide. I lifted up my head and faced him. Looking into his eyes, I gave the most meager shake of my head that I could manage. I was trying to warn him without alerting my dad, who still had his eyes glued to the page. I thought I was protecting everyone. I was protecting my dad’s career. I was protecting Kevin, who my dad surely would have tried to punch. I was protecting myself, because I thought one day I’d want to work with this man. Kevin had no reaction and kept his hand there. My eyes went back to the script and I kept reading.

I don’t know how long we sat there like that. It could have been as little as 20 seconds, or it could have been five minutes. It’s the hardest part of the story for me to recall. What I do remember is that, other than being a shy kid who obviously admired Kevin Spacey a lot, I never once gave him a signal that I would want to be with him in that way.”

Daily Mail reported on November 6th that Kevin Spacey checked in the Meadows rehab clinic. It was a little over a week since the Rapp piece came out, and Spacey fled to Arizona. So he could get treatment for sex addiction, at the same place that Harvey Weinstein went. At the cost of $36,000 a month, patients at this facility have access to yoga, a swimming pool, horse riding, and some Tai chi or acupuncture for good measure.

On November 7th, EW reported CBS’ 50th anniversary of The Carol Burnett Show airing December 3rd has cut out Kevin Spacey. He did some sort of music number with Carol Burnett, Kristin Chenoweth, and Bernadette Peters.

That same day, Daniel Bael spoke to the Daily Mail about the time Kevin Spacey flashed him. In 2010, Bael was a 19-year-old tending bar at West Sussex’s Greenwood Park Hotel. Kevin Spacey sat down for a drink. Daniel remembers him acting bizarre.

“Every time I’d serve him a drink he would touch my hand quite weirdly, at first I just thought it was him being drunk and being a bit weird really, but as the night progressed I realized it was maybe in his nature.”

Daniel went out for a smoke break and Spacey followed him. “He pulled my hand towards his crotch area, and then as I said ‘What the hell are you doing,’ he could not get his genitalia out quick enough,” recalls Bael. It’s alleged Spacey flashed his junk at Daniel. He responded by high-tailing it out of there and reporting what happened to the front desk. Kevin Spacey didn’t give a shit. He sat back down in the bar.

“I was wearing a yellow Iswatch at the time and as I was serving him a drink, he basically said I like your watch and I said I like yours too, and it was me who initiated it, as a complete off-the-cuff comment, I said ‘Do you want to trade?’ and he said ‘Yeah sure.'”

So they did. Daily Mail values it at $6,500. Daniel Bael felt dirty having the keepsake so he pawned it for $4,200.

Luckily Daniel took a picture with it beforehand, as proof he wasn’t spinning a tall tale.

That wasn’t the only time Spacey had an eye for barmen. On November 8th, BBC did an interview with bartender Kris Nixon. In 2007 he worked at a cocktail bar near the Old Vic in Waterloo. It wasn’t uncommon for Kevin Spacey to drop by. During the incident in question, there was an after-party at the bar that ended up going back to a penthouse of his for an “after after-party.” It was there that Nixon went with his girlfriend. They were sitting on the couch. She got up to get a drink, and in her absence, Kevin Spacey sat down next to Nixon. He asked Kris if that was his girlfriend, then reached over and grabbed Nixon by the cock.

“I could fuck you better than her,” Kris Nixon says Kevin Spacey told him.

This left Kris speechless. Nixon got up from the couch, collected his girlfriend, and got the hell out of there.

The same day of this BBC interview, a former TV news anchor named Heather Unruh held a news conference. It was there she alleged to the public that Kevin Spacey groped her son in July 2016 at a Nantucket, Massachusetts restaurant bar.

“The victim, my son, was a star-struck, straight, 18-year-old young man who had no idea that the famous actor was an alleged sexual predator or that he was about to become his next victim,” Unruh said. She clarifies her awareness that her son was below legal drinking age. Unruh says he told Kevin Spacey he was. But she added that her son didn’t give Spacey consent for the actions that occurred soon after.

“Kevin Spacey bought him drink, after drink, after drink and when my son was drunk, Spacey made his move and sexually assaulted him,” she said. “Spacey stuck his hands inside my son’s pants and grabbed his genitals.”

Unruh says her son tried to escape but froze in the panic of the moment. Spacey followed up with inviting her son to a private party. But when Kevin left to use the toilet, a female patron nearby asked Unruh’s son if he was ok. This lady told the son to run like hell. He reportedly did. All the way to his grandmother’s house.

Next up on the “Kevin Spacey groped me” list is Andy Holtzman. On November 10th he spoke with USA TODAY about the ordeal. He makes it clear that Anthony Rapp’s story was the “tipping point” that encouraged him to come forward.

It happened in July 1981. Holtzman was 27 and Spacey was 22. Andy got a job at New York Shakespeare Festival’s Public Theater running the film program. Kevin Spacey walked into the office one day and sat down at an empty desk. Holtzman knew he was because of the minor role Spacey had in Henry IV Part IV.

“Within minutes, wordlessly, he was up and all over me,” Holtzman says. “The aggression was certainly more than a grope. When I was finally able to push him off and scream (at him), he theatrically stepped back, incredibly angry, grabbed his coat and bag, stormed out and slammed the door.”

Andy panicked. Could Kevin Spacey get him fired? More importantly, what the hell just happened?

“It’s never happened before or since, where somebody physically forces himself on you in a wordless way. In my office, with a phone in my hand, during the day! It was so out of place, so sudden. It was the wordlessness of it — he never spoke to me throughout, not one word. I was saying things, he was saying nothing.”

Nothing ever came of that encounter. Both Kevin and Andy managed to avoid each other from then on. Holtzman went on to a career in marketing. But that odd memory stuck inside his mind for all these years.

This all came out on the same day Deadline snagged an exclusive that nobody saw coming. Director Ridley Scott (with the backing of Imperative Entertainment folks) made the choice to cut Kevin Spacey out of the upcoming film All The Money In The World. Despite having already completed filming, they cast Christopher Plummer as Spacey’s replacement. Apparently, it was justifiable to go back *as soon as possible* and reshoot Kevin’s scenes. The whole cast and production crew agreed to go through with it too. They had already pulled the movie out of the AFI Festival. The discussions that resulted from that decision led to the conclusion of going all the way with this strategy.

On November 11th, the Blast website published more on this Netflix/Kevin Spacey feud. Sources told them the actor has no morality clause in his contract. This means he can’t be suspended or fired for bad behavior. The only way he could’ve been let go from House of Cards is if Kevin Spacey became “unavailable” or “incapacitated” to fulfill contractual obligations. Sources on set also said a letter was sent out to all the cast and crew, encouraging people to come forward to management if Kevin Spacey harassed them.

That would be the end of the timeline of events with Kevin Spacey. But there’s still the matter of The Old Vic.

Kevin Spacey was an artistic director at Old Vic from 2004 to 2015.

On October 30th, Robert Cavazos posted his experiences and revelations about Kevin Spacey to Facebook. You’ll need to understand Spanish if you plan on reading his direct words. Google translate works to a degree of course. But that only takes you so far. Boiled down, Mexican actor Cavazos says there are many young men at the Old Vic with a Kevin Spacey story. His interest in pursuing the younger men was commonplace, going to the extent of inviting them to picnics on Old Vic’s stage. They were lured in with the proposition of talking about their careers, but upon arrival at the theater, there was champagne and a beautifully lit picnic on the stage. Robert himself had to endure Spacey squeezes at the Old Vic bar.

When the Guardian wrote about this on November 2nd, they included Robert’s testimony. But the outlet’s findings revealed allegations Old Vic Theater management ignored Kevin Spacey’s misconduct for years.

“We were all involved in keeping it quiet. I witnessed him groping men many times in all sorts of different situations,” said one former employee.

Rebecca Golden interned at the theater in 2010. By then, Kevin Spacey’s ludicrousness had a reputation. They told her “pretty young men” were not hired to work in Old Vic administration because of an earlier incident. It came off to Rebecca that the situation seemed like a joke to management.

Another former employee said they saw Kevin Spacey take advantage of a friend in 2011, after a party. He alleges Spacey touched men on the crotch. Kevin was agile enough with the act that his victims couldn’t dodge in time.

“We were all involved in keeping it quiet. I witnessed him groping men many times in all sorts of different situations … at his apartment in North Lambeth and even at the Old Vic itself and his favourite pub the Pineapple, which is right near the Old Vic. He was taking advantage of the fact that he is this great icon.”

This former employee calls out Old Vic for looking like they pretended not to know about it.

At the time of the Guardian article, this was their response. “The Old Vic is not currently in a position to comment on specifics of what may have taken place in the past,” Old Vic said.

But in due time the theater eventually revealed their findings.

On November 16th, Old Vic theater issued a press release detailing the conclusions from their Kevin Spacey investigation.

“The investigation resulted in 20 personal testimonies shared of alleged inappropriate behaviour carried out by Kevin Spacey during his time as Artistic Director. Despite having the appropriate escalation processes in place, it was claimed that those affected felt unable to raise concerns and that Kevin Spacey operated without sufficient accountability. This is clearly unacceptable and The Old Vic truly apologises for not creating an environment or culture where people felt able to speak freely.”

Twenty.

The summary states on October 31st The old Vic had an external law firm (Lewis Silkin) launch a formal investigation into the claims floating around the press and media. The twenty allegations relating to incidents at The Old Vic range in time from 1995 to 2013. The documents notes all but two happened before the year 2009. The Old Vic stresses the importance of not being able to verify the allegations in question. They make it clear their findings shouldn’t be interpreted as total fact. But to that end, there weren’t any legal claims, grievances, disputes or settlement agreements and payments in regards to Kevin Spacey matters. None of the twenty cases involved people when they were minors. The Old Vic trustees weren’t aware of these allegations. The press releases say in their analysis of the situation, in “all but one case” the people who came forward about improper behavior by Spacey didn’t speak up at the time it happened. Either that or they requested no formal action be carried out. The Old Vic says this is due to the fact they had a big-name star here, and that sphere of influence could’ve factored into preventing people from speaking up about it.

The press release acknowledges addressing this kind of behavior would’ve been easier if there was a complaint system in place. Something that people felt safe voicing their worries and concerns to. The document closes with The Old Vic outlining their efforts to achieve that end in the foreseeable future.

The most important thing to take away from all of this is simple. Kevin Spacey’s actions are just as terrible as Harvey Weinstein’s.

While I haven’t seen House of Cards, I’m familiar with it enough to realize the Kevin Spacey controversy is a poetic sort of series finale in its own right. One day I’ll sit down and watch it, though. When I do at least I’ll have a genuine sort of fury and disdain towards Frank Underwood.

On December 4th it was announced they’ll be continuing with House of Cards Season 6, without Kevin Spacey. Godspeed to the folks over at Netflix.

The case of Kevin Spacey demonstrates that the evils of sex abuse aren’t limited to women. It’s not a gender thing. What he and Weinstein have in common is the mentality of being some sort of hunter, looking for innocence and youth to prey upon. The impact of their actions through the reactions of their victims is universal. Transcending beyond the limitations of being born as X or Y or whatever. On a human level, that same sensation of awkwardness in the heat of the moment is prevalent throughout all. The burden of living with such a memory and spending years trying to come to terms with whatever happened to the victim.

I gotta get one last bit of anger off my chest before moving on.

How hard is it to not be an animal, Kevin? You want to act like a fucking dog, you’re gonna get a short leash and a cage. There’s something wrong with Spacey. Well, anyone who acts like there’s a cosmic energy that forces them to act like deviants. There was a reason humanity evolved past their Neanderthal stage. We have the potential to be civilized and keep our shit together.

Spacey isn’t the only one being accused of bad behaviors either. On the next page, you’ll come to find out the widespread impact of this across Hollywood.

Inside Hollywood

I should take the time to remind you about the stakes of all this. Despite all this doom and gloom, remember the world of movies and cinema is something worth protecting. Keeping a sense of order and sanity to. Over a century old, the art of filmmaking/television is a process we hold in a position of high respect. One of the mighty pillars of escapism our society has. Carrying a mighty mantle alongside books, the theater/Broadway, and video games (if you disagree I’m willing to argue in defense of that).

Watch any of these YouTube videos if you don’t believe in the spirit of movies. Hopefully, at least one is bound to change your mind.

In this section, you’ll see how sexual harassment and assault can happen at any point in the production process. It’s not restricted to the Harvey Weinstein type of person. Bad and inappropriate behavior can come from the agents who set up deals for talent, the writer’s room, and even from the director’s chair. Sometimes the talent themselves are the ones being accused of poor choices.

Adam Venit

On October 10th, Terry Crews posted a series of tweets relating to a groping incident he had at a party.

Terry opens up by saying the Harvey Weinstein ruckus is what caused his flashbacks. The incident happened back in 2016 when Terry and his wife were at a party. It was there a high-level executive in Hollywood came over and “groped my privates” says Crews. Terry reacted with confusion while the executive was smug. Crews wanted to fight him right there, but he thought about the ramifications and decided against it. The executive apologized the next day but never explained why he groped Terry in the first place.

By November 3rd it was revealed to be Adam Venit, according to a report by Variety. Venit was the longtime head of WME’s agency, and Crews was a client there. The report says Venit went on leave from the agency as a result of the allegation Terry Crews brought forward.

If there was any doubt, this tweet on November 19th from Terry Crews clears all that up.

Andrew Kramer

On October 29th, The Hollywood Reporter scooped a story about Lionsgate COO Andrew Kramer leaving the company. It’s also worth noting he spent seven years working at The Weinstein Company. It was assumed that company restructuring was the reason behind his exit. But sources claim Kramer was investigated by Lionsgate for inappropriate behavior towards a female assistant. It was alleged to take place back at the Berlin International Film Festival this past year. The investigation didn’t have enough conclusive evidence to warrant punishment. But the assistant in question requested reassignment to elsewhere, regardless.

Andrew Kreisberg

This guy worked as executive producer on Arrow, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Supergirl, and The Flash.

On November 10th Variety revealed Andrew Kreisberg was suspended amid sexual harassment allegations. 19 different anonymous sources spoke to Variety, wanting to speak about what went on. But fearful of the backlash if their names were attached.

“We were recently made aware of some deeply troubling allegations regarding one of our showrunners,” said Greg Berlanti and Sarah Schechter. They head Berlanti Productions, who oversee Kreisberg’s shows. “We have been encouraging and fully cooperating with the investigation into this by Warner Bros. There is nothing more important to us than the safety and well-being of our cast, crew, writers, producers and any staff. We do not tolerate harassment and are committed to doing everything we can to make an environment that’s safe to work in and safe to speak up about if it isn’t.”

The allegations include things like: touching people without their consent, kissing women without asking them first, and asking female staff members for massages. This was on top of the regular sexual charged comments about how ladies looked. In terms of physical things like their clothes, along with their overall desirability.

“Wow, you look so tired that I don’t even want to have sex with you anymore,” one woman reports Kreisberg saying when she walked into a room. While Andrew denies this, the woman’s children were there with her to hear it. A female colleague of Kreisberg says he “joked” about waking up next to her. A junior staffer says Andrew told a group of employees (while referring to a work trip between the female colleague and Kreisberg): “What happens in Vancouver, stays in Vancouver.” A CW show producer says a younger lass who worked a few lower-level jobs was targeted by Andrew Kreisberg’s “obsessive crush” of her. She ended up leaving the company over it, and “more than a dozen” of Variety’s sources can back that up. Another woman had a professional relationship going on with Kreisberg. But Andrew ended up steering their text conversations in a different and unwanted direction.

None of the 19 sources told Warner Bros. HR department about Kreisberg’s behavior. They think his position was too valuable for the company to even consider reprimanding him. To that end, a higher-up female producer brought their worries about Kreisberg’s harassment up to senior executive at Berlanti Productions. Sources over at Berlanti productions say Berlanti himself was never made aware of allegations. If he was, they’d have directed it to HR.

It’s allegedly a poor enough work environment that people flee the room when Andrew Kreisberg walks into it. “It was an environment in which women — assistants, writers, executives, directors — were all evaluated based on their bodies, not on their work,” says one male writer. This guy tried giving Kreisberg an intervention in hopes he’d clean up his actions. But it didn’t work. He says he tried it once, six years ago in an email. Andrew ended up giving the male writer a cold shoulder.

His ego inflated after becoming executive producer, making his behavior around women get worse. “The power went to his head,” says a (different?) male writer. “It became clear to me that it would be very dangerous, career-wise, for me to confront him about his behavior.”

Kreisberg didn’t just target women. A guy working on “Arrow”-verse stopped by to see a female colleague, leaning over to talk with her. Andrew came in from behind, put his hands on the man’s ass and imitated having sex. Kreisberg says it didn’t happen. But the employee begs to differ. “He laughed, and we all laughed, but I felt very uncomfortable,” they said. “I have never had anyone put their hands on me like that in a work situation. He did it because he feels like he can do whatever he wants.”

Kreisberg responded to Variety: “I have made comments on women’s appearances and clothes in my capacity as an executive producer, but they were not sexualized. Like many people, I have given someone a non-sexual hug or kiss on the cheek.”

But that’s as far as he was willing to admit behaviors. Andrew paints himself as a “mentor” to male and female colleagues. That, in such way, is how he gave extra attention to younger staffers. Kreisberg was able to rebut instances brought up by Variety’s sources. Like a male writer being called into Kreisberg’s office to review video of a woman coming to audition. One that was topless. Andrew says they were doing research and found her previous role on a premium cable network show. Another woman recounted a time when Andrew asked her to lie on the floor. Kreisberg lurched over her in a push-up position and told her to choke him. Again, that was apparently research.

On November 29th, Entertainment Weekly reported Andrew Kreisberg’s firing.

“After a thorough investigation, Warner Bros. Television Group has terminated Andrew Kreisberg’s employment, effective immediately,” said Warner Bros. Television Group in a statement. “Greg Berlanti will assume additional responsibilities on both The Flash, where he will work closely with executive producer/co-showrunner Todd Helbing, and Supergirl, where he will work closely with executive producers/co-showrunners Robert Rovner and Jessica Queller. We remain committed to providing a safe working environment for our employees and everyone involved in our productions.”

The article says Andrew’s name will be erased from the credits slate of all four shows he had helmed.

Andy Dick

For those unfamiliar Andy Dick is a standup comedian who also dabbles in the world of film and television.

On October 31st, The Hollywood Reporter revealed Andy Dick got fired from Raising Buchanan over accusations of misconduct and sexual harassment. Two sources say Andy Dick groped people’s privates, sexual propositions, and “unwanted kissing/licking” of at least four members working on the production.

Andy Dick was very forthcoming about the whole ordeal. He confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that he was fired from his part in the film. When it comes to the licking allegations, Andy admitted that possibility. But he’s sure he’s not a groper.

“I didn’t grope anybody. I might have kissed somebody on the cheek to say goodbye and then licked them. That’s my thing — I licked Carrie Fisher at a roast. It’s me being funny. I’m not trying to sexually harass people,” Dick said.

His comedy style often pushes the envelope. Andy Dick is aware of his controversial reputation. At 51, he’s having a hard time understanding the proper courting involved when trying to get a date. In this day and age.

“I didn’t grab anybody’s genitals,” he said. “Of course I’m going to proposition people. I’m single, depressed, lonely and trying to get a date. They can just say no, and they probably did and then I was done.”

There were other problems with Andy Dick on set. When it came to things like sobriety, he says he has stayed clean. Although Andy confessed there was a mishap with taking too many Xanax and it made him “loopy” on set. But that doesn’t mean he raped anyone. Once there was a disruption involving his friend Paul Ryder falling asleep on set and snoring loudly.

Andy Dick promises to retire if he keeps having incidents of misconduct getting in the way. This fiasco taught him to be better. “I won’t lick anyone’s face anymore. We have an agreement.”

Brett Ratner

Brett Ratner is a film and music video producer/director. But he also knows how to handle the business side of his work. It made him somewhat a jack-of-all-trades, as they say. Here we’ll find out Ratner believes himself to be a jack(ing)-off-of-all-trades, on top of that.

On November 1st, 2017, six women came forward to the LA Times alleging Brett Ratner was involved in sexual misconduct and harassment. With the allegations against Harvey Weinstein and James Toback coming out, they realized now was the time to talk about their experiences with Brett Ratner.

Back in the 1990s When Natasha Henstridge was 19, she fell asleep on Ratner’s couch after going with a group of buddies to hang out at his apartment. Natasha woke up to see everyone else was gone. It was just her and Ratner. She tried leaving but Brett blocked the exit. He pleasured himself in front of her and then made her give oral.

“He strong-armed me in a real way. He physically forced himself on me,” she said. “At some point, I gave in and he did his thing.”

Olivia Munn was ecstatic to get her name out there and jumped at the chance to go when invited to the After the Sunset set back in 2004. Munn was asked to drop food off at Ratner’s trailer and was assured he wasn’t in there at that time. Olivia dropped it off and was surprised to see him inside. She tried leaving but Ratner wouldn’t let her.

“He walked out … with his belly sticking out, no pants on, shrimp cocktail in one hand and he was furiously masturbating in the other,” Munn said. “And before I literally could even figure out where to escape or where to look, he ejaculated.”

Munn screamed and ran out of there, telling the man who asked her to deliver the food. He was annoyed but shrugged it off. In the years that followed, Munn wrote about it in her Suck It, Wonder Woman! The Misadventures of a Hollywood Geek book. When Ratner went on Attack of the Show in 2011 he confirmed it was him but denied masturbation happened.

“I used to date Olivia Munn, I will be honest with everybody here,” he said. “I banged her a few times … but I forgot her.”

Ratner ended up revealing he was bullshitting on the Howard Stern show a few days later.

Jamie Ray Newman crossed paths with Brett Ratner in 2005. They were both in first class on some Air Canada flight, and Ratner switched seats with his assistant so he could chat Jamie up. Within a few minutes of take-off, Ratner was describing sex acts he wanted to do to Jamie in graphic detail. He showed her nudes of his girlfriend, too.

“He was graphically describing giving me oral sex and how he was addicted to it,” Jamie said.

It was such a weird experience that Newman told a few people about it afterward. Ratner’s attorney denies it ever happening and dismisses it as a “ridiculous claim.”

Katharine Towne came in contact with Brett Ratner during a 2005 party at some movie star’s home. “He started to come on to me in a way that was so extreme,” she says. Katharine tried excusing themselves to the bathroom to escape, but Ratner followed her.

“I think it’s pretty aggressive to go in the bathroom with someone you don’t know and close the door,” said Towne.

She ended up giving him her number so he’d buzz off. For the next six or so months, Ratner’s assistant tried setting up a dinner date between Brett and Towne.

“Even if hypothetically this incident occurred exactly as claimed, how is flirting at a party, complimenting a woman on her appearance, and calling her to ask her for a date wrongful conduct?” Ratner’s attorney rebutted.

Eri Sasaki was 21 when they worked on Brett Ratner’s Rush Hour 2 set as an extra in 2001. The film features quite a few scenes of women in bikinis, and that was very much a choice on Ratner’s part. She says one day Brett came up to her. He ran his finger down her stomach and invited her to go to the bathroom with him. Eri told him no. “Don’t you want to be famous?” he replied. Ratner tried again a few days later. This time he offered her a speaking line in the movie. She still refused.

A second background actress, Jorina King, also had a Ratner encounter. On her first day, Brett picked her from the crowd and said he wanted to give her a speaking part. The day after that he took Jorina to his trailer and told her that he had to see her breasts. She shot his request down and hid in the bathroom. “I figured if I could stay out of his eyesight, if I could stay away from him, he will forget about me and he will choose someone else, and that is exactly what happened,” she said.

Once more, Ratner’s attorney had a rebuttal. “The movie was obviously already cast and shooting, so the notion that there would be a discussion of getting her a speaking role in the middle of a movie shoot is ridiculous,” he said.

“Any complaints of any kind including sexual harassment would be immediately directed to my attention,” assistant director James M. Freitag added. “There were no complaints reported to me whatsoever.”

Also on November 1st, Deadline reported Brett Ratner was suing Melanie Kohler in Hawaii. Despite the fact that she made their claims in a Facebook post more than a week before the LA Times piece. Within it she says Brett “preyed on me as a drunk girl [and] forced himself upon me.” Ratner had his attorney file a complaint, accusing the post as libel “per se,” that the statements were false/fabricated/fictional, and it asserts Melanie published them with malice.

Brett was starting to step back from his work because of these controversies.

“In light of the allegations being made, I am choosing to personally step away from all Warner Bros.-related activities,” Ratner said. “I don’t want to have any possible negative impact to the studio until these personal issues are resolved.”

On November 3rd, one of the LA Times authors on the Ratner piece announced more people came forward since publishing that.

On November 10th, Ellen Page posted on Facebook about a Ratner incident that took place on X-Men: The Last Stand‘s set in 2006.

“‘You should fuck her to make her realize she’s gay.’ He said this about me during a cast and crew “meet and greet” before we began filming, X Men: The Last Stand. I was eighteen years old. He looked at a woman standing next to me, ten years my senior, pointed to me and said: “You should fuck her to make her realize she’s gay.” He was the film’s director, Brett Ratner.

I was a young adult who had not yet come out to myself. I knew I was gay, but did not know, so to speak. I felt violated when this happened. I looked down at my feet, didn’t say a word and watched as no one else did either. This man, who had cast me in the film, started our months of filming at a work event with this horrific, unchallenged plea. He “outed” me with no regard for my well-being, an act we all recognize as homophobic. I proceeded to watch him on set say degrading things to women. I remember a woman walking by the monitor as he made a comment about her ‘flappy pussy.'”

Chris Savino

On October 17th, Cartoon Brew got the scoop about a controversy over at Nickelodeon. Chris Savino was being placed on a leave of absence. They spoke with people with The Loud House studio, and discovered up to a dozen women had accused Chris Savino of bad behaviors. This includes things like sexual advances, all the way up to threatening to blacklist the co-workers he had relationships with. Before Loud House, Savino worked on Rocko’s Modern Life and The Powerpuff Girls. Cartoon Brew says Loud House delivered ratings that rivaled longtime lead Spongebob Squarepants.

The article added this in a later update.

“This took place about 4 years ago. Chris [Savino] was working with the development program at Nickelodeon. A woman close to me had a project that was being developed under his supervision. He got her personal contact information under the guise of “helping her develop the project off hours.” He presented himself as a mentor. He then proceeded to send her unwanted text messages that were lewd and sexual in nature on more than one occasion. When she turned down his advances, her development project was let go. He is a classic case of a predatory male using his status and power over a female subordinate. As with most victims, she was worried of how speaking out against him would affect her career and no action was ever taken.”

On the evening of October 17th, Ann Walker Farrell over at Bojack Horseman posted a series of tweets in relation to the Savino matter. By the looks of it, she was a long time witness to Savino’s behavior and was looking forward to his day in the spotlight. Back in August she alluded to him but not by name.

But as you can see, it was indeed Chris Savino she was talking about.

On October 19th, Nickelodeon upgraded the suspension of Savino to a full-fledged firing. Despite his removal, the studio was going to continue with the second and third seasons of the Loud House show.

On the 20th, we’d get a better understanding of what went on. An anonymous accuser of Chris Savino’s came forward and shared the letter they sent Nickelodeon during the company’s investigation. It happened during Savino’s time at the Disney Channel when directing Kick Buttowski. That’s how she met him.

“The first time he was very nice to me. Then, he got my cell phone number, and he kept in contact with me. At that time, I was 22 years old. One night he started to text me drunkenly, asking me to prepare myself an alcoholic drink, giving me some recipes, and having fun conversation about it, so it was very weird for me. Then he sent me an Alien emoji with the Splash emoji, and asked me for nude pictures. Another night he sent me a picture of his penis, and told me a dirty secret about how he masturbates.

Then he started harassing me for years, telling me he had an open relationship with his wife, so I started to feel very uncomfortable. One day I went back to Disney to visit one of my dearest friends. Chris saw me and shouted at me, asking why I hadn’t told him I would be at the studio (he showed some jealousy about that situation). Then, years passed, and I visited Nickelodeon to join one of my friends for lunch. He learned I was in town and started asking me again by text why I never visited him, and being so annoying and aggressive. He also asked me to “hook up” with him before I left L.A, and told me if I would do inappropriate things with him, he would give me a freelance job as well.”

The person who wrote this letter had the opportunity to work at Nickelodeon but decided not to, based on Chris Savino being there.

David Blaine

On October 19th, The Daily Beast released an exclusive report revealing allegations that Magician David Blaine committed rape.

“Officers from the Met’s Child Abuse and Sexual Offences Command are investigating an allegation of rape,” Scotland Yard told The Daily Beast. “The allegation was reported to police on 17 November 2016 by a woman who alleged she was raped at an address in Chelsea in June or July 2004 when she was aged 21. There have been no arrests at this stage and enquiries continue.”

Natasha Prince was making a name for herself in the modeling world back in June and July 2004. It was at this same point in time that David Blane was becoming a big shot magician. It was at the Wellington nightclub in Knightsbridge these two worlds collided.

“He was nice to me,” Prince said. “I’m not sure what was said, but I remember he was giving me a lot of attention. I’m thinking, ‘He’s famous; there are beautiful girls all around him.’ I didn’t have any intentions – I just love meeting people. I’m good with people. As I was working the next day, when he went to talk to someone else, I said, ‘Well, I’m going to go now; really nice to meet you.’ And I left.”

David Blaine texted her an invite to his friends’ house for drinks. He was insistent on it, enough to send over a car to pick her up. They arrived at a mansion estate with “20 or 30 rooms,” with Blaine and Prince taking an elevator ride up to higher floors. The duo arrived in a small living room. Blaine vanished into the kitchen and came back with a tall glass full of vodka. Prince says she wasn’t drinking that week but made an exception for the concoction presented to her. The pair talked for 20 minutes. A soda-like taste invaded Prince’s mouth as she sipped on the beverage.

“I followed him, and we went into the bedroom, and it’s dark. I told him right away when he texted me that I was working tomorrow. So I was thinking maybe we would have a sort of intimate conversation somewhere else for five or ten minutes. But he spun around quite quickly and said, ‘Kiss me.’ I did kiss him. And then he said, ‘Finish your drink’ and took the glass from me and put it on the table, and that’s really the last thing I remember.”

The next thing Prince remembers is being on the bed, with Blaine behind her. She says the anal sex briefly woke her out of the deep sleep she was in. When Prince finally came around, she recalls being naked. Blaine was shirtless at the end of the bed. He complimented her tits and proceeded to fold some clothes whilst walking around the room.

“My client vehemently denies that he raped or sexually assaulted any woman, ever, and he specifically denies raping a woman in 2004,” the statement from Blaine’s lawyer said. “If, in fact, there is any police investigation, my client will fully cooperate because he has nothing to hide.”

David Guillod

TheWrap published an exclusive on November 2nd, detailing allegations from Jessica Barth that Atomic Blonde producer David Guillod drugged her and committed assault.

Barth first made the accusations back in 2012, but Jessica says David Guillod came after her with a lawsuit to curtail her from moving forward with the case. She revived the accusations on that Thursday in November 2017 because Barth got an email from another woman saying Guillod did the same thing to them. TheWrap says insiders told them David Guillod left two other jobs (co-header of motion picture department at UTA until 2009 and as an agent working for Paradigm until 2011) because of sexual harassment complaints.

“This allegation was initially made five years ago and was fully investigated by LAPD at that time,” Guillod’s attorney Thomas M. Ferlauto told TheWrap. “Witnesses were interviewed whose version of events belied and completely contradicted Ms. Barth’s and LAPD determined the charges to be unfounded. No criminal or civil case was ever brought against Mr. Guillod.”

“Nothing was found to be unfounded. I just stopped pursuing it because he threatened to sue me,” Barth said. “I wasn’t in a place emotionally or financially to take him on legally.”

It all began on October 27th when Jessica Barth wrote a guest blog for TheWrap. She detailed her encounter with David Guillod without naming him. Her reasoning for doing so was seizing the Harvey Weinstein controversy to give a chance for other people to come forward with their stories. Using the #WhoIsYourHarvey hashtag and an email account to give people the opportunity to do so. Barth says the former UTA agent who ended up opening his own management company “heavily pursued” her in the lead-up to the release of Ted. This person sent Barth on a ton of auditions and complimented her heavily. At some point after that is when he invited her to dinner. This first experience at a Ventura Boulevard restaurant was uneventful, for the most part. Jessica learned the agent was a regular here. On their way out, he invited Barth home for “one more drink.” She said no and tried to keep their relationship professional. In the months after, the agent was insistent on these dinner dates being regular. She rejected that. The auditions Barth got ended up slowing down to a trickle. Somehow, she ended up going to dinner with a friend who was also a client of this agent.

All Barth remembers is the agent complimenting the both of them. That their wine kept refilling, and Jessica feeling drowsy.

“The next thing I remember is waking up at home with six hickeys on my neck. I was horrified. I was completely and utterly confused and I was sick to my stomach. Through email, he tried to play it off as a silly make-out session between friends. He sent me message after message begging that we talk and letting me know how upset he was and that he couldn’t sleep because of the pit in his stomach.”

That agent’s name was David Guillod. Jessica Barth didn’t need to name him in her initial piece. But after publishing, a woman emailed her saying she recognized him based on the experience.

On November 3rd David Guillod resigned from Primary Wave Entertainment.

“Primary Wave Entertainment and David Guillod have agreed to part ways effective immediately, David Guillod has resigned from the company,” the company told Variety.

But the fallout would continue. On November 10th, TheWrap released a follow-up piece detailing more allegations that came to light.

In December 2014, David Guillod invited his whole team at Intellectual Artists Management to a wine country dinner retreat. It was there he announced the company’s merger with the talent management branch of Primary Wave. Everyone reacted to the news with some hardcore celebration. Everyone returned to the hotel pretty drunk. One assistant was so wasted that a female colleague had to tuck her in bed. But later on in the night, Guillod snatched the assistant from bed and sexually assaulted them. There were two employees who were with the assistant after her encounter with David Guillod. They said she was in a confused and “hysterical” state. News of the incident got around within the company and there were worries it’d threaten the merger. A $60,000 settlement was reached in return for her signing an NDA.

In June 2015 Guillod had dinner at his home with a young actress client. They ended up meeting with the client’s friend at a bar. After that, both women say they went back to David’ s house where he gave them red wine.

“I remember I didn’t even finish my glass, and it was atomically like from zero to 100 in terms of drunkenness,” said the friend, saying she only had two drinks before the wine. “The way you get after you have like six drinks where you move really slowly. Time just kind of moves so fast. Chunks of time are missing. The next thing I remember is we were in bed. Sexual things were happening.”

The friend ran into the bathroom and vomited. It was after that David Guillod had sex with her. “I had no idea, to me it almost felt like there was nothing I could do about it. I wasn’t operating from me. I felt like my body was just kind of blacking out but I was just watching it,” she said.

All the sudden, there was blood. “I realized I was covered in blood and so was she,” the actress said. “I had a handprint on me. The sheets were all covered in it.”

The friend said the same thing. The actress recalls freaking out after coming around from her blackout. Fleeing the area after hitting both Guillod and her friend. According to them, David told the both of them the next day they had sex. Both women deny they’d ever consent to what happened.

The actress saw Jessica Barth’s story on TheWrap of being drugged and sexually assaulted, deciding to come forward after reading that.

On November 16th, TheWrap announced actress Paula Patton cut all her professional ties with Primary Wave. Kristin Chenoweth and Gina Rodriguez did so after the first round of accusations against David came to light. AT&T’s Audience Network told TheWrap that David Guillod wouldn’t be the executive producer on their Hit the Road and Loudermilk shows.

David O. Russell

For those unaware, David O. Russell is a film screenwriter, director, and producer. He had a stroke of luck in recent years. With back-to-back hits like The Fighter (2010), Silver Linings Playbook (2012), and American Hustle (2013) all pulling off superb with the public and critics alike.

But with the Weinstein scandal eruption, media outlets reflected back on the flaws and fuck-ups this guy has done.

On October 13th, Amazon announced their decision to not move forward on a David O. Russell project, in light of recent events. It was a $160 million dollar deal with The Weinstein Company, a partnership brokered by Roy Price. Ten days later an article on The Daily Beast laid out a history of Russell’s behaviors and incidents. Some of this comes from Kayleigh Donaldson at Pajiba. They took the chance with the Weinstein situation to remind people what David O. Russell has done.

When it came to Three Kings (1999), Russell’s pugnacious attitude made one of his assistant directors quit. Reportedly “delighting” in public humiliation he screamed in people’s faces, up close. George Clooney couldn’t deal with that kind of attitude and grabbed David’s throat. Producer Charles Roven talked about the ordeal last year with The Hollywood Reporter. He says George Clooney got on board in the first place because he was flexible with costs. That, plus working seven days a week for “months” works to wear down patience. On the other end, the studio behind Three Kings pressured Russel to get the budget down in the $40 million range.

George was forgetting his lines, and David was yelling at someone because they were on a tight schedule.

“Now we’re shooting the climax of the movie. Helicopters, explosions, gunfire. It’s chaos, madness. And George sees David talking to the extras’ [assistant director], and it looks like he’s yelling at him. But he’s yelling to be heard. And George comes running over and goes, “I told you, motherf—er, if you’re going to pick on somebody, pick on me.” And David goes, “Why don’t you just f—ing remember your lines for once?” And boom! They grab each other, and they’re tussling. And so I pulled George away. That was it. But David is always only about the movie. And you have to respect that.”

It turned into a multi-year feud. “Quite honestly, if he comes near me, I’ll sock him right in the fucking mouth,” Clooney said in an interview.

On the I Heart Huckabees set, footage leaked out of David screeching at Lily Tomlin.

A September 2004 article called “The Nudist Buddhist Borderline-Abusive Love-In”, by Sharon Waxman, explains some of the behind the scenes drama. Jude Law quit the film initially, to take on a role over on Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige. David O’ Russell “ran into” Christopher Nolan at a Hollywood party and demanded Nolan show “artistic solidarity” and give Jude Law back. Other accounts include things like: Russell rolling on the ground, dancing, and shouting at actors with the megaphone. While he starts the day with all his clothes on, David starts taking them off until he’s in his boxers by lunch. This was made even more strange given his tendency to rub his body against anyone who happened to be nearby.

David O’ Russell’s transgender niece Nicole Peloquin filed a report in December 2011, accusing David of groping her. They were working out in the gym and he offered to help with “ab exercises.” It was at some point here that Russell put his hands under her top and felt “both breasts.”

The Chicago Tribune elaborated on things further:

“For his part, Russell confirms that the incident happened, but told police that Peloquin was “acting very provocative toward him” and invited him to feel her breasts. He also admitted to being “curious about the breast enhancement.”

While I Heart Huckabees set David back a bit, he got momentum again with The Fighter and Silver Linings Playbook being successful. But by the time of American Hustle (2013), Sony email leaks indicate Amy Adams got the blunt end of Russell’s fury.

“Are you guys doing anything else with him? I know he’s brilliant but we have someone on our show who worked closely with him on ‘American Hustle’ and not only are the stories about him reforming himself total bullshit but the new stories of his abuse and lunatic behavior are extreme even by Hollywood standards… He grabbed one guy by the collar, cursed out people repeatedly in front of others and so abused Amy Adams that Christian Bale got in his face and told him to stop acting like an asshole.’”

It was later elaborated on by Adams in an interview with British BQ. Russell brought Amy to tears, and she says it taught her to separate things between work and home.

Dustin Hoffman

I don’t need to tell you who Dustin Hoffman is, do I? The impression I have is even folks who don’t pay much attention to films are able to recognize his name. All the President’s Men, Rain Man, Kramer vs. Kramer. He acted in those and was pretty damn awesome at it. Hoffman does director work as well, so he stays busy.

On November 1st, Anna Graham Hunter wrote a guest column on The Hollywood Reporter. Within, she tells the story of how Dustin Hoffman allegedly sexually harassed her at age 17.

She takes us through what she said in her diary journal from back then.

“When I was a senior in high school in New York City, interning as a production assistant on the set of the Death of a Salesman TV film, he asked me to give him a foot massage my first day on set; I did. He was openly flirtatious, he grabbed my ass, he talked about sex to me and in front of me. One morning I went to his dressing room to take his breakfast order; he looked at me and grinned, taking his time. Then he said, “I’ll have a hard-boiled egg … and a soft-boiled clitoris.” His entourage burst out laughing. I left, speechless. Then I went to the bathroom and cried.”

Outlining the course of several weeks in 1985, we see detailed instances of behavior in action. There are situations like uncomfortable foot massages and discussions about breasts. One week, Dustin asks Anna if she had sex over the weekend. The next, she writes about how Dustin grabbed her ass a few times while walking him to his limo.

Yet overall, the lass is sentimental about some of the experiences she had on set too. It’s a story of the mixed feelings involved in some of these cases.

“I have the utmost respect for women and feel terrible that anything I might have done could have put her in an uncomfortable situation. I am sorry. It is not reflective of who I am,” Hoffman replied in a statement.

Ed Westwick

A younger face in the mix here. Ed Westwick made a name for himself after acting on a show called Gossip Girl. He has kept steady work in the film and television industries since the Gossip Girl gig ended in 2012. But none of it reaches the same tenacity as his tenure with that one show.

On the evening of November 6th, Kristina Cohen posted her story on Facebook. She says three years ago she was sexually assaulted by Westwick. Her mother was dying of cancer at the time though, so she repressed the horrible feelings of all that to be there for her mother. But Kristina says she’s come a long way since then and is ready to talk about what happened to her.

“I was briefly dating a producer who was friends with the actor Ed Westwick. It was this producer who brought me up to Ed’s house where I met Ed for the first time. I wanted to leave when Ed suggested “we should all fuck”. But the producer didn’t want to make Ed feel awkward by leaving. Ed insisted we stay for dinner. I said I was tired and wanted to leave, trying to get out of what was already an uncomfortable situation. Ed suggested I nap in the guest bedroom. The producer said we would stay for just another 20 more minutes to smooth everything over, and then we could leave.

So I went and laid down in the guest room where I eventually fell asleep, I was woken up abruptly by Ed on top of me, his fingers entering my body. I told him to stop, but he was strong. I fought him off as hard as I could but he grabbed my face in his hands, shaking me, telling me he wanted to fuck me. I was paralyzed, terrified. I couldn’t speak, I could no longer move. He held me down and raped me.”

On November 7th, Deadline reported the LAPD was investigating Kristina Cohen’s allegation that Gossip Girl‘s Ed Westwick raped her in 2014. Blaise Godbe Lipman came forward as a witness and told Deadline about the incident in question. It happened a few days after Valentine’s day, February 2014. Cohen left her car at Lipman’s house the evening of the incident.

“She came over to my home the following morning and told me everything,” he said. “She was in a state of shock. It was without a doubt a rape.”

Katalina Colgate (Cohen’s sister) said she told her about it after it happened.

Erik Horine

On November 2nd, Variety published a report about sexual harassment allegations that were happening to talent agencies. One of these cases was ICM’s Erik Horine. He had to step down back in June in light of allegations of improper behavior.

“I now understand the pain and offense my behavior has caused. I am truly sorry for that,” Horine said. “The fact that my conduct involved words, rather than physical actions, in no way excuses it.”

Variety interviewed over a dozen ICM employees about it, with four of them being women who were the target of Horine’s interests. They say Erik was too powerful and well connected to raise any critiques against. Variety makes it clear that Horine never got to illegal levels of behavior, nor was his harassment physical in any way. But Erik’s routine was to pick female employees and warm them up to dinner and drinks. What that means is telling these ladies they’re “hot” and how horny they got him. The process was demoralizing for the people that Erik targeted. Horine’s behavior became so well known that new female staff were warned in advance about Erik’s methods. It got around enough that senior level staff were aware. On at least two occasions (one in 2015 and 2016) it got mentioned to ICM’s HR department in employee exit reviews. Erik got the job in the first place by being good at his job, though.

Gary Goddard

In the second half of the 1970s, Goddard made a name for himself doing plays with Disney. He made his own production company in 1980 and ran with it up through 2002.

On November 10th, ER actor Anthony Edwards accused Gary Goddard of molestation. His mother confronted Anthony about it at age 14, and at the time he denied anything had happened. But here in this Medium post he finally confessed.

“I met Goddard when I was 12, and he quickly became a dominant force in my life. He taught me about the value of acting, respect for friendship, and the importance of studying. Pedophiles prey on the weak. My father, who suffered from undiagnosed PTSD from WWII, was not emotionally available. Everyone has the need to bond, and I was no exception. My vulnerability was exploited. I was molested by Goddard, my best friend was raped by him — and this went on for years. The group of us, the gang, stayed quiet.”

Anthony confronted Goddard in an airport about it over two decades ago, and he swore he got the help he needed. For a time, this was enough for Anthony Edwards to be at peace. But four years ago Goddard resurfaced in the press over allegations of sexual abuse. This tore open the old wounds Anthony had suffered. For the first time, he sought therapy over it.

“As to the allegations that Mr. Edwards made in his post today, I can unequivocally deny them on Gary’s behalf,” said Goddard’s spokesperson Sam Singer.

On November 17th a second Medium post came out, corroborating Anthony Edwards’ testimony. Titled “Anthony Edwards is Telling the Truth” from Bret Douglas Nighman, who is a friend of Anthony and toured California for a Peter Pan production that Goddard directed.

“One night while on tour I awoke to find Goddard trying to get into my bed, under my covers and into my underwear. I fought him off and pushed him away. Although it was dark I saw him force his way into Tony’s bed — which was about twelve feet from mine. I thought that Tony would push him away too. I lay in my bed with my heart pounding and listened as one of my best friends who I loved got sexually molested. I was scared, in shock, heartbroken and confused. I felt like I betrayed Tony for doing nothing, and I couldn’t understand why Tony didn’t push him away.”

Later, Bret talks about how Goddard grabbed him and kissed his mouth after their last performance in San Diego. He’s tried to make sense of what happened to him and the other boys that toured with Goddard for years.

Gary Goddard was a show director at Santa Barbara Youth Theather. Many of the young boys that got cast in his Oliver and Peter Pan shows ended up going to Hollywood. Goddard got them agents and helped send them on their way to fame. Bret recalls how envious he was that his buddies were in Jesus Christ Superstar, and he wanted to get in on that. After traveling to Northern California for rehearsals, Bret says Goddard attempted to molest him in the car on the drive home one evening. After the production was over, Goddard invited Bret to his home to pick up some photos of him from the show. Bret ended up staying the night, sleeping on the floor. He woke up in the middle of the evening to see Goddard rubbing his balls, grabbing Bret’s hand and forcing it to stroke Goddard’s erection.

Once more, Goddard’s people denied the allegations in a statement to the LA Times.

“While it is true that Mr. Nighman appeared in two productions that were directed by Mr. Goddard, his allegations of sexual advances are false. It is equally disturbing that both individuals maintained personal and professional relationships with Mr. Goddard well into adulthood, and now, out of the blue, are making false, disparaging and defamatory statements.”

George Takei

Takei is Sulu from Star Trek. Whatever else he’s done in his life is neither here or there. At the end of the day, people see Takei’s name and think of that role he had.

On November 10th, George Takei came under fire after someone came forward with an allegation of sexual assault. Scott R. Brunton says it happened in 1981 when he was 23. They were working in Hollywood as a waiter, making their first break into acting. He first encountered Takei at the Greg’s Blue Dot bar one evening. They ended up calling each other every so often. When Brunton broke up with their boyfriend, George asked for his new number. The two went out for dinner and a movie.

“He was very good at consoling me and understanding that I was upset and still in love with my boyfriend,” Brunton said. “He was a great ear. He was very good about me spilling my heart on my sleeve.”

After that, they went back to Takei’s condo for a drink. It was going to be one drink. But it turned into a second drink. Brunton remembers feeling light-headed and blacking out.

Here’s what Scott Brunton says happened next.

“The next thing I remember I was coming to and he had my pants down around my ankles and he was groping my crotch and trying to get my underwear off and feeling me up at the same time, trying to get his hands down my underwear. I came to and said, ‘What are you doing?!’ I said, ‘I don’t want to do this.’ He goes, ‘You need to relax. I am just trying to make you comfortable. Get comfortable.’ And I said, ‘No. I don’t want to do this.’ And I pushed him off and he said, ‘OK, fine.’ And I said I am going to go and he said, ‘If you feel you must. You’re in no condition to drive.’ I said, ‘I don’t care I want to go.’ So I managed to get my pants up and compose myself and I was just shocked. I walked out and went to my car until I felt well enough to drive home, and that was that.”

Brunton stayed quiet for years under the impression nobody would believe him. But when the Weinstein controversy broke out, followed up by Takei responding to the Kevin Spacey scandal, he changed his mind.

On the morning of November 11th, George Takei responded to Brunton’s testimony. Not only did he deny the events happening as Scott described, George claims to not remember who Brunton is. Takei then distanced himself from the events saying they happened so long ago, that it doesn’t coincide with his values today.

On the morning of the 12th, Takei deflected the controversy he was in by alleging Russian bots had a role in magnifying the public’s attention on social media. George soon after deleted the tweets, realizing going that route wasn’t the best idea. On November 14th, Takei apologized for how he presented himself on Howard Stern’s show in the past. This “naughty gay grandpa” caricature he created seems like a distasteful joke to him in retrospect.

If you wanted a taste of what George Takei regrets, here you go. The actor hasn’t retreated from the public eye at least as far as social media is concerned.

Gilbert Rozon

For anyone who believes the Weinstein scandal and resulting controversies made public are an American thing only? You’d be mistaken. As you’ll see here with Gilbert Rozon, who is a Canadian best known for his Just for Laughs annual festival he founded.

On October 19th the French newspaper Le Devoir reported Gilbert Rozon faced sexual misconduct accusations that happened over three decades, according to nine women who came forward.

This Facebook statement by Gilbert from October 19th is written in French, but translated it says:

“I announce that I am leaving now my duties as chairman of the group Just For Laughs, as a commissioner for the 375th Montreal celebrations and as Vice-President of the Montreal Chamber of commerce. I am stepping down out of respect for the employees and families who work for these organizations and all our partners. I do not want to shame them.”

At the time the allegations came out they weren’t verified by the press. Even so, Gilbert neither confirmed or denied them in the midst of stepping down from his various posts.

One of the stories surrounding Rozon comes from Salomé Corbo. A Quebec actress who encountered them at a party in 1990. When they were age 14. She alleges Rozon grabbed her, sliding his hand into her underwear.

“I told him ‘I’m 14 years old, I’m 14 years old, I am a young girl.’ I spoke loudly and hoped that witnesses around me would react, but nobody reacted. Gilbert let me go and I left.”

Elsewhere is the case of Lyne Charlebois, a producer. In 1982, they and their partner went to dinner with Rozon. After that, they went to Rozon’s house so he could change shirts. “The next thing I knew was that we were in his room, he was on me and I froze,” Lyne said. “In my head, the guy that I just met was penetrating me. He met my boyfriend.”

Radio-Canada has confirmed with Montreal police they’re opening an investigation into a 1994 Paris incident Rozon was alleged to be involved in. His record involves sexual assault, pleading guilty to it back in 1998. In that case, he ended up getting an unconditional discharge.

French TV station M6 suspended La France a un incroyable talent as a result of the accusations. Gilbert also resigned from being president of Montreal’s Just for Laughs comedy festival. Radio-Canada announced that Rozon wouldn’t be a part of their Dans l’œil du dragon show. French TV station TVA said they were taking Just For Laughs Gala showings off air until further notice.

James Toback

Toback is a screenwriter and director. His work includes things like Black and White. Which is apparently important because according to the stories from women coming out, he’d use that movie as bait to draw them in.

On October 22nd, LA Times did their first report on James Toback. The author Glenn Whipp goes for the throat. He opens by calling Toback a prowler on the hunt for young women. Using his movie director fame to lure in unsuspecting victims, get them to “audition,” only to have the encounter turn sexual. 31 of the 38 women who spoke for the LA Times did it on the record. The article itself is a collection of these horror stories that the women interviewed had to allegedly go through. Toback denies all of these reports, claiming it was impossible for him to do these sorts of things given a heart condition he has.

“The way he presented it, it was like, ‘This is how things are done,’” said actress Adrienne LaValley. She had a 2008 run-in with Toback that had him rubbing his crotch on her leg. “I felt like a prostitute, an utter disappointment to myself, my parents, my friends. And I deserved not to tell anyone.”

“He told me he’d love nothing more than to masturbate while looking into my eyes,” said Louise Post. She met Toback in 1987 while attending Barnard College. “Going to his apartment has been the source of shame for the past 30 years, that I allowed myself to be so gullible.”

Glenn Whipp notes that Toback’s movies explored extremes and that his personal skeletons had intersected with that. This was because Toback’s gimmick with women was trying to see how far they’d go to get a job.

In the case of someone like Anna Scott, she was in high school when Toback baited her with a movie he was working on. Something called Black and White. James invited her to a Charlie Rose taping, then said they’d talk more about the movie afterward. Instead, the discussion Toback started was of a sexual nature. Eventually, they were inside a restaurant when James said: “You have to be ready to turn yourself completely over to me.”

Anna fled.

When working on Black and White, Echo Danon had to put up with Toback. He cornered her in his trailer, kneeling in front of her with his hands on her thighs. “If you look into my eyes and pinch my nipples, I’m going to come in my pants right now,” he said.

Sari Kamin got targeted by Toback in 2003. He pulled out a “Two Girls and a Guy” DVD and invited her to be in his next movie. James took her out to dinner several times over a few months, to the point where Toback tried getting Kamin in a hotel room. Saying he wanted a “real connection” with her, he asked Kamin to take off her clothes in the hotel room. She resisted and James got angry, asserting that it was all part of the acting business. He began rubbing his crotch against her after she eventually gave in. “I felt really paralyzed,” Kamin said. “And I asked him, ‘Are you trying to get yourself off?’ And he said, ‘Absolutely.’”

Terri Conn was 23 and working on As the World Turns when Toback found her. He told her to meet in Central Park to discuss how she could get in a film. It was there James led Conn to an empty area and began humping her leg. “I was shocked and frozen and didn’t know what to do,” Conn said. “I thought if I resisted, it could get worse. He could overpower me.”

Chantal Cousineau was 19 when they met James in Toronto for a “Harvard Man” audition back in 2001. It ended in Toback’s hotel room, with Chantal leaving as he talked about masturbation. “Calm down, you’ve got the part,” James said as she went to the room’s exit. It was true. Chantal’s agent called her after the encounter to confirm it. During one of the rehearsals, Chantal says she heard Toback furiously masturbating on the other side of the wall.

By October 23rd, it looks like word got around about the LA Times Toback report. More than 200 women came forward since then with their stories. One of them was Today Show anchor Natalie Morales. “In all honesty, I thought he was just a creep hitting on me with the oldest line in the book,” Morales told The Times. “Like I said on our show I was just lucky. I saw pretty quickly what he was up to.” The LA Times said the Los Angeles Police Department was swarmed with Toback phone calls over that past 48 hours. The same goes for the Manhattan District Attorney’s office. Toback’s agent (Jeff Berg of ICM), cut off their professional ties with James as well.

James Gunn had a lot to say about it on Facebook.

“He has done this to three girls I’ve dated, two of my very best friends, and a family member… twice. Yes, he came up to her twice with the same stupid line, not realizing she was the same person,” Gunn wrote. “This is in addition to many other women I’ve talked to at parties or dinners about their interactions with Toback.”

On October 26th, Selma Blair and Rachel McAdams spoke with Vanity Fair about their brush-ins with James Toback.

Selma Blair arrived at the restaurant where she was supposed to meet James Toback. The waitress came by and informed her that Toback couldn’t make it downstairs, however, she’s requested to join him in his suite. She went upstairs. The first thing James did was pull out a script and said they have a “real connection.” That Blair is an incredible actress. Then Toback asked her where her parents were. In retrospect, Selma realizes James was trying to figure out her support system in life. After revealing an estranged relationship with her father, James offers to have him killed. Regardless of it being a joke, it made Selma nervous. Forty minutes into their conversation, Toback wanted Selma to take her clothes off. Blair was smart, studied beforehand. After saying that’s not logical since Blair’s character is a courtroom lawyer, Toback rationalized his request by saying he needed to see her body move. Selma told him she wasn’t comfortable.

“But he continued to coax me—saying that this was in no way a come-on. This was part of training. He wanted to make me a good actress. He wanted to make me comfortable. I thought, “Well, my representation sent me to see him. He must be really important.” I took off my sweater. I was so private about my body. I do remember looking down at the script and seeing my bare chest and not being able to focus on anything but the words and my face being so hot and puffy and feeling so ashamed.”

He commented on her body, and began telling her she needed “a lot of work.” James Toback started rubbing his cock at this point and asked Blair to fuck him. She declined and mentioned the fact Toback was married.

“It’s complicated, but yes. She’s wonderful. She’s a writer. She’s a teacher. And she’s a wonderful woman. And I have a girlfriend who can’t get enough sex. But I love that. I have to come six or seven times a day or else it really doesn’t work for me to get through my day,” James said. Selma felt trapped. She WAS trapped. Toback blocked the door and said she had to do this for him.

“I said, “What do I have to do? I cannot touch you. I cannot have sex with you.”

“He said, ‘It’s O.K. I can come in my pants. I have to rub up against your leg. You have to pinch my nipples. And you have to look into my eyes.’” I thought, “Well, if I can get out of here without being raped . . .”

He walked me back to the bed. He sat me down. He got on his knees. And he continued to press so hard against my leg. He was greasy and I had to look into those big brown eyes. I tried to look away, but he would hold my face. So I was forced to look into his eyes. And I felt disgust and shame, and like nobody would ever think of me as being clean again after being this close to the devil. His energy was so sinister.”

At age 21, Rachel McAdams was a Toronto theater student when Toback roped her into a Harvard Man audition. “I think you’re really, really talented. I think you’re quite good for this actually, but I’d like to workshop it a little with you, and maybe rehearse a bit more and see if we can get you all the way there. Leave your phone number with the casting agent’s assistant, and we’ll get together and workshop this a bit,” Toback told her later.

He called her that same evening, inviting her to his hotel to talk about it. Rachel had a scheduling conflict but Toback was persistent. Rachel went to Toback’s hotel room and there were magazines all over the floor. “You know, I just have to tell you. I have masturbated countless times today thinking about you since we met at your audition,” James told her.

It was after that, Rachel says Toback began with the “how far are you willing to go” shtick. After pleasuring himself in the bathroom and declining a request to show her pubic hair, Rachel left. “I can’t believe he did it again. This isn’t the first time that this has happened. He did this the last time that he was in town. He did this to one of my other actresses,” said her agent the next morning.

Jeffery Tambor

Jeffery is an actor and comedian with things like The Larry Sanders Show under his resume. But to me, Tambor remains the family patriarch of Arrested Development. His more recent work on a show called Transparent brought him a new wave of praise and accolades. It’s unfortunate that wave of fame ended up having an ugly crash at the end.

Tambor’s transgender former assistant Van Barnes made a private Facebook post at some point the week of November 5th. It got around the internet enough to warrant a Deadline article by November 8th, talking about allegations against Jeffery Tambor. Within the post, Barnes alleges Tambor (not IDing him by name) propositioned her multiple times, made a series of inappropriate comments, groped her, and threatened to sue if they spoke up about it.

“I am aware that a former disgruntled assistant of mine has made a private post implying that I had acted in an improper manner toward her,” Tambor told Deadline. “I adamantly and vehemently reject and deny any and all implication and allegation that I have ever engaged in any improper behavior toward this person or any other person I have ever worked with. I am appalled and distressed by this baseless allegation.”

Amazon is inclined to investigate the situation in full, given the recent PR flack thar arose over the Roy Price situation. The company promised to speak to Jeffery Tambor as well as members of the Transparent production set.

On November 16th, a second incident became known to the public. Trace Lysette plays a transgender yoga instructor named Shea on Transparent, and they were part of an iconic moment of the show where the character is trying to find the right pitch to shout “YAS QUEEN” with.

Apparently, there were troublesome circumstances around filming this part of the show. Lysette gave a full statement to The Hollywood Reporter:

“One day on set during Season 2, Jeffrey, Alexandra Billings and I were all outfitted in pajamas. I was in a flimsy top and matching short shorts. Upon seeing my in my costume, Jeffrey sexualized me with an over the top comment. Alexandra and I laughed it off because it was so absurd and we thought surely it had to be a bad joke. I shook it off. Then later, in between takes, I stood in a corner on the set as the crew reset for a wide shot. My back was against the wall in a corner as Jeffrey approached me. He came in close, put his bare feet on top of mine so I could not move, leaned his body against me, and began quick, discreet thrusts back and forth against my body. I felt his penis on my hip through his thin pajamas and I pushed him off of me. Again, I laughed it off and rolled my eyes. I had a job to do and I had to do it with Jeffrey, the lead of our show. When they called action, I put that moment in the corner into its own corner of my mind. Compartmentalizing has always been part of my survival took kit, long before I came to Hollywood. It’s shitty to admit out loud — and I don’t say it to justify what I went through — but given the journey and circumstances of my life, I was used to being treated as a sexual object by men — this one just happened to be famous.”

Lysette continued by saying they hoped Amazon can use this situation to turn the show in a different direction instead of pulling it off the air outright. Regardless of what happens she still has faith in what the show represents.

Tambor issued a second statement in response Trace Lysette’s allegations:

“For the past four years, I’ve had the huge privilege — and huge responsibility — of playing Maura Pfefferman, a transgender woman, in a show that I know has had an enormous, positive impact on a community that has been too long dismissed and misunderstood. Now I find myself accused of behavior that any civilized person would condemn unreservedly. I know I haven’t always been the easiest person to work with. I can be volatile and ill-tempered, and too often I express my opinions harshly and without tact. But I have never been a predator — ever. I am deeply sorry if any action of mine was ever misinterpreted by anyone as being sexually aggressive or if I ever offended or hurt anyone. But the fact is, for all my flaws, I am not a predator and the idea that someone might see me in that way is more distressing than I can express.”

Compare this statement to what Tambor said the first time. Notice how this time Jeffery takes a more self-reflective approach. Look at how Tambor admits their personality flaws and admits how they can do better.

Above all else? Jeffery Tambor says sorry this time.

On November 19th, Deadline reported the two accusations of sexual harassment were enough for Tambor to quit Transparent.

“Playing Maura Pfefferman on Transparent has been one of the greatest privileges and creative experiences of my life,” the Emmy winning actor told Deadline on Sunday. “What has become clear over the past weeks, however, is that this is no longer the job I signed up for four years ago,” Tambor added of his role as the lead on the Jill Soloway created show.

“I’ve already made clear my deep regret if any action of mine was ever misinterpreted by anyone as being aggressive, but the idea that I would deliberately harass anyone is simply and utterly untrue,” Tambor asserted as well. “Given the politicized atmosphere that seems to have afflicted our set, I don’t see how I can return to Transparent.”

Jeremy Piven

On October 30th, Ariane Bellamar tweeted that Jeremy Piven sexually harassed her. Once on the Entourage set, and once at the Playboy mansion.

On October 31st, HBO and Jeremy Piven both released their own sets of statements in response to the situation.

“Today, via the press reports, is the first we are hearing about Ariane Bellamar’s allegations concerning Jeremy Piven,” HBO wrote. “Everyone at HBO and our productions is aware that zero tolerance for sexual harassment is our policy. Anyone experiencing an unsafe working environment has several avenues for making complaints that we take very seriously.”

“I unequivocally deny the appalling allegations being peddled about me,” Piven said. “It did not happen. It takes a great deal of courage for victims to come forward with their histories, and my hope is that the allegations about me that didn’t happen, do not detract from stories that should be heard.”

John Lasseter

Lasseter is a filmmaker and animator that’s part of the founding staff behind Pixar Animation Studios. Serving as the Chief Creative Officer of the company, he’s the lifeblood of the Toy Story and Cars series of movies.

An important head honcho. Despite that power and authority, he’d too be stepping away from the public eye.

The Hollywood Reporter did a report on November 21st. Rashida Jones and Wil McCormack left Toy Story 4 early on (according to sources speaking to The Hollywood Reporter) because of unwanted advances by John Lasseter.

The two said otherwise when they talked to the New York Times in a statement. “The breakneck speed at which journalists have been naming the next perpetrator renders some reporting irresponsible,” they said. “We did not leave Pixar because of unwanted advances. That is untrue. We parted ways because of creative and, more importantly, philosophical differences.

People from Pixar spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about Lasseter but didn’t want to be named out of fear for their jobs. A long-standing Pixar staff member said Lasseter had a reputation for hugging people, plus “grabbing, kissing, making comments about physical attributes.” John Lasseter was a bit of a drinker too, but that wasn’t the only thing fueling his behavior.

Women knew to turn their heads to avoid getting kissed. One inside source talks about an encounter Lasseter had with women during a meeting, several years ago. “She was bent over and [had her arm] across her thigh. The best I can describe it is as a defensive posture … John had his hand on her knee, though, moving around,” they said. Talking to the woman afterward, she told the source it was unfortunate for her to wear a skirt that day and if she didn’t have her hand on her own right leg, his hand would have traveled.”

Lasseter beat the reporters to the punch and gave a statement beforehand, announcing he was stepping down for a leave of absence.

“I’ve recently had a number of difficult conversations that have been very painful for me. It’s never easy to face your missteps, but it’s the only way to learn from them. As a result, I’ve been giving a lot of thought to the leader I am today compared to the mentor, advocate and champion I want to be. It’s been brought to my attention that I have made some of you feel disrespected or uncomfortable. That was never my intent. Collectively, you mean the world to me, and I deeply apologize if I have let you down. I especially want to apologize to anyone who has ever been on the receiving end of an unwanted hug or any other gesture they felt crossed the line in any way, shape, or form. No matter how benign my intent, everyone has the right to set their own boundaries and have them respected.

In my conversations with Disney, we are united in our commitment to always treat any concerns you have with the seriousness they deserve, and to address them in an appropriate manner. We also share a desire to reinforce the vibrant, respectful culture that has been the foundation of our studios’ success since the beginning. And we agree the first step in that direction is for me to take some time away to reflect on how to move forward from here. As hard as it is for me to step away from a job I am so passionate about and a team I hold in the highest regard, not just as artists but as people, I know it’s the best thing for all of us right now. My hope is that a six-month sabbatical will give me the opportunity to start taking better care of myself, to recharge and be inspired, and ultimately return with the insight and perspective I need to be the leader you deserve.”

John Lasseter served as Walt Disney Animation’s head since 2006, helping revive the brand with things like Frozen, Wreck-It Ralph, and Zootopia.

John Travolta

John Travolta is another one of those actors/producers that I don’t feel the need to bring you up to speed on with career stuff. You’ve probably heard of him. He’s a pretty talented chap with a decent body of work in music, in addition to the rest of his repertoire. Surf the internet long enough and you’ll have a certain Pulp Fiction meme burned into your mind.

On November 13th, RadarOnline.com published the police report they were able to get a hold of. Within it, a 21-year-old masseur accuses John Travolta of sexual battery. It happened back on February 15th, 2000, at the LaQuinta Hotel in Palm Springs, California. The facility had stayed open after midnight. Travolta insisted on getting a deep body massage. His accuser alleges John wanted more than that.

Travolta kept taking the towel off to show his ass cheeks. The body scrub gave John Travolta a boner and he confessed to the masseur he found him attractive. It was after that Travolta invited him to the spa’s steam room. Within, John offered to share massage techniques and advice with the masseur. Preferring the hands-on approach, the man was instructed to lay on his stomach. “Travolta reached under his towel and began to rub his inner thigh,” the report says. John started rubbing the masseur’s ass cheeks and crack. This made the guy uncomfortable and he got the hell out of there. But Travolta pursued, giving offers to “soap up” the dude’s back. When the masseur was packing up the massage table, John Travolta asked him what he’d do in a sexual encounter with another guy.

No charges were filed. The case was closed.

Ken Baker

On October 26th, TheWrap published a report about Ken Baker of E! News. Two women came forward with alleged incidents of Ken Baker sexual harassment. E! took Ken off the air until they complete their investigation.

“I am very disturbed by these anonymous allegations, which make my heart ache. I take them very seriously,” Baker said to TheWrap in a statement. “I care deeply for people’s feelings and sincerely live in a way that treats people with dignity and respect.”

The first accuser is a former E! News employee. They called into Baker’s office in 2012 and he invited her to sit on his lap. “He makes physical comments like, ‘That’s a really cute outfit’ or ‘That’s a really tight shirt.’ … He would put his hand on my waist and leave it there too long,” she says. “I almost feel like it’s a power trip. It’s like, ‘I can do these things.'” The other woman is a former E! News intern. She alleges in 2011 Ken kissed her without consent and made multiple propositions for sex over the years. In 2015 Ken texted her offering a Tiffany dildo with “Ken Baker” engraved onto its shaft. The ex-intern can corroborate her story thanks to a former employee and career coach she told about these incidents back at the time. The lewd texts happened for more than four years after the end of the internship. Ending when she finally confronted him and told him to stop. A 2007 lawsuit against Baker happened when he was West Coast bureau chief over at US Weekly. He hired the nanny of his children as a reporter. “I want to have sex with you,” and “I want to see you pregnant with pigtails,” were things Baker texted her.

Louis C.K.

Louis C.K. was a comedian known for his blunt honesty and straight-forward delivery.

The piece came out on November 9th via The New York Times. The first story takes us back to 2002 with Dana Min Goodman and Julia Wolov. They were an aspiring comedian duo looking to make their mark in the world at the US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colorado. Things must’ve gone really well for them since Louis C.K. invited the two to his room after their late-night snow. The girls didn’t even take their jackets off before C.K. asked if he could take his cock out. They laughed at first thinking he was kidding around, but then Louis did it.

“He proceeded to take all of his clothes off, and get completely naked, and started masturbating,” Goodman said to The New York Times.

After CK climaxed, the two escaped from the room and ended up running into Charna Halpern (owns some improv theaters in LA and Chicago). The girls told her everything about what just happened. Halpern had no clue what to do about it. Over the course of the next day, Dana and Julia began telling more people about it. But the effects weren’t what they expected. People became afraid of them more than anything. It was at some point after that it became clear Louis C.K.’s manager wanted them to stop talking about the incident. This was relayed to them after a manager for the two ladies had a discussion with Becky. In the years that followed, the two had to be careful in Los Angeles. As the incident loomed over their careers like a lingering ghost.

In 2003, Abby Schachner called Louis C.K. to invite him to a show of hers. A big fan of C.K., as her boyfriend at the time had worked with Louis in the past. Abby ringed up his office he worked in as a writer on Cedric the Entertainer Presents. Their conversations went from personal to inappropriate. She heard him jacking off over the phone. Abby recalls hearing the blinds coming down and remembers Louis talking soft into the phone while he told her his sexual fantasies. In 2005, Louis C.K. asked Rebecca Corry if he could masturbate in front of her while they were working on a TV pilot together. She was a producer on it, and he was going to guest star. He asked if they could go to Corry’s dressing room so he could pleasure himself in front of her. Corry got angry and reminded him he had a pregnant wife and a daughter. Louis reportedly got really embarrassed and told Corry “he had issues” after that. A fifth woman wanted to keep her I.D. anonymous had an incident with Louis C.K. while working on The Chris Rock Show back in the late 1990s. Back when Louis was a writer/producer, and he asked the woman to watch him jerk off. She was in her early 20s at the time and went along with it, but in retrospect questioned his overall behavior.

Louis reached out years later to some of the people he impacted with his actions. In 2009 he acknowledged his bad behavior to Abby Schachner. “That was a bad time in my life and I’m sorry,” C.K. said. In 2015, Corry was contacted by email and then by telephone with Louis. He apologized for “shoving her in a bathroom,” something he didn’t even do to her.

By the morning of November 10th, Louis CK published a statement responding to The New York Times piece.

The Orchard dropped all plans to distribute Louis C.K.’s I Love You, Daddy movie. This decision was made one week before release. That same day, TBS announced they were suspending production on Louis C.K.’s animated comedy project The Cops.

On November 13th, Dave Becky apologized for how he dealt with the sexual misconduct situation. He says he was only made aware of the incident with Dana Min Goodman and Julia Wolov.

“At that time, I heard the story third-hand, and I interpreted the conversation as two women telling a story about a sexual encounter with a then-married Louis. Albeit enormously embarrassing, in no way did I interpret the interaction as threatening or non-consensual. I misperceived the casual way the story was portrayed to me — instead I should have recognized that it must have been a mask for their unease and discomfort in the face of his detestable behavior. My intent was to seek discretion to protect what I thought was a matter of infidelity. I now comprehend that my response was perceived as a threat to cover-up sexual misconduct. This is not an excuse. What I did was wrong, and again, I am extremely sorry.”

But the backlash continued to hit C.K.’s manager Dave Becky. That same day, Pamela Adlon announced she was was dropping him as their manager. She worked with Louis C.K. on FX (Louie). Earlier Adlon said she needed a few days to grieve and process the situation before making any further statement.

People were shocked because they thought Louis C.K. was one of the “good ones.”

Mark Schwahn

Mark Schwahn is a screenwriter and director best known for One Tree Hill and The Royals. Mark was a writer on some small projects before that, but they served mostly as a prelude to these two big jobs. In the end (according to what came out) he managed to fuck things up, burning people’s respect and bridges with both of these gigs.

On November 13th, Variety reported the One Tree Hill cast and crew wrote a letter accusing their former showrunner Mark Schwahn of sexual harassment. Further, they offer support to colleague Audrey Wauchope.

“To Whom It May Concern,

All of the female cast members of One Tree Hill have chosen this forum to stand together in support of Audrey Wauchope and one another. To use terminology that has become familiar as thesystemic reality of sexual harassment and assault has come more and more to light, Mark Schwahn’s behavior over the duration of the filming of One Tree Hill was something of an “open secret.” Many of us were, to varying degrees, manipulated psychologically and emotionally. More than one of us is still in treatment for post-traumatic stress. Many of us were put in uncomfortable positions and had to swiftly learn to fight back, sometimes physically, because it was made clear to us that the supervisors in the room were not the protectors they were supposed to be. Many of us were spoken to in ways that ran the spectrum from deeply upsetting, to traumatizing, to downright illegal. And a few of us were put in positions where we felt physically unsafe. More than one woman on our show had her career trajectory threatened.

The through line in all of this was, and still is, our unwavering support of and faith in one another. We confided in each other. We set up safe spaces to talk about his behavior and how to handle it. To warn new women who joined our ranks. We understood that a lot of it was orchestrated in ways that kept it out of sight for the studio back home. We also understood that no one was fully unaware. The lack of action that has been routine, the turning of the other cheek, is intolerable. We collectively want to echo the calls of women everywhere that vehemently demand change, in all industries.

Many of us were told, during filming, that coming forward to talk about this culture would result in our show being canceled and hundreds of lovely, qualified, hard-working, and talented people losing their jobs. This is not an appropriate amount of pressure to put on young girls. Many of us since have stayed silent publicly but had very open channels of communication in our friend group and in our industry, because we want Tree Hill to remain the place “where everything’s better and everything’s safe” for our fans; some of whom have said that the show quite literally saved their lives. But the reality is, no space is safe when it has an underlying and infectious cancer. We have worked at taking our power back, making the conventions our own, and relishing in the good memories. But there is more work to be done.

We are all deeply grateful for Audrey’s courage. For one another. And for every male cast mate and crew member who has reached out to our group of women to offer their support these last few days. They echo the greater rallying cry that must lead us to change: Believe Women. We are all in this together.”

When it comes to what Audrey Wauchope said, she had taken to Twitter back on November 11th to speak about her experiences. In general terms, Audrey emphasizes how they went into this gig excited and came out discouraged. It all began when they were told “showrunner” hired the female writers based on looks. Wauchope says when the staff set on couches, female writers vied for spots away from “showrunner” so they wouldn’t get touched.

Sometimes it worked. Sometimes it didn’t.

Things got worse. Audrey alleges the men on staff were shown nudes of an actress “showrunner” was having an affair with. The men didn’t want to see that. The actress didn’t know this was going on. The day before Audrey’s writing partner Rachel Specter was to be married, “showrunner” shut her into his office and asked if she really wanted to go through with that. The cherry on top. Audrey says “showrunner” didn’t attend the mandatory sexual harassment meeting the studio’s lawyers came by to give.

On November 14th, One Tree Hill story editor David Handelman published a blog post corroborating what he could about life on set. What it was like dealing with Mark Schwahn. He instills a sense of Mark having this “I do what I want” mentality. Schwahn walked around like the rest of the world owed him for keeping the show alive. It’s compelling due to the fact Handelman was fired right as Audrey and Rachel were hired as replacements.

On November 15th, Alexandra Park tweeted a statement of support for One Tree Hill. Given her experiences with Mark Schwahn while doing The Royals, Park was obliged to acknowledge the situation.

“I am devastated to admit to myself, to my colleagues and to this industry that I too, have been exposed to this reprehensible behavior,” Alexandra wrote.

The next day, a The Royals colleague Elizabeth Hurley wrote an open letter supporting Alexandra Park. Despite not witnessing Schwahn’s inappropriate behavior, she felt like she failed Park and vowed to be more vigilant in the future.

Also on November 16th, Deadline reported on The Royals cast and crew responding in a similar fashion to the One Tree Hill gang. 25 female staff members working on the show wrote this reply.

“Upon reading a statement from the ladies of One Tree Hill, a statement from their Royal sisters could not possibly go unwritten.

Despite hearing rumours about his behaviour on One Tree Hill, those of us involved from the early stages went into the filming of the pilot hoping they were just that – rumours. By the time we wrapped this had irrevocably proven not to be the case. It became all too apparent reading their statement earlier this week that the betrayal and anger so many of us had experienced during our time on The Royals is not exclusively ours. And we were angry then, and we are angry now.

This statement is a collection of voices from those women involved in The Royals who would like to finally respond to the behaviour of our showrunner. Who felt the inclination to abuse his power and influence in an environment where he had it over women who felt they did not. This manifested itself in the repeated unwanted sexual harassment of multiple female members of cast and crew.

Where we should have been excited to meet new female cast and crew members, we felt nauseating concern in case they too should have him track down their mobile number. Where we should have offered our friends who auditioned for The Royals scene help and advice, we offered warnings about the man they would meet in the room. More than all of this, where we should all collectively have felt pride over jobs hard won and roles much loved, we felt undermined as artists and creatives. And in many cases, no more than a sum of body attributes.

Whilst voraciously condemning the actions of one man, we would like to make note of our gratitude to others. Thank you to so many of the Royal men who ensured we were never alone in social situations with him and took two steps towards us for his every one. Thank you to the friends, loved ones and partners who supported us at the time and ever more so now in coming forwards.

But thank you most of all to the women of One Tree Hill, whose solid gold backbones have moved us enormously. To you we doff our crowns.”

It didn’t even take The Royals adding their voice to spur management into action. Back on the 15th: E!, Universal Cable Productions, and Lionsgate TV suspended Mark Schwahn from The Royals based on what was revealed to have taken place with One Tree Hill.

Speaking of that. Variety published an in-depth expose on One Tree Hill‘s Mark Schwahn shenanigans. Hilarie Burton (who played Peyton Sawyer on One Tree Hill) did an interview with Variety a day after that cast letter was published. Going in-depth on her experiences with Mark Schwahn, she says he put himself in this mentor role for Burton. Doing things like letting her sit in on production meetings and pushing the visibility of her character on the show. “I realize now that I was being groomed as bait,” Burton said.

Schwahn had a tendency to “encourage” new female actresses on the show to become friends with Burton. So they’d be in Mark’s orbit. For example, there was Danneel Ackles, an actress who joined up in season three. “Hilarie’s one of the good guys. Hang out with her,” Schwahn told her.

While Ackles never had a relationship with Schwahn, he’d call Burton in the middle of the night during season three’s production to say he loved her and claimed to be having a physical romance with her. Burton didn’t tolerate it and chastised Mark for telling her about this thing he thought was an affair. Mark invited Burton and Ackles to a concert in 2006. Schwahn brought his wife, which put Burton at ease. But it was at this show that Schwahn slid his hand into Burton’s pants. While his other arm was wrapped around his wife.

During the fourth season, there was a contest for high schools to host production on a One Tree Hill episode. Burton went with Schwahn to Honey Grove, Texas to announce that town won. On the way back to North Carolina, the final leg of their trip had a two-hour limo ride. That was where Schwahn is alleged to have forced himself on Burton for the first time. During the ride, Schwahn told Burton he was going to call CW president Dawn Ostroff to pitch season five taking place five years after season four’s end. He let Burton listen in on the call, knowing Burton’s interest to produce.

“I’m leaning in listening, and when it’s Dawn Ostroff’s turn to talk, he just leans over and starts kissing me,” Burton said. “I push him off, but I can’t say anything, because he’s on the phone fighting for our show to stay on the air. I’m just in this position where I’m thinking, ‘You’ve got to take it, Hil. Just laugh it off. You’ll get to Wilmington in 45 minutes.’”

Ackles says Schwahn approached her and told them about the “made out” session he had with Burton. Ackles got in touch with Burton who explained what went down.

A few weeks roll by and Schwahn invited Burton to a “kissing club.”

“He had this grand idea that it was going to be this swingers make-out club where people who are in relationships can make out with no strings attached,” she said. Burton was living with her boyfriend (a crew member with the show). In the end, she stood him up and Schwahn got pissed off about that.

In February 2007, Schwahn forced himself on Burton a second time. It happened in Texas at the wrap party they had after finishing the shoot for the contest episode.

“I’m at the bar waiting to get drinks for the hairdresser and me, and he leans over and he kisses me in front of everybody,” she said. “Right on the mouth. It was something I had to get out of. It wasn’t a peck. It wasn’t ‘Hey, sis, how’s your day?’ It was a boyfriend kiss.”

Another One Tree Hill actress confirmed hearing about the incidents from Burton, chiming in with a story of her own. Back in season one, this anonymous actress went to go ask Schwahn a question on set. She says he put his arm around her, running his hand down her back, and pulled her in between his legs. In response, she punched him in the chest and told him not to touch her. At some point, later on, Schwahn threatened this actresses’ job after she told him to stop touching actresses on set.

Other antics during season 4 happened in Miami when Schwahn and a bunch of the cast went there for a Sunkist sponsorship event. Ackles says one evening Schwahn called her more than ten times. He even came to her hotel room, knocking on the door and wanting to come in. Ackles refused to let him in and ignored it until he left. Burton says Schwahn came by her room after. She opened the door and Mark came in complaining Ackles wouldn’t let him in.

Burton was the target of unwanted shoulder and backrubs during the season four finale shoot.

“You gotta stop. Mark, I’m telling you, as your friend, your wife is going to hear about this shit. You’re going to lose your job. You can’t touch the girls anymore,” Burton said in response.

Mark didn’t like that. He got so pissed off at the fact she scolded him in front of other people. The next morning, Schwahn demanded Burton to his office. He ended up screeching at her for half an hour. Burton didn’t tell anyone about Schwahn at the time because she didn’t want to sour relations with Warner Bros. It did leave lasting psychological damage. As Burton refused to work with any showrunner she didn’t know personally, thereafter. Ackles left in season five. During her final day in town, Mark showed up outside her apartment and wouldn’t leave until he had one last goodbye. Schwahn only got out of there after Ackles threatened to call the cops on him.

Michelle Furtney-Goodman was Schwahn’s assistant on One Tree Hill season 3 and became a staff writer by season 4. One day in the writers’ room Schwahn and her were discussing an episode she wrote. Mark at some point began rubbing her shoulders and moving his fingers around her hair.

“He announced to the room that the back of my head was so flat and that I was the perfect woman, because I could give a guy a blowjob and he could rest his drink on the back of my head,” Furtney-Goodman said. “After that, he proceeded to push my head between my knees and balance a soda can on the back of my head. I remember looking at the carpet and thinking, ‘Oh my god, this is really happening.’”

Michelle excused herself to the bathroom, splashed some water on their face, and got back to work. While two writers can confirm either witnessing or hearing the story back then, Furtney-Goodman never told management about it.

“I was scared that if I said anything, I would never work in this town again,” she said.

Mariah Carey

While her particular case was limited in the scope of details, I’m mentioning Mariah Carey’s controversy to prove a point. The Weinstein blowback doesn’t have a gender filter attached. Anyone in a position of authority, be they male or female, should watch their backs if they’ve committed a perceived wrongdoing against someone.

On November 8th, TMZ reported Mariah Carey was in hot water. She’s accused of sexual harassment by her former head of security.

“The draft lawsuit also makes allegations of sexual harassment, claiming she committed ‘sexual acts with the intent that they be viewed by Anello.’ Anello claims during a trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mariah asked him to come to her room to move some luggage and when he got there, she was wearing a see-through negligee that was open. He says he tried leaving but she insisted he move the luggage. He says he left the room and there was no physical contact.”

But that’s not all that’s going on with this suit. The security company owner says Mariah humiliated him with derogatory terms like “white supremacist,” “skinhead,” and “Nazi.” The lawsuit draft says the company is owed $221,329.51 for work they did from June 2015 to May 2017. Furthermore, there was a promise of a two-year extension valued at $511,000.

The suit is on hold, due to presumed settlement negotiations taking place.

Matt Zimmerman

On November 14th, Matt Zimmerman was fired from NBC News after two women came forward with reports of inappropriate behavior. He had been at the company since 2004 and managed to become senior VP by 2014. Zimmerman handled bookings for the Today show and other content.

“We have recently learned that Matt Zimmerman engaged in inappropriate conduct with more than one woman at NBCU, which violated company policy. As a result he has been dismissed,” NBC News said.

Matthew Weiner

Matthew Weiner is a writer/director/producer who hit two grand slams with his work on The Sopranos and Mad Men. The guy knows how to deliver a powerful piece of expression and make the production of it turn out as intended.

On November 9th over on The Information, a former Mad Men writer came forward with a sexual harassment allegation against Matthew Weiner.

Weiner and Kater Gordon were working together late one night. It was here that Matthew told her she “owed it to him to let him see her naked.” Kater had climbed the staff ranks from Weiner’s personal assistant to then a writing assistant gig before becoming a full-fledged staff writer. Kater snagged an Emmy with Weiner for Mad Men Season 2 episode “Meditations in an Emergency.”

“I had the Emmy, but instead of being able to use that as a launch pad for the rest of my career, it became an anchor because I felt I had to answer to speculative stories in the press,” she said. “I eventually walked away instead of fighting back.”

A representative for Matthew Weiner released a statement to Vox in response:

“Mr. Weiner spent eight to ten hours a day writing dialogue aloud with Miss Gordon, who started on Mad Men as his writers assistant. He does not remember saying this comment nor does it reflect a comment he would say to any colleague.”

There’s a bit of irony with this particular case, given major themes and motifs of Mad Men as a show.

Murray Miller

On November 17th it was revealed by TheWrap that Girls writer and executive producer Murray Miller is accused of raping actress Aurora Perrineau. She spoke with TheWrap and confirmed filing a policing report with the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department. Along with that, the outlet acquired a polygraph test she took back in September in regards to the matter.

The story itself is back in 2012 Aurora Perrineau was 17 years old when she first met Murray Miller. She was at the Standard Hotel with friends that night. “Some” alcohol was consumed.

“He was flirting with me. I told him repeatedly that I was 17 years old,” Perrineau said.

The 35-year-old Miller asked for a ride home because he was drunk. The group took him home.

“At some point, I woke up in Murray’s bed naked. He was on top of me having sexual intercourse with me. At no time did I consent to any sexual contact with Murray,” Aurora Perrineau’s statement says.

Murray Miller’s attorney Matthew Wallerstein gave TheWrap a response statement:

“After being contacted several weeks ago by lawyers who–on Ms. Perrineau’s behalf–sought substantial monetary damages from him, Mr. Miller’s legal team gathered overwhelming evidence directly contradicting these false and offensive claims. Only after her demands for money were rebuffed did Ms. Perrineau go to the police. Mr. Miller looks forward to sharing all evidence and information with any and all authorities seeking the truth in this matter.”

Aurora’s mother Brittany denies anyone from their family or legal team asking for monetary compensation.

“At no time have we ever asked Murray Miller for $1. There was never a demand for money ever made from anyone on behalf of Aurora or our family,” she said.

This story takes one hell of a twist when Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner defend Murray Miller in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. In the past, Dunham was known for taking a strong stance against the notion that women would ever lie about rape.

She’d end up apologizing for this the following day.

Oliver Stone

Stone is a filmmaker and writer with a sizeable body of work over the past several decades. He did two trilogies of movies about war and politics. He wrote Scarface. Oliver even had a pair of films about Wall Street. Definitely a fan of the more meaty topics by the looks of it.

On October 12th, New York Daily News reported that Carrie Stevens (Playboy’s Playmate back in June 1997) alleged Oliver Stone grabbed her boob at a party. She said it happened “more than 20 years ago” at Ted Field’s home. Stone walked in with a smug look on his face. “He was really cocky, had this big grin on his face like he was going to get away with something,” said Carrie. It was after that Oliver reached out and…honked it like a horn.”

Richard Dreyfuss

Readers who were around in the 1970s and 1980s have a better chance of knowing Dreyfuss than the rest. Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Stand by Me, Jaws, and Mr. Holland’s Opus are a few titles he acted in that’ll probably bring back memories for those who’ve seen them.

But in recent weeks, Richard found himself in a bit of trouble. A person came forward after seeing Dreyfuss and his son Harry go public about what happened with Kevin Spacey.

Jessica Teich told Vulture that Dreyfuss harassed her consistently over the course of two to three years back in the 1980s. She was a researcher and writer working on Dreyfuss’s ABC comedy special Funny, You Don’t Look 200: A Constitutional Vaudeville. They began working together in 1984. The difference in power between the two was a stark contrast. On one end you had a mid-20s grad school lady starting out in the world. On the other, you had the married Dreyfuss in his 30s and being the youngest Best Actor Academy Award winner to date. Their work started out informal, but soon it had a production office with Disney Channel’s blessing. From then on it was a few years and numerous hours making the script. It was one day before October 1987 that Dreyfuss asked Teich to meet him at his LA studio lot trailer.

“I remember walking up the steps into the trailer and turning towards my left,” says Teich, “and he was at the back of the trailer, and just — his penis was out, and he sort of tried to draw me close to it.” Dreyfuss never asked for her to fellate him or jerk him off, Teich says, but she remembers the situation being unambiguous. “He was hard. I remember my face being brought close to his penis,” she continues. “I can’t remember how my face got close to his penis, but I do remember that the idea was that I was going to give him a blow job. I didn’t, and I left.”

Teich went on with work pretending the incident didn’t happen. She thought it was weird how this important guy she trusted did this, and it caused years of confusion for sure. But working with Dreyfuss during that time meant enduring a continuous stream of overt comments invites. Richard tried to kiss her while they were on the job, and slipped “I love you” notes to her at meetings. The two went on multiple trips to places like Washington, D.C., Yale, and Standford. During the trip to visit Ronald Reagan, Teich says Dreyfuss told her he spent all night with his ear against the wall, listening to Teich in her hotel room.

Richard Dreyfuss was quick to respond back. This is only part of his response, actually. He told the reporter he wanted more time and be more thoughtful.

“I value and respect women, and I value and respect honesty. So I want to try to tell you the complicated truth. At the height of my fame in the late 1970s I became an asshole–the kind of performative masculine man my father had modeled for me to be. I lived by the motto, “If you don’t flirt, you die.” And flirt I did. I flirted with all women, be they actresses, producers, or 80-year-old grandmothers. I even flirted with those who were out of bounds, like the wives of some of my best friends, which especially revolts me. I disrespected myself, and I disrespected them, and ignored my own ethics, which I regret more deeply than I can express. During those years I was swept up in a world of celebrity and drugs – which are not excuses, just truths. Since then I have had to redefine what it means to be a man, and an ethical man. I think every man on Earth has or will have to grapple with this question. But I am not an assaulter.

I emphatically deny ever “exposing” myself to Jessica Teich, whom I have considered a friend for 30 years. I did flirt with her, and I remember trying to kiss Jessica as part of what I thought was a consensual seduction ritual that went on and on for many years. I am horrified and bewildered to discover that it wasn’t consensual. I didn’t get it. It makes me reassess every relationship I have ever thought was playful and mutual.”

Rick Najera

On October 26th Variety revealed CBS Diversity Showcase Director Rick Najera was leaving the company after harassment allegations surfaced.

A CBS spokesperson explained the situation to Variety:

“In March 2017, CBS became aware of inappropriate comments made during the production of the Diversity Comedy Showcase, and remedial action was taken at that time, which the company felt was appropriate to the matter. Subsequent information has recently emerged. After looking into these reports and a discussion with Mr. Najera, he has resigned from his role with the Diversity Comedy Showcase.”

Improper comments were made to performers, with the first incident being reported to management back in February. New complaints later came out that past week in October. Things like a 2009 incident were Najera told a performer that he and his wife were in an open relationship and a 2014 incident with sexual comments being made to a second performer.

Robert Knepper

Knepper is an actor whose claim to fame is Prison Break. He was also in the last season of Heroes, for those of you who actually didn’t drop the show after the first one. Robert has a ton of off-beat film and television credits under his belt, to be fair. Only thing I’ve heard of on his list was The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 and 2.

It was during one of these off-beat flicks that had Knepper allegedly being a bad boy.

Susan Bertram (Hollywood costume designer) told The Hollywood Reporter that Robert Knepper assaulted her back in 1991. Allison Anders hired her “out of the blue” to work on Gas Food Lodging. At the time she was a newbie to the industry. One day after shooting at a truck stop in New Mexico, Bertram ran some clothes to Knepper’s trailer. While reaching over to a rack on a far wall, Susan alleges Knepper jumped up from under her, reaching and grabbing her crotch “as hard as he could.” This caused Susan to drop everything. That’s when Robert shoved her against a wall and told her “I’m going to fuck your brains out.”

“I flew out of that trailer as fast as I could. I just kind of fell out the door, and landed in the dirt on my knees,” Susan says.

Susan fled to a bathroom and assessed herself. Not only were her tights ripped. There was blood. Knepper allegedly grabbed hard enough to rip out flesh and pubic hair. Bertram’s assistant Dominique DuNois corroborates Susan’s story, recalling how she came in “visibly shaking” and telling her the whole situation. Bertram says she couldn’t do anything about it back then because there weren’t as many protections in the industry as there is today.

Roy Price

With Roy Price, I’m obliged to emphasize his important place in all this. He’s one of the first dominos to fall after the Weinstein scandal shook the planet up. The public unraveling of Harvey gave a window of opportunity for other industry cases to come forward. As President of Amazon Studios (the company’s answer to Netflix original content production), he had a pretty hefty task. A lot was riding on him. But when the public outcry began about Roy, Amazon was in a position where they felt they had to address it.

On October 12th, Amazon Studios put Roy Price on a leave of absence after Isa Hackett (The Man in the High Castle producer) went public to The Hollywood Reporter about an incident in July 2015. Price told her “you will love my dick” and shouted “anal sex” close to her ear at a party during San Diego Comic-Con. Roy officially resigned on October 17th. According to an earlier report back in August 2017, Amazon investigated the incident back then and did nothing about it. It only gained momentum in October because of the draw of Harvey Weinstein’s scandal.

Ryan Ly

As was described when talking about Erik Horine, the Variety report published on November 2nd about Hollywood agents included Ryan Ly of CAA as well. Ryan Ly worked at CAA for 12 years, making his way up to the head of the TV lit department. But he was booted in September after five women came forward with allegations against him. Sources say Ly made inappropriate comments to other staff at the September 15th CAA pre-Emmy awards party. On September 17th (the day of the Emmys), Ly was drunk and made lewd comments. Plus, he’s alleged to have groped a female staff member at the Governors Ball.

Russell Simmons

Co-founder of Def Jam Recordings. A hip-hop music label. He dabbled enough in the vices of Hollywood to justify being listed here instead of the “Outside Hollywood” section.

It started on November 19th. Simmons got roped in with Brett Ratner in an LA Times piece. The story of Russell Simmons is displayed through the blossoming bond between himself and Brett Ratner. Ratner first met Simmons in 1987 and acquired his attention utilizing his knowledge of the best places to find models in Manhattan. It was a de facto father-son bond, intertwined by their shared lust for embracing beautiful women. Hitting up clubs well into the nighttime, and pressing onward through the break of dawn the following morning. This LA Times piece cites a Playboy article describing an incident. Touré magazine interviewer met up with Russell Simmons. Brett Ratner shows up. Magazine interviewer witnessed Simmons disappearing from the cafe they were at. The author eventually found out Russell left to fuck the model Brett had just railroaded.

The primary accuser that came forward was Keri Claussen Khalighi. Back in 1991, she met Brett Ratner and Russell Simmons at some casting call. They took her to dinner at some place in New York, and then Khalighi ended up in Simmons’ apartment. Supposedly it was to show off a music video. But it was there Russell Simmons started getting sexual, ripping off Khalighi’s clothing.

“I looked over at Brett and said ‘help me’ and I’ll never forget the look on his face,” Keri remembered. “In that moment, the realization fell on me that they were in it together.”

Khaligi alleges Simmons was forcing her into sex. She says she fought him off “wildly” until culminating in oral sex being performed. Keri says she gave in, while Ratner sat off to the side and watched. Afterward, Khalighi went to wash the shame away in the shower. She says it was there Simmons ambushed and penetrated her from behind, without consent.

“Everything that occurred between Keri and me occurred with her full consent and participation,” Simmons says in response to this LA Times report. Russell says her claim “does a disservice to those who have been true victims of sexual harassment.”

Russell’s attorney gave the LA Times a signed statement that Simmons’ assistant at the time saw Khaligi go into Russell’s bedroom “on her own volition and without any coercion or undue influence.” He saw Khaligi go to a club that night and reside at Simmons’ house the following day without any visible concern or stress on her face.

There were more of these.

Tanya Reid was aiming to become a model back in 1994. Then she met Brett Ratner and Russell Simmons at a South Beach hotel Reid was working at. Ratner and Simmons checked in during this music video shoot, which in itself was a project laden with gorgeous women. The two had eyeballed Tanya, ringing up the front desk Reid was stationed at and wanting to talk to her. “I remember this very, very clearly, the exact words he said on the phone. He wanted me to come upstairs so Brett could hold me down and he could [perform oral sex],” Reid said.

Brett Ratner invited her up to his suite as Tanya was leaving work one day. He had a spread of model photographs on his bed. Ratner said Tanya could be one of those. Reid gave Ratner her phone number. A few days later Brett was at her apartment, hanging out on Reid’s couch. It was then he exposed his johnson and demanded oral. Reid was 18 and still a virgin, and attempted to negotiate Ratner down to kissing. But Brett reportedly pushed Tanya’s head to his dick area until she gave in.

In the week before the LA Times piece, Variety dug up a 2001 police report about a sexual battery allegation against Brett Ratner and Russell Simmons. A 29-year-old woman walked into the Beverly Hills Police Department to file the report early in the morning of November 3rd, 2001. She told police that Ratner and Simmons held her against her will and the two of them touched her “unlawfully.” The case ended up being closed on account of insufficient evidence.

“This is an important and critical time for the empowerment of women and men who have been harassed. I have been a public figure for all of my adult life. And when you are in that arena over decades, you can find yourself in a position where you are vulnerable and susceptible to claims that are untrue,” Russell Simmons said in response.

Keri Claussen Khalighi eventually confronted Russell Simmons last year, says the LA Times. Seeing Simmons at the Soho House in West Hollywood, it was there he gave a heartfelt apology for his past behaviors. The two hugged and Russell gave his phone number to Khalighi so they could continue speaking. It turns out Russell Simmons put his partying past behind him and turned over a new leaf. One that found peace, changing his ways through meditation and social activism.

On November 30th, screenwriter Jenny Lumet did an extensive guest column on The Hollywood Reporter. Within it she detailed the scandalous past she had dealing with Russell Simmons.

The set-up is more of a formal letter (starting off with “Dear Russell” up top). Jenny recalls meeting Simmons in 1987 through their mutual acquaintance Rick Rubin. Simmons was producing a movie that Rick was directing, and she ended up being in it. That’s how the two came to know each other. Then came the courtship of Jenny Lumet by Russell Simmons came off as innocent in the late 80s and early 90s. She’d see him at Neill’s nightclub. They never really dated but mingled within the same large group of mutual friends. Lumet wasn’t a music business lady, so she let her guard down around him. In turn, Russell showed respect towards Jenny especially because of her grandmother, a music star named Lena Horne. Simmons pursuit of Jenny was semi-regular, and Lumet brushed his efforts off.

Everything came to a head in 1991 when Lumet was 24. Jenny was at the familiar comfort of the Indochine restaurant (she worked there in the past). Russell was there too. He offered Jenny a ride home, and she accepted. But they didn’t go home. Instead, when the two entered the car Jenny was locked inside and driven back to Russell’s place. Her requests to go home ignored. Jenny was forcibly led along up an elevator and into Simmons’ apartment.

“I saw no one else. I recall you were behind me. I was still hoping the Russell I knew would reappear, as I could not recognize the man moving me deeper into the apartment — the man who had said “No” to his driver. Twice.

You moved me into a bedroom. I said “Wait.” You said nothing.

I made the trade in my mind. I thought “just keep him calm and you’ll get home.” Maybe another person would have thought differently, or not made the trade.

It was dark, but not pitch dark. You closed the door.

At that point, I simply did what I was told.

There was penetration. At one point you were only semi-erect and appeared frustrated. Angry? I remember being afraid that you would deem that my fault and become violent. I did not know if you were angry, but I was afraid that you were.

I desperately wanted to keep the situation from escalating. I wanted you to feel that I was not going to be difficult. I wanted to stay as contained as I could.

You told me to turn over on my stomach. You said something about a part of my body. You did not ejaculate inside me.

When it was over, I got my clothes and quickly went down in the elevator by myself. You didn’t try to stop me. I went home in a taxi. I was grateful to be secure in my home. I never told anyone this story until October 27th of this year (after the Harvey Weinstein story was in the news, but weeks before the first public claims were made against you), when I told a girlfriend from childhood.”

In later years Jenny tried to continue leading a normal life. The 1991 encounter never came up again whenever the two saw each other at events. But Lumet describes a taint she felt, bleeding into these happy and emotional occasions. When Russell disputed the initial claims against him, Jenny knew it was time to talk about that night. This time, Simmons fully embraced his accuser. The statement he gave acknowledged the painful sentiment expressed by Jenny’s recollection of that night. He went as far as to voluntarily step down from his business work and remove himself as a public distraction.

“I have been informed with great anguish of Jenny Lumet’s recollection about our night together in 1991. I know Jenny and her family and have seen her several times over the years since the evening she described. While her memory of that evening is very different from mine, it is now clear to me that her feelings of fear and intimidation are real. While I have never been violent, I have been thoughtless and insensitive in some of my relationships over many decades and I sincerely apologize.

This is a time of great transition. The voices of the voiceless, those who have been hurt or shamed, deserve and need to be heard. As the corridors of power inevitably make way for a new generation, I don’t want to be a distraction so I am removing myself from the businesses that I founded. The companies will now be run by a new and diverse generation of extraordinary executives who are moving the culture and consciousness forward. I will convert the studio for yogic science into a not-for-profit center of learning and healing. As for me, I will step aside and commit myself to continuing my personal growth, spiritual learning and above all to listening.”

HBO followed suit within the same day of Jenny publishing her letter. Russell Simmons wouldn’t be in the All Def Comedy series in any capacity.

Sylvester Stallone

Sly Stallone is actor and filmmaker. One of the more notable ones, playing the roles of iconic characters like Rocky Balboa and Rambo in their respective series of movies. In recent years he did an action-packed trilogy of flicks called The Expendables.

On November 16th, the Daily Mail published their findings of a 1986 police report in which Sylvester Stallone was accused of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old fangirl during filming Over the Top. The teen was staying at the Hamilton Hotel in Las Vegas for a 10-day stay between July 18th and 28th. She first met the actor David Mendenhall (playing Stallone’s son), who in turn introduced the teen and the teen’s cousin to Stallone July 23rd. A back and forth of the teen being starstruck, with Stallone and his bodyguard seemingly interested in this girl, came to a head after the bodyguard gave her two keys for a room on the 27th floor. The girl in question told police she was “intimidated” in a threesome with Stallone and his bodyguard Michael De Luca. The Las Vegas detective sergeant at the time, John Samolovitch, confirmed the authenticity of the report.

Despite that confirmation, Stallone’s spokeslady Michelle Bega said “This is a ridiculous, categorically false story. No one was ever aware of this story until it was published today, including Mr. Stallone. At no time was Mr. Stallone ever contacted by any authorities or anyone else regarding this matter.”

The teenager said she was threatened by both men to keep quiet about the matter. It was for that reason she chose not to press charges against either of them. Police found out about the incident only because a hotel employee called it in. A friend of the teen asked them for advice on the situation.

Stallone’s ex-wife came out in defense of Stallone on November 20th. Brigitte Nielsen said they were newlyweds in 1986 and “inseparable” during the period of time in question.

“This incident did not occur. Most of the day, I would watch him film, then we’d have dinner and go to our room. No other person was in the room with him, but me,” she said.

Steven Seagal

Seagal has done a ton of acting, producing, directing and writing. What makes him a bit more unique is the fact he does martial arts too, influencing a fair amount of his work.

On November 3rd, Julianna Margulies talked about the experience of Steven Seagal luring her into a hotel room.

“When I was 23, a casting director, a woman, said, ‘Steven Seagal wants to go over the scene with you in his hotel room at 10 o’clock at night.’ I got to the hotel at 10:40, and she wasn’t there. And he was. Alone. And he made sure that I saw his gun, which I had never seen a gun in real life. And I got out of there unscathed … I never was raped. And I never was harmed. And I don’t know how I got out of that hotel room … I sorta screamed my way out.”

A week later, an anonymous Hollywood executive came forward to tell the world about the time Steven Seagal wanted to sit on her face. It happened back in 1991 when this executive was an upcoming coming actress working on Out for Justice.

On her first day, Steven invited all the actresses to a gathering. She recounts the ordeal. She says Seagal baited her to his trailer with a costume change.

“A wardrobe assistant led me to Steven’s personal trailer, to his bedroom, and asked me to change into a corset. Then, Steven opened the door [and] tried to barge in. I said, ‘Excuse me, I am changing in here,’ but he insisted, ‘I need to see what you look like.’ I told him that I wasn’t comfortable and began screaming for the wardrobe person. He just smirked and said, ‘It’s OK, I like nice girls, too.’”

The following evening Seagal called the actress at home to tell her Gregg Allman recorded music for the movie’s soundtrack. “Steven told me, ‘You should come by and listen to some of the tracks. I’m staying at the [Hotel Bel-Air],'” the actress said.

She told Steven she felt uncomfortable. Seagal responded by saying “You are not comfortable about coming over and sitting on my face for an hour?”

She declined, telling him he was married. Steven thought she was “no fun.” Two weeks after that, they let the actress go from work.

“It is interesting this person doesn’t give her name to give her claims legitimacy,” said Steven Seagal’s lawyer Marty Singer. He called the claims by the Hollywood executive “totally false.”

Tom Sizemore

Tom Sizemore is an actor and producer who caught a few big breaks with Natural Born Killers, Saving Private Ryan, and Pearl Harbor. Over in the world of video games, he did voiceover work for Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.

On November 13th, The Hollywood Reporter published a bombshell of a report detailing allegations against Tom Sizemore. He had to leave a Utah film set in 2003 after an 11-year-old actress told their mom he touched her genitals. The Hollywood Reporter talked to a dozen folks who worked on the film Born Killers about what happened. This Utah fiasco happened after Sizemore was convicted of physical abuse and harassing his ex-girlfriend. It happened near the end of production during a second-unit still portrait session. It was intended to be about capturing Tom’s character with the daughter and wife he abandoned. It was during this half-hour session the young actress had to sit on Tom’s lap. This was alleged to be when Sizemore either touched the girl’s vagina or inserted his finger inside.

“The girl was so young it was unclear to her and [later] her parents what had actually taken place and if it was intentional or not,” said production manager Cassidy Lunnen.

The actress who played the wife said the girl’s eyes got huge, and it looked like she was going to hurl. Casting director Catrine McGregor got a call from the young actress’ agent, who told her the girl said to her mother she was touched inappropriately. Word got out about the incident.

Production assistant Roi Maufas recalls the reaction.

“The little girl said what she said and we all thought, ‘That fucking sleazebag.’ There was never any doubt. He was this guy who was already known for making inappropriate comments, being drunk, being high. We’re talking about consistent behavior, just being ‘Tom Sizemore’ on set every day. Then this happens. Guys reached for hammers.”

When the film’s producers got word of the incident. Their review of the photographs from the portrait session wasn’t enough to go on. While that evidence was inconclusive, they told the parents to talk to the cops anyway.

“They did talk to the police but didn’t press charges,” says said producer Michael Manshel. “We also talked to Tom at the time, and told him everything that had been told to us, and he said: ‘I’ve done a lot of awful things, and I’d never do anything with kids.’ We considered whether we had some responsibility to him to not pass judgment on him.”

They dismissed Sizemore until needing some pick-up shots. Producer Gus Spoliansky invited him to his home in Malibu for the occasion.

“We had a fiduciary responsibility to complete the film so we decided to go about business as usual — lacking the evidence of what happened that day,” Spoliansky said.

Gus says they took the allegation seriously but couldn’t pass official judgment in a way that the police could.

Terry Richardson

On October 23rd The Telegraph got the exclusive on fashion photographer Terry Richardson being cut off from work. In the past, the photographer’s clients included the big names like Miley Cyrus and Lady Gaga. That infamous Wrecking Ball music video Cyrus put out in 2013 was directed by Richardson.

The Telegraph got a hold of an email from Condé Nast International, sent by executive vice president and COO James Woolhouse.

Tyler Grasham

On October 20th, Deadline reported an APA agent named Tyler Grasham is accused by two men of sexual assault. The first of these two cases was Blase Godbe Lipman. In the summer they turned 18 (a decade ago) wrote on Facebook that Tyler Grasham assaulted them. Tyler gave Blaise alcohol after they met up for what Lipman was led to believe was a business meeting to get APA representation.

“He got me drunk at a meeting to talk about business,” Lipman told Deadline, “and at his apartment he got on top of me and fondled me and I pushed him off without trying to upset him. It was a very precarious position to be in, not to insult someone who was in a position of power.”

Lipman noted that the Weinstein controversy was what encouraged him to finally come forward.

The second case is 27-year-old film/TV editor Lucas Ozarowski. He says Tyler Grasham did the same sort of thing to him and said they’d be filing a report to LAPD. Ozarowski’s case happened much more recently, in January 2016. They met up with Grasham at his house and went out with Tyler and a talent manager for a dinner.

“He got me a little tipsy and took me to the Sandbox bar next door,” Ozarowski said. There were more and more drinks. At midnight or 1 AM I told him I wanted to go home, but I’d left my phone at his house to charge. So we went back there and I called for an Uber. But he said, ‘Let’s watch The Martian while you’re waiting for Uber.’ I said OK and we sat down on the couch. I had my phone in my crotch, and all of a sudden he reached over and grabbed me under my pants. It really took me off guard. I pulled his hands out and said, ‘You know I’m not gay. I don’t want this Hollywood BS.’”

“APA takes these allegations extremely seriously and is investigating this matter,” an APA spokesman told Deadline.

Andy Signore

UPDATE (July 22nd 2019): Andy Signore posted a video that sufficiently refutes the wave of allegations stemming against him from two years ago. WATCH IT. Even if you’re skeptical a bit about the likelihood of changing your mind about him.

I made the mistake of getting swept away by the shock and mob. Im leaving this section up as a punishment to MYSELF as the dude who wrote this. I was proud of this project I did so I’m very ashamed of whatever contribution I might’ve made to Andy Signore’s YEARS of suffering in silence.

Such is the Defy Media way of life, after all.

_________________________________________________

 

Andy Signore

This next person came out as a result of the Harvey Weinstein scandal. I’m choosing to talk about this person in more length because it serves as a barometer in the scale of impact these sex scandals have as they play out. It doesn’t matter how powerful someone might be. If there’s allegations of improper behavior, something was going to be done about it now. The pressure was on given the precedent the Weinstein scandal had made. Also, I used to work at Defy Media’s The Escapist Magazine (consider that some disclosure), so this case was more of personal standout.

The point here is to show you how sexual harassment and assault can happen beyond Hollywood’s borders. While that particular realm is set up in such a way to propagate such impropriety with efficiency, the general dynamics aren’t limited to that space. While Andy Signore’s work involved movies, the fact that his primary platform was based on YouTube overrides the “Hollywood” qualifier. It doesn’t need to involve a film set all the time. Any workplace is possible for this behavior to happen. All that matters is the aspect of money moving around, made possible because people are grouped together for that specific task. A hierarchy of some kind is in place and titles or power form from that.

Who was Andy Signore? Andy was the guy who created the popular YouTube series Honest Trailers. For those unfamiliar, the premise of the show is having a stereotypical series narrator voice describe a movie in a humorous way. The series is, in turn, a part of the Screen Junkies channel Signore co-created. Overall, his story of controversy in a way also demonstrates the pitfalls of New Media being just as susceptible as Old Media.

But I digress. Let’s dive into this.

The initial accuser started out by saying this:

“Waiting until the creator of Screen Junkies gets revealed to be sexual creep by another person so people will actually believe my story” — 6:14 PM – 26 Sep 2017

Emma Bowers didn’t like doing that, of course. She just thought it was necessary given the culture of the entertainment industry.

Sure enough, when the Harvey Weinstein controversy started, Emma Bowers took that opportunity to come forward with her own horror story involving Andy Signore of ScreenJunkies.

“In light of recent events with Harvey Weinstein. Now is a good time to remind everyone I was sexually harassed by Andy Signore, the creator of Screen Junkies. I was “interning” (aka working for ‘copy credit’) on some viral videos for him and he came across some pin-up photos I had done.

He messaged me to say how hot I was, and tried it play it off as silly “lol, ‘jacking it to you in your undies!!!'” And when I tried to brush it off, he offered me to come over so he could do it in person. I will never forget his exact words

“you can read a book for all I care”

You need to understand, this guy was my boss. He was in a position of power, and I was a VERY under skilled young lady, working with him for FREE, with the promise of, if he could pay me.

So I said “I’m flattered, but no thank you”.

Cause I was desperate to break into the world of costume design.

A few months later, when I realized the project was going no where, I finally got the courage to back out. I told him I was done. His response:

“Oh. THATS professional of you!”

I tried to move on, but that experience killed my desire to get into costume design and it causes me a lot of rage to see my FB friends who are woke and active and feminists repost and reblog Honest Trailers that allow this awful creep to make money.

So yeh, it’s not just Weinstein. I wish I’d fought more, wish I’d sceencapped [sic] his messages, but I was young, scared, and dumb. So I didn’t. Girls in Hollywood get taken advantage of so much. I just want people to believe me when I say this happened.”

Bowers herself says this was a known thing since 2010. That’s how far back this timeline goes.

This is what April posted on October 6th. It’s a more detailed explanation she gave after her initial one gained a lot of attention.

“Andy used Screen Junkies to prey on multiple women including myself. The first time he used Chicago Comic-Con by saying they were having a SJ party and I was invited. The party ended up being him alone in his hotel room trying to force himself on me.

I was later invited by SJ to come out to LA and be on the fan cam, and they put me up in a hotel. Andy stopped by my hotel uninvited and took a dildo out of his bag and tried to use it on me. He also took pictures of me without my permission and went through my phone while I was in the bathroom. He then used my shower saying he couldn’t smell like me when he went home to his wife. Many have asked why I haven’t come forward. I was in a strange city (I’m originally from Wisconsin) and he threatened to kick me out of the hotel if I told anyone. He later used my relationship with JTE against me saying, if I told anyone he would have JTE fired.

I had recently heard a story from another victim and I decided this went beyond JTE or myself. I went to HR with other women and they told me we didn’t really have a case and they continued to not take my claims seriously.

I had set up a meeting with a journalist for this week to finally share my story, but in the light of other women coming forward I knew I had to show them they weren’t alone. SJ has some incredible people working in front of the camera and behind the scenes, including my boyfriend. I still support the hosts, they’ve been incredible through all of this. I only blame Andy and the few people at HR who knew about this, but didn’t stand up for women. Thank you all for the support. If you or someone you know has been hurt by Andy no matter how big or how small, please come forward. You won’t be ignored any longer. – April Dawn”

According to April, herself and two other women came forward with stories. Defy Media reportedly ignored them. This conflict did a number on April’s morale the more it was apparently dragged out (2 months). As you can imagine, Defy reportedly called April back finally as this was all unfolding on social media. The timing of this seemed like damage control to April. She wasn’t afraid to showcase Andy’s hypocrisy during this time-frame, either.

The stories shared seem to vary. This first one is pertinent to the immediate circumstances, with HR ignoring this woman’s complaint. It was shared via April’s Twitter.

“Andy said to me, via DM, “when we first started working together, I thought you wanted to have sex with me, is that true?” At first I was shocked and blamed myself. I vehemently said, “I’m sorry I gave you that impression, no, that’s not true.” Then for months thought what his response would have been if I had said yes. This interaction occupied my mind for far too long. I went to Defy’s HR about it. Maybe they’ll listen now.”

April shared a DM exchange someone had with Signore from December 18th, 2015. One which she says came from some woman on ScreenJunkies (dunno if that means an employee or a fan who got onto the show). She asks if Signore has a “ticket” of some kind, in which Andy replies he was able to return them. This leads to an awkward back and forth, with Signore suggesting it could’ve been a date of some kind. The woman ignores it, and Andy asks if it freaked her out. She responds by stating the fact that Andy is married and has children. But that didn’t seem to phase his attempts at flirting with this person.

The following is an exchange between Andy Signore and one of his victims. Shared via April’s Twitter, with the date of the convo being January 2nd, 2016.

Signore approached fans, not just colleagues. Using a “gopher.broke@aol.com” email address to have exchanges. Like this one from a June 2017 fan meet-up (shared anonymously via April). The person speaking, believed to be Andy, tells the recipient that was the “longest, most expensive uber” they’ve ever had. Signore’s hopes were that was proof they liked the person in question. He proceeded to awkwardly offer the person he was emailing an invitation to go to a pub crawl with them. We can substantiate this particular incident with email exchanges brought forward by another victim Signore was targeting at the time (also shared anonymously via April).

Another former Screenjunkies employee allegedly came forward and shared their two cents. They claim during the few months they worked there (writing and researching the first episodes of EPIC HOW TO and helping with Honest Trailers), this woman said the environment was sexist. Being the husband of a famous writer they were always introduced as the “wife of,” instead of as their own person. This former employee had to deal with “a lot of” sexist jokes, mentioning, in particular, a “sluts of Comic-Con” sketch proposed. Despite their contributions, this former employee claims the credit was given to a “YouTube dude” and some guys on staff.

Women weren’t Signore’s sole victims here either. As April points out herself, men got screwed over and taken advantage of as well.

But I haven’t even gotten through some of the ladies that Andy Signore targeted over the years.

Yup, there’s more.

• Becky Moore – Single mom from Ohio. Works as a personal trainer. Had a run-in with Andy Signore back in December 2016. Becky got Signore’s email when she was in his area. Visiting a friend, and doing some sightseeing. Andy told Becky he wished to join her but “his wife would kill him.” Becky herself shared the email exchange she had with Andy. The redactions made to the email field are her own doing, but you can suss out enough of it to conclude its the same “gopher.broke@aol.com” address used elsewhere. Important to note: never claimed to feel harassed, just sharing her experiences with Signore. Given the broader context brought to light, Becky mentions the interaction feels more creepy than it did at the time (if you look at what Andy said to her he specifies she doesn’t tell anyone about this secret email account).
• Devin Murphy – Film Major in her early 20s. The basis of Devin Murphy’s story was she had been in touch with Andy for “the last two years.” The exchanges themselves date back to December 2015 at least. It started out as a fan based one, but Signore took it to the next level by asking if Murphy dated older men. He told her “older men have money” and if she dressed sexy Devin could have a YouTube film channel. Getting paranoid, Signore requested “proof” that Devin wasn’t a middle-aged man posing as a “hot 20 sorority girl” by having her dress up in a Halloween costume posing with 7 fingers up. Murphy goes on to say Signore tried meeting up with her over the past two years in places like New York, New Orleans, and Philadelphia. The only reason Devin maintained contact was for possible job connections. Signore lured Murphy in with compliments about how she “knew her stuff” and that meant a lot to Devin. But as her inbox reveals, Andy reached out once every couple of months (May 2016 to January 2017) with unsolicited attempts at conversation. Important to note: Devin was holding back a lot of evidence for Signore’s behavior out of respect for Andy’s family. Murphy was particular in what she made public, only revealing creepy (yet critical) parts to back her story up. Like Andy trying to set Devin Murphy up with another ScreenJunkies member, for example.
• Mika Valleau – a woman on Fan Fights back in 2015. Before and after her filming, Signore allegedly tried shacking up with her. Andy led her on by telling Mika he could get her a job, back on the channel, or even in a movie if he had sex with her. She declined, again and again, and again. Mika decided to come forward despite having lost the evidence to corroborate her story. She wanted to back-up the presented points given by other individuals about Signore’s behavior. Valleau held onto the texts for a half-year afterward, but they ended up getting lost after the phone containing them had broke (weren’t on the iCloud). Mika was unaware this happened to other women beforehand and was steered away from going public earlier because of the inevitable doubters that come out.
• Stacey Herbert – from Australia. Does cosplay. “Disappointed but not completely shocked,” was the first reaction she had about it. This November 2016 exchange Stacey made public began with Gopher (Andy) sending her some kind words via his secret email, about calling in and chatting with Screen Junkies to advertise a petition of some kind. Andy takes the opportunity to hit on her using the “big old nerd talking to the hottest cat woman ever” shtick. From there, Signore made it about cosplay and cleavage and pretended to be embarrassed about how he was coming off. But “I’d totally look at shots of your butt” is his pick-up. Topping it off by complimenting how Stacey wore the ScreenJunkies brand, and making a suggestion to use it in an ad. He outright tells Stacey he has a crush on her. The conversation on November 5th lasts all day, apparently. By the second half, Stacey made public Andy inviting her to LA for Comic-Con, offering to pay for it in exchange for “secretly cosplay”ing. Stacey rejected his advances and Andy backed off. In a conversation under a week later, this petition of Stacey’s got another shout-out on ScreenJunkies Universe. She messaged Andy about it, and he made a remark about her rejection from the previous week. This persistence to see Stacey would last into 2017. As that next January had Signore offering to visit her. It continued for at least one more time in May, according to one last email dump. Andy tried to get Stacey to meet up with him in New Zealand for a Planet of the Apes thing. He went as far as suggesting FOX would surprise her randomly under the guise of a “fan surprise video.” Just so he could “crash” with this girl. Stacey wrote off Andy’s inappropriate and uncomfortable comments as Signore’s efforts to be nice. Seeing the disarray on Twitter made Stacey regret not taking action sooner. Important to note: Stacey stresses that her interactions with Signore weren’t harassment in of itself. She felt it was important to come forward with the emails she had with Andy to help demonstrate his pattern of behavior. To further back up the stories presented by people like Emma and April. You can read Stacey’s overall thoughts on all this here.
• Jeannine LC – Andy’s conversation with Jeannine was a single exchange from January 2016. Signore asked if she’d ever come down to LA, that Jeannine should be on fan cam, and said he’d be nervous meeting “such a beautiful nerd” like her. Jeannine said the conversation started because Signore looked interested in her design work and wanted to hire her. His standard technique of picking up women, as demonstrated by examples above. Jeannine made a point of putting her situation in context. She stated that Andy didn’t stop with her. He moved on to others after. She never said her encounter with Andy Signore was assault. Jeannine shared their exchange with Andy to show the extent and pattern of his behavior.
• Ira Wave – Cinematographer from Finland. “This is so fucked up,” are English words she knows when showing her encounter with Andy Signore in March 2015. She showed him her channel and Signore showered her with compliments. As was usual. He honed in on the fact Ira was a foreigner and perked up when the topic of nudity was mentioned. Andy made sure to note he learned about it from her vlogs. Signore wanted to meet up with her and told her to find the guys from Smosh games. As a foreigner, Ira was confused. “Yeah just find me some naked sweds lol,” was Andy’s response. He didn’t have any more info on hand to give Ira, despite falling over himself to invite her. It’s not clear if this next series of messages edit out Ira’s response. Assuming it doesn’t, Andy embarrasses himself by rambling about being “grateful” Ira was a fan and trying to recover from his perverted comments. By the end, Andy brings it around to some sort of fan call-out to fly “super fans” to LA. He said they’d all come out there and sit in the audience, picked on the basis of audition tapes where fans must debate a topic of Signore’s choosing. Ira points out that fans must be from the United States. “I’m the boss I can change the rules,” Signore says. Although Ira doesn’t say the chat conversation in itself was a crime, I have to interject. Andy Signore outright encourages her to violate contest rules for the sake of his personal desires.
• Sai – Comic-Con attendee. They dumped emails showing Signore contacted them on two separate occasions. Once in October 2016 at Comic-con, and again the following May. Sai didn’t say much about their situation beyond sharing their screenshots. “honestly it was no big deal at the time but the fact that he does this to a lot of girls out there is scary and creepy to me,” they wrote. April says Andy gave Sai his NY Comic-con badge and then later invited her to his hotel room.

What we can gather from this group of witnesses and testimonies to Andy Signore is a clear pattern of behavior. He lured women in online. From the reaches of the Screen Junkies community and made each of these ladies feel special. Once he had them in his grasp, Signore tended to bring out some sort of meet-up offer in exchange for privileged access to company assets. In some cases, Andy’s outreach flopped and he was left cleaning up after himself and his comments. He tended to go through this pattern multiple times. While in itself, the act of being a sloppy sleazy flirt isn’t a crime, sometimes Andy’s actions crossed the line. Specifically when he offered a FOX-backed getaway surprise to Stacey, and when Signore openly encouraged Ira Wave break contest rules so he could get with her.

When it comes to how Defy Media responded to this incident? That’s its own element to this story. The first response came at noon on October 6th. This was when the initial wave of allegations against Signore started picking up momentum. The company gave Andy a temporary suspension until they could suss out what was going on here. It was a Friday. People assumed that at the soonest, there would be a follow-up on Monday morning. We didn’t even need to wait that long. By Sunday evening on October 8th, Defy Media fired Andy Signore. The company decided to go for a full termination of employment before the weekend was done.

But let me double back and reiterate what people like April Dawn and her boyfriend had to go through.

April Dawn’s boyfriend (some guy named @JTEmoviethinks) posted a statement on October 6th. Within it he says he loves working with everyone at Screen Junkies (Signore threatened JTE’s job security), and how hard it was to deal with the Signore situation in private over the past few months. April and JTE even told Defy Media HR about Andy threatening his career, but nothing came of it. In particular, JTE suggests that April and himself were planning an article similar to how Harry Knowles and Faraci’s exploits were made public. But when Emma Bowers came forward they knew that was the right moment for them to as well. On October 8th April and JTE posted follow-up statements at the same time. In JTE’s he talks about how he and his co-workers were taking a stand in protest and not returning to work until action was taken against Andy. He thanked them, and the other women who came with their stories over the past few days. JTE notes that Andy has a wife and son, and reminds everyone they’re victims of this controversy too. He rounds things off by wanting it made clear Signore is a predator with repetitive behaviors. In April’s statement, we see her push the same method of protest against Defy that JTE had spoken on. She further elaborates on what JTE means about repeated behavior, too. According to April, 20 women had contacted her to talk about their Andy experiences.

After Signore was fired, she posted her closing remarks.

In a series of tweets, Dani Fernandez reveals what Signore’s victims tried to do behind the scenes with regards to bringing this situation to Defy’s attention. She says they called Defy’s HR department in July and gave them a list of women and witnesses who agreed to talk about Andy. The HR department never followed-up with additional witnesses (despite including 2 male producers and graphic instances). These were key individuals who could corroborate stories like Signore forcing a dildo onto April Dawn. Defy HR never followed up with them. But they said to the women who came forward that they had “Defy’s best interest at heart.” April Dawn finally got a call back from HR after Signore’s alleged actions were made public. Dani says the company’s initial reply to April was that “she didn’t have a case.”

On that note, Fernandez wasn’t satisfied when Defy finally fired Andy. She saw the failure to respond from Defy’s HR department and wanted them to answer for their inaction.

Screen Junkies Update: What Happened, What’s Next came out on October 26th. Twenty-three days after the last upload on their channel, some Honest Trailers video about Blade Runner. That length of no activity is a death sentence for some YouTube channels in terms of lost revenue and audience retention. But I digress.

They say what I already said about Andy Signore’s general situation. Women came forward with allegations against Signore, that came as a shock to the crew. They were surprised to learn these revelations about someone they thought was a friend. By the time this video was filmed, the Harvey Weinstein controversy had more fully engulfed Hollywood. Dan Murrell mentions something to that effect and puts the Signore situation as a part of a bigger picture problem.

Dan has this definitive line about the fate of Andy Signore’s professional life.

“Andy is fired. Andy is gone. He will not be coming back. We’d be lying to say that Andy wasn’t a big part of Screen Junkies. But Andy is not Screen Junkies.”

The goal for the future was rebuilding the trust that Andy violated in the fan community. Roth Cornet spoke next. Mentioning the questions raised about how Defy Media HR handled the situation. Screen Junkies staff took that seriously, according to Roth. The SJ crew gathering together and deliberating on how to address that is part of the reason it took so long for the channel to make this update video.

The result of their meetings with Defy Media higher-ups is summarized in a specially designated page on the company’s website.

Outside Hollywood

Before I begin. It’s worth mention that some of the names listed here come from the “Shitty Media Men List” that was made after Weinstein’s story broke out. The original intent of the list was a group of women crowdsourcing a pool of knowledge together about the bad behaviors of media industry men. For the first few days, this group kept the list private among themselves. Then the list was on and offline for a few days.

According to the Buzzfeed article talking about “Shitty Media Men List” for the first time, it was launched by October 11th. Passed around via email. Between friends.

The primary flaw with this list is mentioned fairly early on (thank fuck). There’s a lack of distinction made in regards to the severity of actions mentioned within the list. To give a blunt hypothetical example: someone on the list could’ve raped a woman, while another dude might’ve simply made a lewd comment. The bar for admission to this list was low enough to accept both of these things as qualifiers.

But another important caveat is then brought up:

“But things do get complicated when you start lumping all of this behavior together in a big anonymous spreadsheet of unsubstantiated allegations against dozens of named men — who were not given the chance to respond — that, by Wednesday night, seemed to have spread far and wide. At various points on Wednesday, dozens of anonymous accounts were looking at the spreadsheet. This was by design; because of the way the document was structured it meant that anyone could look at it, download and share it, and so there was no way to know if they were all the intended female recipients. Several men who were on the spreadsheet had reached out to other staffers at BuzzFeed News because they had seen it.”

Word travels fast online.

A majority of the later paragraphs weigh the circumstances as they were. The author points out that like Hollywood, the media world required those employed within to network and make connections. That sort of practice shifts the favor against those who were victims to speak out. Before Weinstein, there came a long-term cost for that sort of thing. The Buzzfeed article closes by outlining the hypocrisy of media colleagues online. “The calls were coming from inside the house,” as outlets that were reporting on the Harvey scandal had people on staff guilty of sexual misbehavior.

The timing of its creation and the short window between that and when it became public knowledge is a problem. Remember the New York Times and The New Yorker spent several months looking into the Weinstein allegations and stories. Reporting on those kinds of situations is a serious task, and the weight of that responsibility to get it right was on the shoulders of reporters. The job of articulating these emotional experiences and sharing them with the rest of the world is daunting.

Damn it, Mike.

On October 16th Mike Cernovich offered $10,000 for this “Shitty Media Men” list people were talking about. Five days later he had it and was ready to publish the contents in full. Cernovich reportedly held back from just dumping the whole thing, according to Politico. This happened because his lawyer advised against going through with something like that. Still, the sonofabitch teased a little. Mike revealed that a former Gawker reporter Sam Biddle was named on this list. Cernovich picked an easy target. The safest bet.

“Inappropriate communication, harassment, inappropriate digital contact, sexual assault, followed someone into a bathroom and tried to masturbate in front of them,” were the list’s charges against Sam.

Despite Biddle’s established reputation already, it was still a shocker for the public to learn he allegedly choked his chicken in front of a colleague. I have to commend Mike for requesting comment from Biddle beforehand.

I’m torn on how to feel about the list itself and how Mike Cernovich talked to the public about it. On a basic level, he did indeed inform the public of things he believed were newsworthy. I know he had his reasons. Mike’s interest was natural, as he previously heard of journalists engaging in bad behaviors. Now in the time of Weinstein being brought to light that stuff he heard was being proven true.

In a time where people were still trying to fathom Harvey Weinstein’s misconduct, Mike Cernovich threw gasoline and made things into a full-blown hysteria. He himself acknowledges the fragile state of affairs at one point. I’m not saying that as a positive or negative thing here. But for the people who wanted a Salem witch hunt portion to all this, they got exactly that. It’s a matter of opinion whether or not a scorched earth strategy is the best option. The situation as it stood was an enthralling phenomenon to witness. People’s opinions were divided on how to cope with the fact Mike Cernovich was doing all this. Of course, media sites had the usual screeching. However, this blog post from October 27th talking about the list was “weaponized” describes the train of thought going on here. The blogger says the list was for defensive measures and not made to be a weapon to attack folks with. They argue that’s what was happening now. The taint of the far-right had hijacked things.

While the politicization factor was an inevitability. Yet the blog makes a valuable point about how Mike lost control here too. Things unfolded in such a way that the full list being circulated was bound to happen. People by nature have a lust for scandal and drama. Especially with media outlets in recent years.

In the end, fate decided to just hand over the goods and let society sort itself out. The Shitty Media Men List hit the public. Below is a collection of stories that surfaced in the chaotic aftermath. Of not just the Shitty Media Men List, but also general cases that came to light after seeing the Weinstein story. The fundamental issues going on surrounding Weinstein’s behaviors aren’t contained in Hollywood alone. Workplace sexual harassment and assault is able to unfold in any environment, no matter what casual or professional the circumstances.

Charlie Rose

A news media icon who served as the epitome of the informative and serious nature of journalism. To put it another way, you couldn’t find someone drier in their delivery than this. It came as a shock to find out the man notorious for putting people to sleep, had a jonesing for sleeping around.

On November 20th, eight women came forward to the Washington Post to speak about Charlie Rose. Three went on record, five were too afraid of Rose’s power he exerts in the media to do so. This divide is because of the flip-flop between love and anger Charlie Rose has in his interactions with women. Five said Rose put his hand on their legs and thighs to see how they’d react. Two of them testify to Rose getting nude while working and traveling with him. On top of the eight women, The Washington Post spoke with twenty-four former employees. Six said they saw harassment, while eight said they were uncomfortable with how Charlie Rose treated female staff.

Ten said they didn’t see anything unusual.

“He was always professional with me,” said a former assistant of Rose’s, Eleonore Marchand Mueller. “I never witnessed any unprofessional incidents.”

The Charlie Rose show itself started on PBS back in 1991. He expanded into CBS this morning by 2011, and he’s worked with 60 minutes for the past ten years. HR was limited help in the places where it was available. The small employee structure involved with working on the show made airing those types of complaints impossible. PBS, CBS, and Bloomberg all say they’ve got no records of sexual harassment allegations or complaints in regards to Charlie Rose.

Below are the three accounts of women staff who went on the record.

Reah Bravo was 29 in 2007. Barely keeping her head above water with all the debt she was building up during her internship. It was several months into this Charlie Rose offered her an internship gig.

“Here is the deal: I’ll pay you $2,500 for the week plus all expenses for food, movies etc.,” he wrote to her on Aug. 9, 2007. “You will be there from Monday August 13-Friday afternoon, August 17. Your primary responsibilities are to organize and catalogue all my books and tapes and files … It will help me a lot, be fun for you, and you will have a car all the time for whatever you need to do.”

Rose picked her up personally, helping get things set up at his Bellport home initially before disappearing for work. Charlie came back late one evening, and Reah tried to flee to her bedroom before Rose fully came in. But they ran into each other. Charlie insisted she have a glass of wine with him in the dining room. At some point after that, they went out to the dock to look at the moon. It was there Charlie put his arms around Bravo. A few days later after the week was over, Charlie was driving Bravo back to Manhattan. He confessed to feeling alone in life despite his money and fame. He cried a bit as he recalled a recent heart surgery he had in Paris. Reah had a second trip to Bellport. While tending to the guesthouse, she spotted Charlie in the nude taking an outdoor shower. Rose asked Bravo later if she saw him showering, and she lied and told him no. By the end of 2007, Bravo got more work from Charlie Rose: assisting in interviews and conference work. She got invited to work dinners as his company. Charlie had drivers to take the two around town. On several of these outings, Bravo says Rose groped her. The following year in Indiana, Charlie called Bravo to his hotel room to work on a speech. She ignored Charlie coming out of the shower naked, and focused on her work.

By the end of 2008, Charlie Rose had hired Reah Bravo as an associate producer. But she was offered a job that paid three times as much. Not wanting to lose her, Charlie Rose took Reah out for a restaurant date and offered her a full producer position and a place to stay. She turned him down.

“I was leaving because I was getting away,” she said. “I would never want to live someplace where he had keys.”

Kyle Godfrey-Ryan was introduced to Charlie Rose in the mid-2000s. In her young 20s, she soon found herself hired on to be one of his assistants. The question of it being professional or personal was to be determined, as Kyle was tasked with helping Rose on the mend when he hurt his foot.

But it wasn’t long before Kyle was the target of Rose’s outbursts.

“He repeatedly attacked her in front of other people,” said one anonymous former producer. “He once said that because she hadn’t gotten a college degree she would never amount to anything better than his secretary.”

After that, Rose often flipped an internal switch and seemed sorry for being so emotional. But that would also involve him touching her and giving her hugs. Kyle tolerated that. But then it got worse. Charlie started calling her in the middle of the night, wanting to know about her sex life. Other calls had him telling Kyle his sexual fantasies involving things like her swimming naked in his Bellport home’s pool. Kyle says Rose did the casual nudism at points when they were at one of his houses in New York City.

Charlie Rose’s executive producer Yvette Vega was told about the calls Kyle Godfrey-Ryan had gotten. “I should have stood up for them,” Vega said. “I failed. It is crushing. I deeply regret not helping them.”

Things ended after Kyle Godfrey-Ryan told a mutual friend about what Charlie Rose was doing. This friend went and told Charlie. She got fired.

“He took me out to lunch and told me how embarrassed he was, how he didn’t treat me like that,” she said. “It was really about how I got it wrong, and, obviously, I couldn’t work there anymore.”

An anonymous woman met Rose in 2009. She was in her thirties and had a graduate degree, looking to get into broadcast journalism. Her boss while working at an NYC cultural foundation got her in contact with Rose. Their meetings were unusual. Late night dinners with Rose’s friends. He drank a ton of wine. One weekend involved lunch and furniture shopping, and Rose on the phone, yelling at a producer.

There wasn’t any sort of job offer back then. But on June 8th, 2010 he emailed her about an opportunity.

“He talked about this position, which he referred to as being his intellectual partner, that I would be the executive producer for global content,” she said.

The woman visited Bloomberg’s Manhattan HQ and went to Rose’s apartment to talk about it. Rose was willing to pay $120,000 a year. There’d be lots of travel. As a test run, he wanted her to come to his Bellport house, to see how easily the two traveled together. She agreed. It went bad from the start. They got lost and didn’t get to his home until well past midnight. The house was a mess. Rose got his pant legs wet by the pool and needed to change. He came back in a bathrobe, naked underneath that.

“I thought, I’m doomed,” she said. “I was completely panicked. In retrospect, I thought of a million things I could have done.”

The woman says she wasn’t drunk, but Charlie drink his and her wine at the restaurant they stopped at during their day of traveling. By this point, it was 2 AM. The woman tried to talk her way out of it, but it did no good. He put his hand in her pants. Charlie was pissed off at this point, the woman was scared. Somehow she ended up in Charlie’s bedroom.

“I really, honestly, I’ve tried so hard, especially recently, since I’ve been thinking about this, to try to remember what happened between sitting by the pool and being in his bed,” she said. “I have no recollection of how we went from here to there. I do remember I was crying the entire time.”

He tried reaching down her pants again, and the woman pushed Charlie away. She ended up not getting the gig.

Within hours of the Washington Post article being published, Charlie Rose responded on Twitter.

It only took an hour from the publishing of the article for CBS News and PBS to suspend distribution of Rose’s show. On November 21st, both of these outlets went through with firing him.

David Corn

Mother Jones had to acknowledge D.C. bureau chief David Corn’s inappropriate behavior at work after POLITICO got a hold of emails written in 2014 and 2015 revealing the matter. The 2014 email came from a former female staff member who alleged David “came up behind me and put his hands and arms around my body in a way that felt sexual and domineering.” The one from 2015 came from another former staffer who organized women’s concerns from around the office: “made inappropriate comments about women’s sexuality and anatomy,” “rape jokes,” and “regularly gave unwelcome shoulder rubs and engaged in uninvited touching of their legs, arms, backs, and waists,” are things that came up.

“I am an exuberant person and have been known to pat male and female colleagues on the shoulder or slap them on the back, but always in a collegial or celebratory way,” he said. “I have never touched any work colleague in a sexual manner. Once concerns were raised about this type of contact, I have been mindful to avoid it to prevent any misperception. If anyone ever perceived any of this as ‘sexual’ or ‘domineering,’ I am sorry—that was never my intent.”

Editor-in-chief Clara Jeffery and CEO Monika Bauerlein did not see these emails but dealt with the allegations against Corn back then. They claimed to have heard “nonsexual touching” happened. POLITICO looked into the matter further and interviewed a dozen anonymous sources (former and current employees), who shared their experiences. Their overall opinion was management should’ve had a more firm response to the situation.

“We also directed all managers and staff to make sure they respect everyone’s sensitivities regarding physical boundaries, and that they address charged news stories such as sexual violence with particular care,” Jeffery and Bauerlein told POLITICO. “In addition to our existing policies on workplace environment (including regular trainings on sexual harassment), we put in place further internal procedures to ensure that everyone has multiple paths to report any workplace concerns.”

Eddie Berganza

The Eddie Berganza story published November 10th by Buzzfeed News has the main theme of “why hasn’t this person been fired?” When it comes to the world of the comics industry, there’s a different set of rules. Berganza joined DC back in the 1990s and ended up helping publish most of DC’s big comic book releases. On the other side of that, he used to have a rap at the office for making offensive comments and quips that crossed the line of what people think is appropriate in the workplace.

“For 25 years, Berganza has flourished at DC, while women — at least for the latter part of those years — either left the company or avoided it altogether because of him. The women with the most egregious stories about Berganza, expecting they’d be accused by some in their industry of engaging in a “witch hunt,” have kept quiet, scared of losing jobs, friends, and livelihoods. Until now.”

In December 2006 Liz Marsham went to a party at McGee’s (bar in NYC where DC staff hung out). She ended up downing a drink or two and began talking with Eddie Berganza. He had a camera and took a selfie with Marsham, macking her on the lips while doing so. This caught Marsham by surprised. Eddie did it again in the middle of her eating a french fry. Berganza was polite enough to ask before doing it a third time. This gave Marsham the chance to decline. Later on that evening, Eddie tried to grope her. One of his hands went for near her breast, while the other was traveling to Marsham’s hip. Liz dodged the move and Berganza chuckled himself off.

This wasn’t the first time Eddie tried doing this sort of thing. Earlier on in the 2000s, DC cartoonist and editor Joan Hilty was the target of Berganza’s “grab and kiss” strategy. He tried it multiple time during a staff party at McGee’s. “I said no — he kept insisting,” Hilty says. “If you don’t take that arm off me, I’m gonna break it,” they said eventually.

The Buzzfeed piece goes on to the industry and women’s place in it. Marsham told the outlet since the jobs women at the company had were in high demand, they were cautious about how speaking up on issues like Berganza’s. It mentions Hilty got laid off in 2010 while three months after that Eddie got promoted to Executive Editor. DC was planning to move from NYC to California, so these restructurings were common. But conversely, Joan Hilty wrote about her experiences in the industry eventually. She calls it an issue of sexism. You’re free to decide what it is for yourselves.

So Berganza was up for DC’s executive editor job by Spring 2010. This worried Janelle Asselin.

“I worried every time we had a new young intern come into the office that was female,” Asselin said. “I just became very concerned with what he was going to do next. The more stories I started to hear from other people the more I started to feel this was a compulsion, that he couldn’t stop if he had tried and he wasn’t trying to stop. That scared the shit out of me.”

Buzzfeed says Janelle, Marsham, Hilty, and two other employees told HR their worries about Berganza over that summer. Marsham says HR wasn’t going to be able to tell them how they dealt with Berganza because of the company’s privacy policy. There wasn’t any sort of follow-up call made.

It was in October 2010 that Berganza got promoted to executive editor. But there were changes to how the role worked. The restructuring process made it so people reported to the editor-in-chief, who had the executive editor reviewing content with them. When DC rebooted their superhero universe a few months later, Marsham’s job as a coordinating editor meant working alongside Berganza all day. She told DC editor-in-chief Harras that she couldn’t edit books Eddie was overseeing. According to Marsham, he totally understood. The group of ladies just tolerated Eddie for as long as they could. Janelle told Buzzfeed she never wanted Eddie to get fired. Just that she didn’t want him in a role where a woman he reportedly assaulted had to work alongside him. Eventually, everyone who complained to HR ended up leaving DC.

But that wasn’t the end of the story here.

At the WonderCon comics convention in March 2012, Eddie Berganza force-kissed a woman at the bar in Hilton’s hotel lobby. It took a few people to yank Berganza off the lass. She spoke to Buzzfeed about the incident but wanted to stay anonymous. The woman went there to network and try to get her foot in the door with the comics industry. Part of her interest in working with this subject could stem from her boyfriend who wrote for DC.

“At the time I was so terrified that this would affect myself or my partner’s prospects in comics, worried it would jeopardize either of our careers,” she says.

While the woman didn’t report the incident, Bleeding Cool got wind of it and published a piece on March 26th of that year about the situation. So he found out. While it didn’t even name Berganza, Marsham says he got up and left the office that day. Eddie didn’t return from his impromptu vacation until April 9th. In that time frame, he wrote an apology to DC Comics’ top brass apologizing for “extra stress my actions have caused.”

It was a wake-up call for him. When Berganza got back, management cut his convention travel privileges for a time. They also demoted him back to group editor. “The overall tone was like, ‘I can’t believe he did it again. Surely he’s going to be fired now,’” Marsham says.

This Buzzfeed piece closes off by saying “Berganza has sympathizers.” A former DC employee called the allegations against Eddie unfair given the amount of time that’s passed. He assures Buzzfeed Berganza took them to heart and is a changed man. Another employee corroborated that sentiment. But the skeletons in Eddie’s closest came back to haunt him during a 2016 DC staff restructure. People questioned why he’s able to stay at the company while two-decade veterans like Shelly Bond get the boot.

On November 12th, Entertainment Weekly reported that Eddie Berganza was suspended from DC comics.

“DC Entertainment has immediately suspended Mr. Berganza and has removed him from performing his duties as Group Editor at DC Comics,” the company said in a statement Saturday. “There will be a prompt and yet careful review into next steps as it relates to the allegations against him, and the concerns our talent, employees and fans have shared. DC continues to be extremely committed to creating a safe and secure working environment for our employees and everyone involved in the creation of our comic books.”

The article says it was a direct result of Buzzfeed’s earlier piece about Berganza’s past behaviors.

Garrison Keillor

Garrison Keillor created A Prairie Home Companion, and on November 29th he got the boot from Minnesota Public Radio over reports of “inappropriate behavior.” When it comes to what exactly that entails? The Star Tribune got an e-mail response from Keillor on the subject.

“I put my hand on a woman’s bare back,” he told the outlet. “I meant to pat her back after she told me about her unhappiness and her shirt was open and my hand went up it about six inches. She recoiled. I apologized. I sent her an email of apology later and she replied that she had forgiven me and not to think about it. We were friends. We continued to be friendly right up until her lawyer called.”

Later on, Garrison made a Facebook post that ended up deleted.

There’s a further, more elaborate one present on Keillor’s website.

“I am deeply grateful for all the years I had doing ‘A Prairie Home Companion’ and ‘The Writer’s Almanac’, the summer tours, the outdoor shows at Tanglewood and Wolf Trap, the friendships of musicians and actors, the saga of Lake Wobegon, the songs and sketches, Guy Noir, Dusty & Lefty, the sheer pleasure of standing in the warmth of that audience. A person could not hope for more than what I was given. I’ve been fired over a story that I think is more interesting and more complicated than the version MPR heard. Most stories are. It’s some sort of poetic irony to be knocked off the air by a story, having told so many of them myself, but I’m 75 and don’t have any interest in arguing about this. And I cannot in conscience bring danger to a great organization I’ve worked hard for since 1969. I am sorry for all the poets whose work I won’t be reading on the radio and sorry for the people who will lose work on account of this. But my profound feeling is that of gratitude, especially to my wife Jenny, and for this painful experience that has brought us even closer together.
— Garrison Keillor”

The rest of this particular story is laid out in Minnesota Public Radio’s statement on the situation. They open it up by saying MPR is ending all their contracts with Keillor and his companies after allegations of “inappropriate behavior” from an individual were brought forward. This means MPR is ending The Writer’s Almanac broadcasts and reruns of The Best of A Prairie Home Companion. It also means distancing MPR from the Pretty Good Goods online catalog and the PrairieHome.org website, plus changing the name of APM’s music and variety program. Garrison himself would allude to it being more than one, elsewhere. But MPR’s statement makes it clear that they only had this one individual’s allegations come up in the course of their investigation. It came to MPR’s attention last month and the allegations are from when Garrison did A Prairie Home Companion. The investigation lasted several weeks.

Glenn Thrush

On November 20th New York Times’s White House reporter Glenn Thrush got the torch on Vox from Laura McGann. She thought it was ironic how Thrush reacted to Mark Halperin’s situation coming to light. He put out a rallying call to the young people in the newsroom to be better. One woman who had a bad encounter with Thrush said he tried to advocate for women and lady journalists, presenting himself to the lass as an “ally” figure. Thrush met them at a going-away send-off celebration at a bar near Politico.

These were the text messages exchanged between Thrush and the woman’s friend Bianca Padró Ocasio that same evening. Glenn left the woman crying after she rejected his advances.

He denied baiting the girl into the situation. Thrush said he got wasted because of some bad health news. She was 21 years old and interning at a journalism outlet in Washington. People told her to be careful around Glenn. He had that reputation generally in the scene. This incident took place this past June. Glenn and Ocasio’s friend were at the bar, and he invited her to go hop to another pub. She went to the bathroom long enough to text Bianca Padró Ocasio that she was drunk and nervous. Bianco suggested an uber but the friend and Thrush ended up walking together. He led the woman down an incline in some Virginia neighborhood. Glenn tried kissing her, but Ocasio cut it short when she called her friend. The woman got an Uber and planned to call her friend back. Between the two phone calls, Glenn tried kissing her again and she rejected his advances. Thrush fled the area and let the woman wait for the Uber alone.

In response, Thrush published this statement.

“The June incident [described above] was a life-changing event [for me]. The woman involved was upset by my actions and for that I am deeply sorry.

Over the past several years, I have responded to a succession of personal and health crises by drinking heavily. During that period, I have done things that I am ashamed of, actions that have brought great hurt to my family and friends.

I have not taken a drink since June 15, 2017, have resumed counseling and will soon begin out-patient treatment for alcoholism. I am working hard to repair the damage I have done.”

Thrush and the author herself had a past incident. When Laura and Glenn were both at Politico, they went out to the same bar as the woman above. It wasn’t like how it seems. In the beginning, there was a bigger group that hung out for a few rounds of booze. But that number died down to the two of them, eventually. She says Thrush put his hand on her thigh and began kissing her. That was part of what motivated Laura to go out and interview 40 people in the media about Thrush. To get a sense of the flexibility he had in his power. Plus the connections Glenn had that helped reporters get jobs and sources.

In the incident with Bianca Ocasio’s friend and Laura’s, Thrush sent an apology email the day after. Laura recalls the fallout from that night. She observed Thrush gossiping around the office. Over time, the men in the newsroom began acting differently towards her. When putting together this story for Vox Laura’s suspicions were confirmed according to a Politico source who worked there at the same time as them both. Glenn told everyone the roles were reversed. That Laura allegedly made advances to him, and he shot her down. Furthermore, this source said Thrush told this story more than once, using different women as the subject.

“I apologize to any woman who felt uncomfortable in my presence, and for any situation where I behaved inappropriately. Any behavior that makes a woman feel disrespected or uncomfortable is unacceptable,” Thrush said in a statement.

On another occasion, a Politico employee told Laura about a Thrush encounter they had in winter 2012/2013. At a Politico going-away party, Glenn and this woman chatted for most of the night. Ending up being the last two in the bar, Thrush offered her a lift home. Somehow Glenn ended up in her house. Through the haze of alcohol, this woman remembers telling Thrush to stop what he was doing because he was married. He apparently left with lightning fast speed.

At a 2013 Politico party, a different woman had a Thrush encounter.

“It all happened very quickly. And he leaned in very quickly,” she said. “At the time, I remember thinking … adults sometimes kiss each other on the cheek. Then sometimes they miss and slobber on your ear. It was my way of thinking this wasn’t as weird as I thought.”

Thrush ended up being suspended by The New York Times later on November 20th. According to senior VP of communications Eileen Murphy, an investigation was launched.

Hamilton Fish

On October 30th President and publisher of The New Republic, Hamilton Fish, was the subject of scrutiny after reports of bad behavior and harassment of women were brought forward. The New Republic’s owner Win McCormack sent out a memo that an independent investigation was being launched into the complaints against Fish.

“I have been made aware that a number of employees have come forward in the last few days to express concern about certain workplace interactions that have created an uncomfortable environment for them,” McCormack writes. “As I understand them, these concerns relate specifically to interactions between Ham Fish and a number of women employees. I appreciate the candor our employees have displayed in coming forward with their concerns, and I take the concerns very seriously.”

Fish wrote to Deadline in an email: “Classic take down underway. We’ll see.”

He ended up resigning on November 3rd, after being forced on a leave of absence because of the investigation. “This won’t mean an end to the inquiry we’ve commissioned,” McCormack wrote. “As we want to understand everyone’s experiences in full, both on their own terms and for the purpose of looking ahead. … I’d like to express my deep appreciation to everyone who has contributed or will.”

Fish emailed AP. Telling them he “felt the controversy swirling around us could cause irreparable harm to the magazine, and that the only way to protect The New Republic and its employees was for me to separate from the organization.”

Ian Prior

On November 10th, the folks over at Buzzfeed published an article about a possible scandal at the Guardian. Their digital editor Ian Prior hasn’t shown up for work ever since female staff told the outlet’s bosses of alleged harassment that took place. Buzzfeed contacted Prior by phone and he gave the classic “no comment” response. Neither confirming nor denying the situation.

“We do not discuss specific personnel matters. We take any allegations relating to our staff seriously and have established procedures which we follow rigorously,” said a Guardian representative.

Assistant editor Emily Wilson has taken over in Prior’s place in the meantime. Prior isn’t the only one in the hot seat. Buzzfeed says two other male journalists are being investigated. But their sources deny suspensions in their case.

But on that Friday morning, Katharine Viner sent a “harassment and bullying” memo that people easily read in-between the lines of.

“The revelations about sexual harassment in the entertainment industry have thrown the spotlight on harassment, bullying and dignity at work in all kinds of workplaces,” Viner wrote. “The kind of office culture I want for the Guardian is properly inclusive to all.”

Viner told employees to feel comfortable reporting any incidents of bad behavior to the outlet’s HR department.

Jason Mojica

As a higher-up at VICE Media, Jason Mojica’s story serves as the tip to the VICE-berg of workplace sexual harassment and misconduct going on at the company.

It began with The Daily Beast’s report on November 15th. They spoke with more than a dozen Vice employees (current and former). But the center of it was Phoebe Barghouty. She started at Vice as an associate producer back in the summer of 2015. 23 years old, master’s degree in journalism from Stanford. The Editor in Chief at the time was Jason Mojica, and he invited her to the LA Press Club Awards. After accepting their award, Mojica and bureau chief Kaj Larsen got shit-faced to celebrate. Phoebe says Larsen was passed out in her car by the conclusion of that night.

Larsen (who was a former Navy SEAL) ended up having Phoebe be his company to Hollywood parties. He’d also touch her at work in ways other employees didn’t get.

“When it comes to talent, we can’t really tell them what to do,” said VICE HR according to Phoebe. “They bring in the money and attention and you just have to deal with it.”

Phoebe tolerated it until autumn. She was in the middle of an editorial meeting call and told a loud group of producers nearby to quiet down. It was after that, Larsen grabbed her arm and said: “If you’re going to get anywhere with Vice guys, you’re going to have to be a lot sweeter.”

“It felt like a threat,” said Phoebe. “The way he looked at me, the way he grabbed my arm. I remember feeling scared.”

A “Non-Traditional Workplace Agreement” that new VICE hires sign mandates employees with no experience working there to not be offended by whatever goes on. Jason Mojica asked Phoebe Barghouty if she signed it when they were at the LA Press Club Awards. He wanted to know how “flexible” she was.

“When older men, senior reporters, or managers would hook up with young female reporter after young female reporter, [my manager] would kind of a shrug and say, ‘Well, non-traditional workplace environment,'” said an anonymous former employee.

Natasha Lennard used to work at VICE, and back when #MeToo first started she tweeted the following.
But by November she clarified what she meant:

“I wasnt sexually harassed at Vice. Many of my female colleagues were. I was, however, treated appallingly. Chastised for wage transparency & consistently degraded.. I was expected to be in the office two days after a suicide attempt for which i was hospitalized. ive never worked for a more disgusting, shameless man than Jason Mojica. He should’ve been fired, but instead was moved around the company.”

While Mojica stepped down from Editor in Chief in 2016, he ended up at the documentary department by 2017.

Vice wrote this statement in response to The Daily Beast’s piece:

“The nature of Vice’s content runs the gamut, from travelogues and news series to more provocative programming like our shows exploring drug culture, Weediquette and Bong Appétit. A non-traditional workplace agreement is often used by companies to certify employees’ comfort with content that could be considered edgy. However, it does not in any way sanction conduct that is disrespectful or biased, and we will investigate all allegations of such behavior, including any incidents where employees purportedly attempted to justify their conduct through the agreement. We have immediately begun reviewing this matter.”

Phoebe Barghouty concludes by saying there’s an “endless list” of stories, and the women at the bad end of them were getting ready to go public.

On November 17th The Hollywood Reporter published an update telling that Vice Media had suspended Jason Mojica. This was a part of their investigation into the sexual harassment allegations brought forward by former employee Phoebe Barghouty. That same day, The Daily Beast posted a follow-up saying employees at VICE were getting annoyed that the company wasn’t addressing the issues at hand yet.

The looming threat of a bombshell article from The New York Times lingered over the next few weeks. By the end of the month, it was announced VICE fired three employees as a result of their internal investigation over sexual harassment allegations.

John Besh

The sexual harassment and assaults going on in John Besh’s restaurant empire, plus his own shenanigans, make this story a Mad Men meets Hell’s Kitchen situation.

On October 21st, nola.com published their investigation findings regarding John Besh. A famous chef. They spent eight months talking to 25 current and former Besh Restaurant Group staff for all of this. Besh himself started back in the 1990s and earned accolades for his Restaurant August by 2001. His fame intensified after John seized the reins after Katrina hit New Orleans. Besh helped rebuild the city and expanded his company in the process. Now there were 12 restaurants with 1200 staff total throughout.

But the women who spoke to NOLA say this fame obfuscates the abuse behind the scenes. But he isn’t the only one on the chopping block. Besh’s business partner Octavio Mantilla gets some heat here too.

If you want an idea of what we’re in for with this story, let’s look at the statement from Besh Restaurant Group’s general counsel:

“We have learned recently that a number of women in our company feel that we have not had a clear mechanism in place to allow them to voice concerns about receiving the respect they deserve on the job. I want to assure all of our employees that if even a single person feels this way, it is one person too many and that ends now.”

Raymond Landry (BRG’s general counsel) told BRG back in September they needed to improve their HR. He told NOLA that the company’s approach in previous years was having managers and executive chefs deal with employee complaints “in-house” at the restaurants. But now the company was too big for that sort of thing. BRG hired Dawn Peterson Hazen as their first HR director on October 11th.

“Everyone at our company will be fully aware of the clear procedures that are now in place to safeguard against anyone feeling that his or her concerns will not be heard and addressed free from retaliation,” Landry said in a statement.

One of the women who spoke to NOLA the most was Madie Robison, who was the company’s graphic designer. Over a few exchanges with the press, she relayed that sexual comments were commonplace from both staff and management. Some of this behavior took place during meet-ups at a supervisor’s pool.

“All pool days that I participated in involved drinking in our swimsuits and the male chefs/Octavio coming to visit us at the pool,” Robison wrote on the subject. On a different day, she said a male chef began “talking about getting some naked massage. That was when I was like, ew, this is a little weird.”

Mantilla rationalized pool days as “constructive work sessions” that had a point to them. Robison alleges Mantilla was handsy with her. “First it was your leg and then it was your lower back,” Robison said of that. “In my mind, it always got a little worse.”

Octavio denies it but another female BRG employee told NOLA they witnessed it taking place. Lindsey Reynolds (social media manager) ended up filing an EEOC complaint this past June. Accusing the company of discrimination against women in the sense that they were “sexually harassed, and verbally assaulted almost every day.”

The lack of an HR department trapped these women in their jobs with no sufficient outlet to voice their frustrations to. “They had hit on basically every woman in the office who was young and pretty,” Reynolds said when talking about Mantilla and Besh. “It was like ‘Mad Men.'”

Employees Robison and Reynolds said John Besh’s relationship with an employee was a major factor in their decisions to quit BRG. The woman in question filed an EEOC complaint in December 2016, shortly after she quit. In what she calls a “long-term unwelcome sexual relationship,” it all began in summer 2015. The complaint says Besh actively pressured the women to let him get sexual on work trips. During a California trip in 2015, the woman says Besh entered her hotel room and had sex with her. This whole ordeal is backed up by notes written by Robison. She was driving to work in late summer 2015 and got a call from the woman Besh was on a business trip with.

“I remember driving to work and she called me and sounded scared. She said, ‘You’re never going to guess what happened. I slept with one of them I think. I woke up and he was in my hotel room and I don’t remember how he got there,'” Robison remembers the girl saying. Her notes say the woman discovered it was John Besh.

This strange affair continued on an Austin trip in September 2015 and a New York one in October 2015. By “it,” the pressure for this woman to submit to what Besh wanted. This pattern lasted until May 2016 when she tried breaking things off with Besh. The documents say “JBesh asked (her) to help him find her ‘replacement’,” meaning it cost her job. In June 2016, the complaint describes the woman leaving Louisiana and Octavio Mantilla trying to make a deal where he’d give her money for her to keep quiet about the whole thing. The woman ended up taking a medical leave of absence in July and never came back by the time it ended in November.

Robison told NOLA Besh conferred with her about the affair he had with the former employee. “I never declined, because I didn’t think I was allowed to. He was my boss. I was scared s—less in a way,” she said.

Robison wrote about these meetings. They involved him crying and her making an effort to comfort him. At one point she alleges he offered to buy her a $900 dress, which she assumes was a reward for staying quiet. Or an attempt to hit on her. In response, Besh admitted to his chats with Robison. He denied the dress part.

In response to the affair, Besh released this statement.

“Two years ago, I deeply hurt those I love by thoughtlessly engaging in a consensual relationship with one member of my team. Since then I have been seeking to rebuild my marriage and come to terms with my reckless actions given the profound love I have for my wife, my boys and my Catholic faith. I also regret any harm this may have caused to my second family at the restaurant group, and sincerely apologize to anyone past and present who has worked for me who found my behavior as unacceptable as I do.”

“I alone am entirely responsible for my moral failings. This is not the way the head of a company like ours should have acted, let alone a husband and father. But it should not taint our incredible team of more than 1,000 employees, nor undermine our unyielding commitment to treating everyone with respect and dignity, regardless of gender, race, age and sexual preference.”

The overall issue didn’t stop at Besh and Mantilla or the corporate office. Sexual harassment at the company was happening across different BRG restaurants like Domenica, Lüke, Shaya and Restaurant August. The environment allegedly gave male management the upper-hand. Men got off scott-free for their egregious behavior while women were taken advantage of for “sexual opportunity” and the ladies got harsh punishment for minor errors. Both Mantilla and Besh said the last few years of quick growth for the company made “operational deficiencies” worse.

What kind of deficiencies? In the case of Meghan Wright, things went bad during her time as a server at Lüke. She had some innocuous back-and-forth with two male employees. But the two men escalated into sexual abuse. Wright says the guys grabbed her at one point. When Meghan first lodged a complaint, it got shoved aside because the duo was good at their work.

Plus, the men found out Meghan Wright talked.

“The guys were like, ‘We know what you said, you better watch your back,'” she said. Wright complained a second time. “‘This isn’t getting better. This isn’t okay.’ It got to the point where my boyfriend had to drop me off and pick me up at work. Like literally drop me off and pick me up at the door.”

Wright didn’t want to quit, though. The professional money-making opportunity at BRG far exceeded anything else in the nearby area. Meghan wanted a transfer to another restaurant. She was declined and they said they’d reschedule her. Never happened.

In regards to the gender dynamic at work, BRG counterargues they’ve got 60 out of 140 managers that are women. Indeed, company co-owners like Emery Whalen and partners like Kelly Fields exist. Also, NOLA says multiple BRG female chefs agree restaurant work requires “thick skin.” But there are times where lines get crossed.

“There is no sugar coating on the line,” said Melissa Montero. She was a sous chef at Lüke from 2013-14. “But there is a difference between yelling and screaming and punching walls and throwing things – outbursts that people in the dining room were disturbed by.”

She’s not speaking in a general sense either. Melissa says that a male colleague did that during her time at Lüke, and a current BRG employee confirms witnessing it. Montero complained and they responded by telling her not to take things personally.

Another string of events in this story stems from Alon Shaya. He was a chef at BRG restaurants Domenica, Pizza Domenica, and Shaya. Alon alleges he requested BRG set up an HR department since 2014. Landry denies that ever being the case. He sat down with reporters in August 2017 to talk about this glaring oversight. Alon also clarifies that Shaya Restaurant Group is co-owner of the restaurants he runs, affirming an emphasis on independence from BRG.

“If there were ever problems” with sexual harassment complaints, Shaya says they handled them appropriately. “Being inappropriate, that’s never tolerated, not one single bit. That’s not part of Shaya Restaurant Group culture, and it never has been,” he told them.

Besh and Shaya cut ties a month after that. He tells NOLA he felt he got fired for “standing up” and talking. Mantilla argued Shaya wanted to distance himself from this article. That’s because current and former staff at Shaya’s BRG restaurants weren’t free from sexual harassment, despite Alon’s statements to the contrary.

“While working as a line cook at Shaya, I heard daily ‘jokes’ about rape, including one joke about pedophilia,” a former line cook wrote in a resignation email. She wrote her male colleagues “would call grapeseed oil ‘rapeseed’ and use that as an opportunity to joke about rape. They also would say in a weird accent, ‘She run, but I always catch her.’ A (male colleague) one time said a food item was ‘dryer than an 8-year-old.'”

Another former Shaya line cook, Elizabeth Campbell, corroborated the above events. She herself ended up getting fired for crying at work. “‘It’s really a shame, because you’re talented, but you have to not cry at work. You really have to be stronger and don’t let your environment get to you,'” she alleges Alon told her upon dismissal.

An anonymous former Domenica waitress told NOLA she complained regularly over two years because a male colleague kept making sexual comments and showing lewd photos. She alleges he showed her a picture of his genitals and on multiple occasions asked for her breast milk. They complained to management. Another Domenica waitress did too. Her name is Allison Consoli. Filing several complains about that same male colleague that was bothering the girl.

On one occasion Allison says two supervisors did nothing watched the guy harass Consoli until she was almost crying.

“He’d always talk about anal sex with me or using toys on me or me being a ‘backdoor beauty.’ It was along those lines, but I don’t remember exactly what he said. There were so many things, it’s hard to pinpoint exactly what it was that time.”

Both Shaya and Landry confirm firing him eventually for his behavior, though.

On October 23rd, The New York Times reported John Besh stepped down from running the company to give all his to his family instead.

Jesse Lacey

It started back on November 10th. Brian K. Diaz (tech for Guns N’ Roses and Fall Out Boy) took to Facebook to call out Jesse Lacey from a band named Brand New.

“So, while we are on the topic of outing famous and semi-famous creeps, anyone want to speak up about Jesse Lacey from Brand New?”

The thread led to comments from Nicole Elizabeth Garey. She started sharing her story.

In a follow-up comment, she said this.

“OH AND YES HE MADE ME WATCH HIM MASTURBATE ON SKYPE. Apparently that’s a common thing with sexual predators. I took screen shots at some point, they’re probably on a computer in my basement if I ever really wanted to rehash my past that much (I don’t think I do).”

On November 13th, Pitchfork Magazine released an article detailing the stories from two of Lacey’s victims. One of those was Nicole Elizabeth Garey’s.

Nicole first met Jesse Lacey in 2003. At age 15, she did a photography job taking shots of a Brand New concert in New York. Lacey gave Nicole his email address afterward. At some point in their interactions, Jesse Lacey demanded Nicole send nudes. She complied with his requests. Yes, there were multiple requests. Garey said Lacey kept asking for more nudes since he couldn’t have that sort of thing sitting around on his computer.

“You’re flattered because one of your favorite bands is interested in you and nobody’s taken interest in you before,” Garey told Pitchfork. “I didn’t really see it for what it was because when you’re a teenager you think, ‘I know everything, I’m an adult.’”

Nicole said the last time she talked to Lacey was seven years ago. He skyped her and jacked off.

The second target of Jesse Lacey was Emily Driskill. They first got in touch with Lacey back in 2002, after getting Jesse’s IM username from a friend. Driskill worked as a music journalist and photographer so she met up with Lacey for an interview. According to Emily, Lacey had his eyes locked on to her chest and made comments about her body. “He was the first person to ever tell me that I was hot. In hindsight as an adult woman, I know I was preyed on,” Driskill told Pitchfork.

Much like Nicole’s situation, Lacey demanded nudes from Driskill when she was 17. Reportedly he sent her photos of himself getting undressed and made Driskill participate in “countless masturbatory video chat sessions,” and all the while attempting “to manipulate [her] into engaging in sexual situations with other people, on camera, for his viewing pleasure.”

If Driskill said no, Jesse Lacey threatened to cut off band access. “There were a lot of instances where if I didn’t want to participate, or if I didn’t want to take my clothes off and take photos, he would say, ‘OK, well, I guess I won’t be seeing you the next time I come to Houston,’” Driskill said.

At 18, Emily Driskill went with her friend and her brother to see Brand New do a show at Emo’s in Austin. It was there Lacey took her to a green room, shut the door, and then pushed her up against the wall to kiss her and touch her. “I was walking around with him to find his backpack, and then it went from zero to 60 when he closed the door,” she says. “He pinned me against the wall with his knee between my legs.”

Back when the allegations first hit the public, Jesse Lacey made a formal statement on Facebook in response to these revelations.

“The actions of my past have caused pain and harm to a number of people, and I want to say that I am absolutely sorry. I do not stand in defense of myself nor do I forgive myself. I was selfish, narcissistic, and insensitive in my past, and there are a number of people who have had to shoulder the burden of my failures. I apologize for the hurt I have caused, and hope to be able to take the correct actions to earn forgiveness and trust.

Early on in my life, I developed a dependent and addictive relationship with sex. I was scared of it, ashamed, and unwilling or unable to admit it, and so it grew into a consistent and terrible problem. Years ago, after admitting my habits and cheating to my then soon to be wife, I began to approach my problem in a serious way. I entered professional treatment, both in group therapy and individual counseling, and revealed the realities of what a terrible place I had gotten to in my life, and what a terrible impact my actions had on people.”

Kirt Webster

Kirt Webster managed one of the biggest country music industry PR firms and had a plethora of valuable clientele. But like the business of public relations itself, it turns out Mr. Webster was apt at putting on a façade. Things weren’t as nice and sunny behind Kirt’s curtain.

It all began with a Facebook post on October 29th from former country singer Austin Rick. The following all came out because they were inspired by the #MeToo social media campaign. To give you some backstory, he left his home in Maryland at age 21 to become a country music star. He ended up in Nashville by 2007 and met Kirt Webster.

Nashville Scene followed up with Austin Rick on October 31st.

“I started working with Kirt, and before I knew it, it didn’t take long before I was trapped in a hellhole that I could not get out of,” Rick says. “I trusted him completely, and he wanted to make me a star just long enough to sexually molest and abuse me. And I remember one time he told me, ‘I want there to be fireworks in your career, but only if there’s fireworks between us.’ And that was like pretty early on in our relationship.”

Kirt reportedly told Rick that in order to be in Playgirl magazine, he had to see him naked. “I had to strip naked so he could give me a blow job,” Rick says. Later on in the autumn at Webster’s place, Kirt groped Austin in the hot tub. He says Kirt started “reaching up underneath my bathing shorts and fondling my genitals, and smiling and winking at me, while I’m just sitting there.”

Things came to a head at an Easter party Austin attended. A few drinks later and Rick comes around to see he’s in Webster’s bed. Where Kirt was “hugging me, kissing me all over my face and mouth, and neck and lips,” according to Rick. Austin knew he had to get out. He called a taxi service and had them wait outside Webster’s gated driveway with the headlights off. Rick packed up his suitcase and waited until Kirt turned his back to escape.

Webster’s spokesperson denied Rick’s allegations.

“As a single adult, Mr. Webster has had multiple relationships over the course of his professional life, all of which have been consensual. This includes a brief relationship with Mr. Rick. It saddens Mr. Webster that nine years later, after Mr. Rick’s music career has been stagnant, Mr. Rick has taken the opportunistic approach of mischaracterizing that relationship and posting untrue allegations.”

Taste of Country did a second interview with Austin Rick later on. It clarifies some things that the Nashville Scene got wrong in their initial article.

Austin Rick calls out Webster’s lawyer for using the word “relationship” to define the interactions between Rick and Kirt. “His lawyer has been using that word like it was a romantic relationship or something like that. I hope people realize that what was going on was not a relationship,” Rick said.

While things were fine in the beginning, by the three to four-month mark the inappropriate interactions crescendoed. Rick says the Playgirl incident brought him the most shame. He didn’t speak up about it back then because he was afraid of torpedoing his music career. Kirt said that would happen if he did. But to placate Austin Rick, Webster delivered envelopes of cash and pay for stuff.

After escaping, it took only two days for Kirt Webster to take back all the luxuries he had given Austin Rick. Austin Rick told Taste of Country this experience in his life caused psychological damage. Multiple PTSD diagnoses that stem from this time period he spent with Kirt Webster. This, alongside excessive nightmares, difficulty relating to people, and being jumpy.

On November 1st, Nashville Scene posted a follow-up piece on allegations against Kirt Webster. Other people came forward to talk to the outlet after their initial article released earlier in the week. Former employees told the Scene that working under Webster meant a consistent stream of abuse and harassment. Turnover wasn’t unusual. According to them, the PR firm managed to reel in the newbies to the profession who had no past experiences to compare Webster PR to. The bait on the hook was the big name clients that the company had under their belt.

“He has amazing clients, and you do get to have once-in-a-lifetime experiences with him,” a former female employee said. “He knows that, and he uses it.”

That staff member said Webster had a habit of sexual comments towards employees. But it didn’t stop at just verbal attacks. Sometimes Kirt Webster kicked things up to the next level. She says one occasion Webster grabbed her ponytail and made this face like the woman was giving him oral sex.

A male employee that lasted two years at the company told Nashville Scene he saw Webster acting unprofessionally even before officially starting. During the job interview (happened at night at Kirt’s house), Webster asked this employee lewd lines of questioning: “What’s the craziest or most risqué thing you’ve ever done?” and “Would you have sex with someone in front of people?” among them. At some point down the line, Webster invited this employee back to his house. Kirt wanted a hot tub buddy to watch porn with.

A second male country singer spoke to the Scene, choosing to keep his identity anonymous. They alleged Webster made sexual advances to him as recent as 2017.

“He was just like, ‘You want to meet Reba and Dolly, don’t you?’ And then he was like, ‘You know you have to make sacrifices to be a star, don’t you?’ He told me after that he was going to have to see me naked. It ended up happening, and I’m definitely not proud of it. That was the first time. He wanted me take a shower, and I said, ‘No, I’ve already showered,’ and I felt really uncomfortable and said I was going to go. Then he was like, ‘Put your clothes back on, I’m sorry.’”

This anonymous singer points out Kirt Webster used the same “I want to see fireworks in your career” pick-up line with him that Webster used on Austin Rick. Further, the singer says there was an incident after a client’s concert which Webster gave VIP passes to. The singer says they got drunk and rode back with Webster’s assistant to his house. Which also happened to be Webster’s guest house.

“I was asleep on the couch, and when I woke up, [Webster] he was messing with me. He was like, ‘It’s fine,’ and I’m like, ‘No, it’s not.’ And he says, ‘You want to be a star, don’t you?’ And it’s so weird and I’m embarrassed, and I didn’t know what to do about it, and I don’t know how to talk about it.”

On top of all that, a situation occurred after the singer went to Webster’s office.

“He says, ‘Sit on the couch.’ And I said OK. And then he said to pull my pants down. I said, ‘Kirt, I’m tired of doing this,’ and he’s like ‘If you’re not going to work with me, I’m not going to work with you.’ And I was like, ‘I really don’t want to make a music career doing things like this, it’s embarrassing.’ He wanted to give me a blow job, and he kept going on and on, and I let him that night. And that was the last time. And I haven’t seen him since.”

On November 2nd, the Tennessean had three more people step forward claiming sexual abuse against Kirt Webster.

The first case being a former household contractor that claims Webster molested them in 2009 while doing a job interview. They had recently finished college and needed a steady job. A lady friend of his happened to have interned for Webster and set up a job interview for him at Webster’s house. Once there, Kirt became fascinated with the man’s tattoos while they were talking in the den. In retrospect, they say that was the first sign of trouble. The man took off his shirt to show Webster a tattoo he had on his back. It was this point the man’s friend who tagged along with him had left to run an errand.

“That’s when he was, like, take your shirt back off. Then, because he had seen a tattoo on my torso that went underneath my pants, that went behind my waistband, he was like, show me that.”

The man took off his pants.

“I was just in some kind of, like, I didn’t know what I was doing,” he said. “I was terrified, you know. And I didn’t have any way out of there.”

It was during this moment of fear Webster gave the man oral, then asked the man to give him oral in return. He gave into Kirt’s demand. This sexual back-and-forth ended when the friend came back home. The man ended up not telling anyone what happened for months. They managed to work for six and half of those under Webster.

The second case was an office manager. They allege Kirt Webster groped them twice during the 10-week stint they worked for him in 2014. The job interview itself steered into sexual territory. “His questions veered into ‘would I be offended if I were to show up to one of his parties and there were people who were nudists,'” the manager said. At the time they were willing to overlook Kirt’s bizarre questioning because he and his wife just moved to Nashville. They were desperate for a paying gig. But within days of working at Webster PR, the manager says he dealt with a flurry of verbal abuse. “I told you, you will learn if I have to fuck you up the ass, you will learn,” Kirt allegedly said. Webster actually grabbed the manager’s ass, according to them.

A few weeks after that first incident there was a second one. Webster “stuck his hand in between my legs from behind trying to grab my crotch,” the manager said. “I turned around and said, ‘look, man, I’m not gay. I’m married.’ He said he was just joking with me.”

At a point following that encounter, this second man put in a two-week notice. He ended up leaving sooner due to Webster getting progressively more angry and furious. While leaving the office for a final time, Kirt followed the man to his car.

The third case is a former personal assistant that worked there for six weeks in 2015. Kirt pushed for them to move in upon arriving in Nashville. While on the job Webster made comments about the butts and breasts of female interns, staff, and at least one client’s wife. They recall verbal use towards himself and other male employees. Every so often, Kirt Webster gave the guy shoulder rubs from behind.

“At the time, all this felt wrong, but it was always like, ‘oh, it’s just Kirt being Kirt,'” he said. “At the time I was 25 living in Tennessee and barely paying rent. I badly wanted to tell someone.”

By November 1st, the signs of Webster PR hitting the panic button were evident.

“As of November 1, 2017, Webster Public Relations is no longer in business” read the company website for a brief time. But it was quickly declared a mistake by a representative.

“Webster Public Relations will continue operating — but under the name Westby Public Relations — while Kirt Webster takes some time away from the business to focus on combating the egregious and untrue allegations made against him,” said Stacey Nickens, of DVL Seigenthaler (a different Nashville PR firm). “The company’s work on behalf of its clients will continue under the leadership of Jeremy Westby, Kirt’s longstanding colleague.”

Over the span of a few days with all the allegations coming out, by November 2nd Kirt Webster’s PR firm lost a majority of their clients. It’s all detailed in this report from Variety.

“Kid Rock (whose impending Friday album release had been heavily promoted by Webster), Kenny Rogers, Hank Williams Jr., Kenny G, Billy Ray Cyrus, Tanya Tucker, Big & Rich, Cyndi Lauper, Kiefer Sutherland, Don McLean, the Oak Ridge Boys, William Michael Morgan, Roy Clark, KC and the Sunshine Band, Bill Anderson, Jeannie Seely, LoCash, Lucas Hoge, Lacy J. Dalton, Olivia Lane, John Conlee, Gene Watson, Johnny Lee, Moe Bandy, Tim Rushlow, Leroy Van Dyke, Denny Strickland, Johnny Lee, and Deborah Allen.”

Dolly Parton, Justin Moore, Lee Greenwood, Taylor Hicks, Jewel, and Aaron Lewis too. Variety was able to clarify Randy Travis hadn’t used Webster PR since this past February. Former employees told Variety and other outlets about an instance where Kirt Webster mocked Travis (who still suffers after-effects of a massive stroke) while at the office. They used to keep a page dedicated to listing their clients. But as departures kept happening, Webster PR was obliged to remove them and keep it up to date. At some point the number of people leaving was significant enough they just removed the entire page.

To get a sense of how up in the air things were. Westby told Variety he was starting a new PR firm instead of taking over Webster.

I spoke with another country singer who had Kirt Webster as a publicist. They say the abuse they suffered was on a mental level more than anything else.

“He created an issue with a band I was opening for on a major tour. He said after the 1st night I had stepped on a bunch of toes and everyone was mad at me. I confronted the tour manager & he was stunned and asked who said it. I told him, then he wanted to confront Kirt. Kirt went through the roof & said he would never get on a call and that I just ruined my career, he told my investor that I was impossible to work with. This also effected [sic] my major sponsor. [Kirt] blocked me from several opportunities. All because he felt like I didn’t do things his way.”

This person alleges Kirt Webster’s manipulation of their career had a long impact. It took time for them to bounce back from it. My source wants to stay anonymous. They tell me people are still afraid of Kirt Webster’s reach in Nashville business despite the controversy that took place.

Leon Wieseltier

Leon Wieseltier was one of the “Shitty Media Men” that got ousted when the list became public. For two decades he was a higher-up editor at The New Republic and had moved to The Atlantic in recent years when all of this went down. On October 27th, Michelle Cottle wrote a character profile on Leon over at The Atlantic. The main theme of her piece is how nuanced and complicated these sorts of workplace situations can be.

She had a 12-year history with Leon Wieseltier, starting when she joined up at the New Republic back in 1999. Michelle points out their relationship: making small talk in the office, getting drinks after work from time to time, and going to each other’s weddings. But despite this normalcy, Leon was a man with a history of sexual harassment.

Michelle says Leon’s routine was eyeing every young woman that came to the New Republic and testing boundaries with them. Those being how much tolerance the lady in question had towards his lewd talk and attitude. Personally, Michelle had undergone that at a New Republic party in NYC after she joined the staff. Leon took her to his hotel and invited Michelle to drink with him. But the bar was too crowded, so they ordered room service and hung out in his suite. It was there Wieseltier tried to impress Michelle while quizzing her about what their personal life was full of. She set the boundaries by telling Leon straight-up there had a relationship already. But even so, here Michelle was in a casual setting with him.

Thus so it was. Leon became a regular judge of Michelle’s outfits and appearance. One time he sent her a thank-you note for coming to work in a miniskirt. Amanda Silverman (former New Republic employee) testified to the same sort of treatment. Coming to work with a black dress and tights, a male co-worker said it looked like Amanda was going to a funeral. Leon heard this discussion and added his own two cents. “The only problem with that dress is that it’s not tight enough,” he said.

Speaking of discussions, Leon Wieseltier was an open book about his sex life. “Unsolicited, he told me a long, detailed story about how magnificent his long-ago girlfriend’s breasts were,” said former New Republic employee Hillary Kelly. Michelle was still the target of Leon’s innuendos even after her husband began working there. But that wasn’t out of the ordinary for Wieseltier. He was open to asking his colleagues feedback on his work about foreskin impacting male pleasure, for instance.

Leon Wieseltier was also “hands-on.” By that, meaning he kissed people on various parts of their face. Marin Cogan worked as an assistant editor at the New Republic from 2007 to 2009. A cursory skim of her emails turned up four separate incidents of Leon smooches.

“Leon kissed me on the lips under the guise of congratulating me on a life event,” says Katherine Marsh, former managing editor and deputy editor at the New Republic from 2005 to 2009. “I have been hugged and even cheek-kissed by plenty of male colleagues, but this raised my alarm bells. I told several family members at the time because it creeped me out. I felt uncomfortable around him for pretty much the rest of my time at TNR. I remember warning a new female colleague, Britt Peterson, not to be in a room alone with him.”

While Wieseltier could play it off as if he’s kidding around, Sarah Wildman (worked at the New Republic from 1999 to 2003) begs to differ. “One night most of the staff went out. Leon cornered me by the bathroom and kissed me. I clapped my hand over my mouth and he said, ‘I’ve always known you’d do that.’ I felt terrible afterwards.”

Michelle writes that people put up with it because Leon was a powerful guy. He was known to give people hell for pissing him off. One former employee said outright Wieseltier was a career maker and breaker. Given the fact Leon had a close relationship with the owner of New Republic, it’s understandable why. But Leon had a good side too. He helped women colleagues with their articles and propped them up professionally as he made introductions between them and influential industry folks. It was a double-edged sword. Leon Wieseltier had his perks and benefits, but to get to those you had to put up with his inappropriate behaviors.

“I owe a great deal to his support and his mentorship,” says Ruth Franklin, who held multiple New Republic editorial positions from 1999 to 2014. “It was no secret that Leon regularly acted inappropriately with many women on staff, including me, but his actions were largely overlooked because he wielded enormous power and because he was often charming, funny, and brilliant. Regardless of what he intended, numerous women found his actions and remarks patronizing, insulting, or damaging.”

Lockhart Steele

Lockhart Steele was Vox Media’s editorial director and the former CEO/founder of Curbed Network. He first joined Vox back in November 2013 when the company acquired Curbed in a $20 million to $30 million deal.

It all began back on October 12th with a Medium post by Eden Rohatensky. Most of her post is a reflection on her history of sex-related abuses in the workplace culture, with an emphasis on how men in positions of power are the most hypocritical with what they do in public and private. Working as a web developer, Eden was able to find a job down in the United States. Within the first few days of a corporate retreat, her supervisor kissed her. He told her not to tell anyone because he was married and an important part of their company. In the time that followed the supervisor told Eden he loved her and texted her constantly. Eden’s boyfriend got the wrong idea when finding all of this out, and the two ended up splitting. After a year living in a basement apartment, Eden tried killing herself. A week after that she went to America for another corporate retreat. Eden tried running away from the dude but he ended up finding her. Later during that retreat weekend, Eden and her workmates all took Ubers to get something to eat. It was in the back of one of these cars that Eden sat next to a company VP. That VP happened to caress Eden’s hands and arm, before proceeding to kiss her neck. She trapped the VP’s hand to stop him from making any further moves.

That VP was Lockhart Steele. A month later Eden got fired for not being productive. She reported what happened with Steele now because there was no job at stake for Eden to lose here.

“A year later, I found out that an investigation had been done. That he had multiple victims within the company. That his punishment was being told he could not drink at corporate events any longer.”

Eden notes that Steele tweeted photos of him sitting on a panel about diversity in workplace culture. She concludes by noting there were no consequences to the men in Eden’s life who came after her. In a P.S. note at the end, she notes that after posting her story to Medium, Steele’s company at Vox media called her. “Having too many shares” wasn’t the reason no punishment was given to Steele (as Eden said originally), rather the report didn’t make into the right hands until now.

Steele ended up getting fired, according to The Awl. Vox employees were informed of this in the company’s CEO AMA Slack channel:

“Hi team, I am writing to let you know that earlier this evening Lockhart Steele was terminated effective immediately. Lock admitted engaging in conduct that is inconsistent with our core values and will not be tolerated at Vox Media.

Our investigation into issues raised by a former employee in a post on Medium continues. Anyone with information should contact our external investigation leads, [redacted].

Vox Media is committed to fostering a safe and welcoming community, and appreciates everyone who has been willing to speak up and share information during the course of this investigation.“

CEO Jim Bankoff later told the company in a company-wide call that this investigation was still ongoing. People were coming forward, and he encouraged anyone who hadn’t yet to do so. Vox even retained law firm Gibson Dunn to run an external investigation.

Mark Halperin

A journalist who had regular appearances on Morning Joe and NBC News was accused of sexual harassment from five different women during his time with ABC News.

CNN scooped the story.

“Mark left ABC News over a decade ago, and no complaints were filed during his tenure,” ABC told CNN.

“We find the story and the allegations very troubling,” MSNBC said. “Mark Halperin is leaving his role as a contributor until the questions around his past conduct are fully understood.”

The first woman was invited to his office in the early 2000s, back when Halperin was ABC News political director. She went there to have a soda, but Mark grabbed her breasts and kissed her. A second woman had an encounter with Halperin during the 2004 election season. She got in touch with him because Halperin was in charge of ABC News reporters who traveled embedded with campaigners. She describes Mark coming up behind her in their first meeting, pressing his body and genitals against the woman. This second woman says Halperin repeated his requests of sexual interest later on, even on the campaign trail. A third woman who was also an ABC News employee said Halperin made advances on her when traveling. They were on the road and she excused herself to the ladies room. Mark was standing in front of the door when she came out, inviting her to come over to the other restroom. A fourth woman who worked with Halperin says Mark invited her to his hotel room late at night when they were on the campaign trail. She declined, assuming he was making a move. A fifth woman who says she wasn’t an ABC News employee at the time of her incident wasn’t willing to share specifics. But was willing to admit Halperin put his (clothed) erect penis against her body without any consent given.

Halperin ended up admitting to his behavior.

“During this period, I did pursue relationships with women that I worked with, including some junior to me,” Halperin told CNN in a statement. “I now understand from these accounts that my behavior was inappropriate and caused others pain. For that, I am deeply sorry and I apologize. Under the circumstances, I’m going to take a step back from my day-to-day work while I properly deal with this situation.”

Matt Lauer

UPDATE 5/19/2020: Matt Lauer responds and manages to put forward enough of an argument that I feel obligated to apologize for just regurgitating what was put out there originally. 

Which you will find below.

It came as a shock to the media world when the public learned Matt Lauer of the TODAY show was terminated from his position. The situation was allegedly kept quiet for ages. Lauer was making serious bank at $25 million a year. Everyone knew what Matt got himself into. His behavior wasn’t a secret. Meredith Vieira found a bag of sex toys in Matt Lauer’s closet, for fuck’s sake.

“The major thing that’s changed since I’ve seen you last? I have now seen you naked,” Matt Lauer told Sandra Bullock back in a 2009 interview.

It started on Monday, November 27th. An NBC employee spoke up about sexual misconduct that took place during the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Plus several months after that. They ended up canning him by Wednesday, November 29th. Lauer was nowhere in sight at the annual Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting event that night.

On the 30th, Lauer published a statement. It was read on-air at the start of the TODAY show for that morning.

“Some of what is being said about me is untrue or mischaracterized, but there is enough truth in these stories to make me feel embarrassed and ashamed. I regret that my shame is now shared by the people I cherish dearly. There are no words to express my sorrow and regret for the pain I have caused others by words and actions. To the people I have hurt, I am truly sorry. As I am writing this I realize the depth of the damage and disappointment I have left behind at home and at NBC. Repairing the damage will take a lot of time and soul-searching and I’m committed to beginning that effort. It is now my full-time job. The last two days have forced me to take a very hard look at my own troubling flaws. It’s been humbling. I am blessed to be surrounded by the people I love. I thank them for their patience and grace.”

Variety spent two months looking into it all. They talked to numerous present and past employees who had experiences working with Matt Lauer. The three women who were victims of sexual harassment had their stories corroborated, but wanted to remain anonymous out of fear for career backlash.

With Matt Lauer, there’s different levels of misconduct going on (these are all testimonies given to Variety). On the lighter end, you have him asking the lady producers who they slept with, and playing “fuck, marry, or kill” with people. Thus, sharing which of the women co-hosts he wanted to have sex with at a particular point. On the heavier side, Matt Lauer once gave a female co-worker a sex toy as a gift. Along with that package was a note from him detailing how he’d use it on them. In extreme cases, Matt Lauer asked a female staff member to come to his office. It was there he’d drop his pants and show his dick. Lauer punished the employee after they refused to get involved in sexual acts with it.

Variety says Matt Lauer’s office was in its own tucked away space. Within which was a button under his desk that let him lock his office door without needing to get up from his chair. In theory, this was for privacy (and people who work at NBC say all high-profile staff have them). In practice, it means trapping female staff inside without needing to worry about interruptions and people walking in on him.

“While it is the first complaint about his behavior in the over 20 years he’s been at NBC News, we were also presented with reason to believe this may not have been an isolated incident,” said NBC News Chairman Andy Lack in a staff memo. Reports from insiders suggest otherwise, that Lauer’s misconduct was left unattended.

That question whether or not NBC executives knew about Lauer’s behavior is later elaborated on.

Here’s a memo from NBC News Chairman Andy Lack.

NBC executives asked Matt Lauer directly about any potential improper behavior when they learned news outlets were working on a story. Lauer’s response was “racking his brain and couldn’t think of anything at all,” according to the higher-ups who asked. While on TV Matt Lauer seemed wholesome, that allegedly wasn’t the case elsewhere at work.

Matt Lauer had enough editorial power over the Today show to toss out stories on cheating husbands, according to producers who Variety spoke with. There was an irony when Lauer had an obligation to cover sex scandals after the Weinstein controversy blew up. It’s little things like that, which help back the notion that women’s complaints to NBC executives were brushed aside up until recent events in Hollywood.

Lauer’s capacity to pull strings is even visible now, as the public’s reaction to the news comes to pass. It’s alleged Matt is able to add some tabloid media noise to offset the backlash.

Whenever Lauer traveled was when his sexual harassment flared up. Employees say Matt fawned over one lady producer he had the hots for, going as far as having that same female co-worker deliver a pillow to his hotel room. It was part of a larger pattern of incidents that Matt Lauer got involved in during the Olympics, especially. To the extent that Matt himself was telling people his wife didn’t let him go to the London Olympics alone because she didn’t trust him.

Two more of these complaints against Matt Lauer were reported to NBC on the 29th. One of them told the New York Times about it. The improper comments began after she started back in the 1990s as a TODAY show producer. When traveling with Matt, he asked her questions about cheating on her husband. Remember that door lock button Lauer had on his desk? In 2001, that former female employee was requested to Matt’s office. The door was locked and he sexually assaulted her, she alleges. The employee says they passed out and needed the care of a nurse. She didn’t want to lose her job either, so they didn’t report the incident. The employee left the company a year after her encounter with Matt Lauer.

Page Six later revealed Matt Lauer was setting up to go to bat against NBC for the other $30 million he’s still owed on his contract. But a source speaking to The Hollywood Reporter said Lauer’s chances were slim since he was fired “for cause.” This means NBC doesn’t have to pay Matt for the rest of his contract.

Matt’s ex-wife spoke out in support of him. She was married to Lauer back in the 1980s. His ex describes Matt as a nice and charming guy that’s willing to lend a hand to anyone. She expressed doubts toward the claims brought forward against him. On the other hand, Matt’s current wife and family reportedly left the United States and are laying low somewhere in the Netherlands. A knowledgeable source speaking to Page Six describes Lauer as a great father but shitty husband.

NBC officials were spotted destroying every last memory of Matt Lauer out of their offices.

Michael Hafford

The Weinstein controversy caused allegations against VICE Broadly’s former “Male Feminist” columnist Michael Hafford to surface in the public eye. He ran a three-month article series satirizing male feminism. Broadly’s former Editor-in-Chief told Jezebel they ever communicated with Michael during his time there. But she killed his column in December 2015 after editors told them Michael “had become aggressive and rude and difficult to work with.”

Below are the stories from four women who say they were subjected to rape, assault, and other abuses by Hafford. Jezebel saw the tweets from these ladies and got in touch with them.

Deirdre Coyle had their first meet-up with Hafford in spring 2015. They were only friends until having a hobnob in summer 2015. “We were making out and I told him that I didn’t want to have sex with him yet and then he just, like, was inside me without a condom,” she says. Later on that summer, Michael punched Dierde in the face while they were getting it on. “I very explicitly said don’t do that, I don’t like that,” Coyle said. “In response he hit me harder and I just kind of gave up. He was stronger than me.” Later on in the year during Winter, Michael told Deirdre to close her eyes. Hafford surprised her by putting cocaine in her vagina. “All night he had kept trying to get me to do coke with him,” she says. “I didn’t want to, I didn’t really care what he was doing so I kept saying no, no, no.” It was around this time that Coyle decided to stop having sex with Hafford. But he tried engaging in that anyway one evening while Coyle slept. In a twist of irony, Deirdre Coyle was with Hafford when the Male Feminist column pitch was approved by Broadly. She says she helped him along with the piece in fine-tuning his ideas. But as you can imagine now in retrospect, every one of the women who Michael assaulted feels uneasy about this article series.

Dilara met Michael Hafford on Tinder in June 2015. They had a consensual sexual relationship that went fine until an evening that next month. Hafford was wasted and got pissed off when Dilara didn’t take her dress off in the stairwell. He choked her until she passed out. After coming around, Dilara went up to his apartment out of fear. They had sex. The experience involved punching Dilara multiple times, putting cocaine in her vagina, and attempting anal without her consent. “I woke up in the morning and it seemed like he knew something was wrong, and I knew something was wrong, but I didn’t say anything, I just thought things maybe got out of hand,” Dilara says. “We had sex again in the morning and he was like, Did last night turn you on? And I said no and he apologized for scaring me.” In August 2015 Dilara requested Hafford put on a condom. He said he didn’t have any. They had sex anyway, and Dilara saw condoms on his bed table afterward. They ended up breaking their hook-up off at some point after that. It wasn’t until May 2016 they’d speak again. Dilara got a DM from Michael on Snapchat. “He said ‘I’m writing an article about how ghostwriting erotic fiction warps my brain, did you ever find me too dominant?’ And I said yes, I think consent got blurred a lot of the time,” Dilara says. “He said ‘I was really on coke all the time and I’m sorry.’ I didn’t forgive him.”

Abby Carney told Jezebel she got raped by Hafford in summer 2015. While they met at an LA bar in June, their interaction picked up after they made plans to see each other at a birthday party for a friend of Hafford’s. “I didn’t really have many friends in New York yet so he was the first person I had hung out with,” Carney says. Abby thought Hafford was gay at first during the early parts of their date. But Michael went in for a kiss and took Abby by surprise. She was cool with it. Carney ended up going back to Hafford’s place afterward, upon his invitation. There they ate sandwiches and drank booze before making out. “I just want to make out, I don’t want to have sex with you,” Abby remembers saying. Regardless, Michael removed her bikini as Carney lightly struggled against his actions. “I was pretty drunk, but I know that somehow or another he led me to his bed,” Carney says. “I remember clearly that I said multiple times that I don’t want to have sex, I don’t want to do anything else, and eventually he pressed himself inside anyway.” Again, no condom. Afterward, Abby tried convincing herself that she had feelings for Hafford. It culminated with her in August 2015 telling Michael she didn’t want to be just a “fling” and they had sex again that night. But after that, he distanced himself to the point where they basically went their separate ways.

Helen Donahue was Vice’s social media editor and a site writer. Donahue first met Michael Hafford at a bar in Brooklyn on December 12, 2015. The two of them drank heavily. Donahue doesn’t remember going back to Hafford’s apartment. But she recalls not liking the physical pains of the sex had in his bed. “I’m not sure if I voiced that or if I voiced that loudly enough, but I don’t think that would have stopped him anyway,” Donahue said. It was after waking up from this that Donahue felt a shockwave of pain in the chest. Escaping into the bathroom, she screamed when seeing the bruises on her body. Donahue asked Hafford about it. He denies that ever happening before, and swore to her it wouldn’t happen again. Two days later, Donahue photographed her bruises to document her encounter. The day after that, she showed up to VICE’s holiday party in a turtleneck. Donahue stayed with Hafford for a brief while from late December into the following January. Michael ended up breaking things off. In February 2016 she confronted him about the bruises and Hafford denied causing them. But he swore that he “apologizes for everything” and vowed to keep a professional distance.

Michael Oreskes

On October 31st two women came forward to the Washington Post to discuss their experiences dealing with NPR’s senior VP of News and Editorial Director Michael Oreskes. The company put him on indefinite leave (but he stepped down on November 1st). At the time of these incidents, Oreskes was the Washington bureau chief of The New York Times. The two women in question (remaining anonymous to not hurt their careers) approached Oreskes in hopes of working at the publication. Both encounters end up with Michael going in for a kiss.

The first woman met him in Times’ Washington office at the Army-Navy Building. Oreskes took out a personal ad in the Washington City Paper. “Saw you at the Army-Navy Building. Loved hearing your life story and your ideas. Hope you get this message. Let me know,” it said. The only reason the first woman found this out was that Michael Oreskes emailed her about it. She wasn’t aware he did that and had to look it up. When she did, it was over in the “Adult Services” section (which has the prostitution-like offers). She turned down offers from Michael for lunch at the Watergate Hotel. Despite these advances, this first woman tried having professional level interaction maintained to keep any job hopes alive. It culminated when she told Oreskes she was going to New York for a job interview over at New York Daily News. He was planning to head that way anyway, so they traveled together. After taking a cab into NYC from the airport, Michael Oreskes kissed her and tried jamming his tongue in her mouth.

“The worst part of my whole encounter with Oreskes wasn’t the weird offers of room service lunch or the tongue kiss but the fact that he utterly destroyed my ambition,” she said.

Second woman booked Michael Oreskes on a TV show she was a producer on. She mentioned to him she wanted to go back to print reporting, and Michael offered to look over her work portfolio. They set up a restaurant meeting but plans changed at the last minute so they ended up meeting at Second Woman’s apartment. Nothing happened at her place, he just got a little handsy when showing him around her place. The second woman offered to take Oreskes to the airport for a flight he had to catch. Once there, Michael surprised her with a kiss as he got out of the car.

The second woman called her boyfriend immediately afterward to tell him about it. Oreskes later called her up to say he enjoyed getting to know her and looked forward to meeting again. The second woman booked Oreskes two months later, and she met up with him at the restaurant in Union Station.

“I looked him in the eye, and I said: ‘You kissed me, and it was totally inappropriate. That’s not the way I want to get ahead in this business.’ His jaw dropped. He said: ‘I was overcome with passion. I couldn’t help myself.’”

Two individuals who worked at The New York Times with Oreskes said he had a fascination with a third person who worked there. “I would call it pestering,” says one of the editors. “It made [the woman] really nervous. There was excessive phone calling [by him to her] and messages that he wanted to meet her outside the office.”

“If I had to do it again, I would have told him to knock it off,” said Jill Abramson (who worked as Oreskes’s deputy). “I think I should have raised this with [the Times’ human resources department]. . . . Maybe confronting him would have somehow stopped him from doing it to another woman.”

NPR themselves released a report about Michael Oreskes. Within, they detail not only the two incidents mentioned by Washington Post, but a third incident too. NPR employee Rebecca Hersher filed an HR complaint to NPR in October 2015. Working as an assistant producer on Weekend All Things Considered, she alleges Michael Oreskes took a career counseling session and turned it into a three-hour personal dinner. It all began when Michael stopped by NPR West’s office in Culver City. He told everyone on staff they could get in touch with him to sit down and talk about their careers. Hersher worked on temp assignments for NPR back then and decided to accept the invitation when she was in Washington. It was going to be an afternoon meeting but it turned into a seafood dinner at a Union Station restaurant. Hersher’s original intent was sharing her views about needing to leave NPR to become a proper reporter. But Oreskes derailed it with relationship and sex talk. He ended the evening by hugging her.

“I went to the train station, and I called my best friend; I cried on the phone to her,” Hersher says. “I went home and then I cried to my boyfriend. It undercut my confidence in a way that was surprising to me.”

After reporting it to HR, Oreskes was reprimanded. But it wasn’t until November 1st when Michael stepped down. NPR shared his statement:

Oreskes said, “I am deeply sorry to the people I hurt. My behavior was wrong and inexcusable, and I accept full responsibility.” He said he was grateful to his colleagues “for every minute I’ve had to work with each of you. . . . Public radio matters so much and I will always be your supporter.”

NPR named Christopher Turpin (VP of News Programming and Operations) to replace Oreskes until they can find a permanent candidate for the job.

Robert Scoble

Scoble’s background is in the tech world, most notable for serving as a tech evangelist at Microsoft. He later spent his time doing a bunch of startup gigs, which is where his personal history comes into question.

Robert Scoble’s downfall began with a Medium post from female journalist Quinn Norton. October 19th. It happened at an informal conference called Foo Camp, put on by the O’Reilly company. It’s meant for technology folks to socialize and bounce ideas around. According to Quinn, this casual atmosphere makes it easy for sexual harassment to breed.

In the early 2010s, Quinn was at a weekend campfire at Foo Camp. A drunk man and woman were making out. They did it in such a way that it became a spectacle to Norton and her pals. One of Quinn’s mates, Artur Bergman, tried distracting the woman with conversation, but she went back to making out soon after. Artur relayed his observations back to Quinn. The woman was so wasted she had no clue what was going on. The man continued funneling alcohol down her throat anyway.

This man eventually sat next to Norton around this campfire. A colleague introduced them. “Robert, this is Quinn Norton. Quinn, this is Robert Scoble, he’s dangerous,” they said. Scoble laughed the label off, saying he wasn’t dangerous at all. “I am,” Norton said.

“And then, without any more warning, Scoble was on me. I felt one hand on my breast and his arm reaching around and grabbing my butt. Scoble is considerably bigger than I am, and I realized quickly I wasn’t going to be able to push him away. Meanwhile, the people around just watched, in what I can only imagine was stunned shock. I got a hand free and used a palm strike to the base of his chin to knock him back. It worked, he flew back and struggled to get his feet under him. I watched his feet carefully for that moment. He was unbalanced from the alcohol and I realized if he reached for me again I could pull him forward, bounce his face off my knee, then drive it into the ground. (I knew this move because it had been done to me, then the martial arts expert who did it picked me up and apologetically showed me how to do it.) He laughed and rubbed his chin and said something like “I like this one, she has spirit.” I said this: “If you touch me again I will break your nose.” I could still feel his hands on me, his intentions, all of it. He laughed again, and I repeated, “If you touch me again I will break your nose.” He didn’t grab me again after that.”

Robert Scoble returned to making out with the woman like none of the above happened. During that scuffle, Quinn’s friend managed to determine the woman was incapable of consent at all, couldn’t even walk, and on top of all that was married. Two of Quinn’s friends took her away from the area and kept an eye on her for the rest of the night. Quinn Norton got in touch with Foo Camp’s management to make sure she’d still be able to come back next year despite going kung-fu on Robert Scoble. They said “sure.” But Norton ended up staying quiet about the incident for the woman’s sake. A few years later, Quinn met a female co-worker of Robert Scoble’s. She backed up the notion that harassment was part of the job description when under his employ.

During the changing of the day between October 19th and 20th, Buzzfeed published an article detailing more allegations against Scoble. Michelle Greer worked at Scoble’s Rackspace in 2009 and 2010, alleging Robert groped her at a 2010 tech conference. Working as a senior manager for Rackspace corporate communications, she went to the Startup Riot tech conference in Atlanta for work. Scoble went with her, as well as a few folks from Rackspace. They all ended up at the bar.

“I remember seeing him with two drinks in his hand,” she told BuzzFeed. “My boss sat next to me, and Scoble sits across from me and starts touching my leg.”

Greer excused herself to her room and relayed what happened on the phone to her boyfriend. A couple of days later back in San Francisco, Scoble’s producer boss spoke with Greer. “I’m so sorry, my employees will never touch you again,” he told her. Buzzfeed got a response from Robert on the matter. “What happened with Michelle happened with my boss,” and “other women in the room,” Scoble said.

The incident ended up tanking Michelle Greer’s work performance. To the extent that her boss let her go over it. Greer told HR everything at the exit interview. “They were like, why didn’t you come to us before? I was like, it’s Robert Scoble. If this gets out, he has the bigger megaphone than I do. I could be totally hosed.”

On Facebook, the two butted heads over the matter. Scoble liked Greer’s post about having terrible experiences working with bad actors in the industry.

A Business Insider article highlighted Proday Founder Sarah Kunst’s response to Quinn Norton’s post. According to her, Kunst was the target of verbal harassment by Robert and his wife back in 2014 at a conference in Idaho.

Later on October 20th, Robert Scoble did a USA TODAY interview where he apologized for his behavior. Robert Scoble revealed he entered AA in 2015, and that he suffered sexual abuse as a child.

“I did some things that are really, really hurtful to the women and I feel ashamed by that,” Scoble said. “I have taken many steps to try to get better because I knew some of this was potentially going to come out.”

Robert Scoble told USA TODAY he didn’t remember what happened at Foo Camp. He swears his harassment of women stopped once he entered AA.

He also did a Facebook apology.

Despite multiple claims of atonement, it turns out Scoble wasn’t being entirely transparent. In the comments section of Quinn Norton’s post, Sarah Seitz alleges that around “a year and a half ago” Robert Scoble wanted to have an affair with her. An anonymous woman came forward to TechCrunch to reveal Scoble made advances toward her when he got at a tech conference earlier this past year. Robert couldn’t help telling the woman how much he wanted to make out with her. Scoble ended up apologizing later on, then going the next mile to help further this woman’s career in what she says was a means of silencing her. Two additional women corroborate Scoble hadn’t changed his ways after pledging sobriety.

An email from Scoble to Guy Pearson that was shared to the public further cast doubt on the sincerity of Robert’s apology. As he states the allegations should “play out over a few days.”

Not so fast, Scoble. On October 22nd Shel Israel announced Scoble’s resignation as a partner with Transformation Group, LLC, via Facebook. Shel further says Robert canceled all public activities for the rest of 2017 so he’d be able to focus on confronting his issues.

In an unusual twist, Robert Scoble took to his blog on October 25th to deny committing any sort of sexual harassment. Scoble opens by saying he rejected his lawyer’s advice by doing this. But he’s going through with the blog post anyway for the sake of public dialogue. He makes a point of it, implying that such legal advice is part of the reason the industry hasn’t been able to have a proper discussion of these sorts of issues. Robert accuses TechCrunch and Business Insider as gossip blogs that generate clickbait. That they didn’t the proper vetting and checking when it came to this situation.

“Even the most rudimentary fact check by news outlets would have caught a few obvious things. If I were guilty of all the things said about me I would still not be in a position to have sexually harassed anyone. I don’t have employees, I don’t cut checks for investment. None of the women who came forward were ever in a position where I could make or break their careers. Sexual Harassment requires that I have such power.”

His words, not mine.

Scoble accuses all of the women who came forward of using shards of truth to push a false narrative. He suggests they were bandwagoning off the #MeToo hashtag. Robert says he had an “online affair” with Sarah Seitz for a year. She allegedly knew he was married and didn’t give a hoot. They had very sexual conversations. But things ended up veering toward blackmailing him, with her threating to tell his wife. She did anyway and it damaged Scoble’s family. Robert talked to his friends and says other people were the target of Seitz’s online shaming. When it comes to Sarah Kunst (who Scoble points out is an African-American female), Robert says she misinterpreted his “Why are you here” statement as “why are you deserving of being here” instead. He says Kunst was so drunk she mistook someone else for Scoble and yelled at him in front of a group of people. Scoble says he apologized at the conference and apologizes again in the blog post. When it comes to Greer and Rackspace Robert chooses his wording careful. As part of the layoff agreement, he can’t speak negatively about the company. He further argues other people came forward and corroborate Michelle Greer was let go from the company for reasons unrelated to any interaction between Scoble and her.

When it comes to Quinn Norton, Robert Scoble points out she admits to having “physically accosted” him. He says she didn’t even know the woman’s name at the time they were making out, and not aware if it was consensual or not. As a reporter, he says Quinn didn’t report on the story for years and chose a social media outlet with zero necessity for fact-checking to tell it.

Rupert Myers

Another one of the Shitty Media Men ousted in the initial purge upon the list’s release. Up until that point, Rupert Myers was a political correspondent for GQ. Word already got around about his deeds before this juncture, but the Shitty Media Men fiasco was the tipping point. The story exposing Rupert Myers is a four–part tweet series from Kate Leaver, posted on October 19th.

“Ok, here goes. I haven’t told this story because I listened to the voice that told me it “wasn’t that bad” or “worth talking about”… When I moved to London, I wanted to make friends. I met @RupertMyers on Twitter and agreed to go for what I thought was a friendly drink. I was very clear about not being romantically or sexually interested in him, once the subject was raised. I suggested we be mates. He said “I’ve got enough mates, I’d rather fuck you” and forced himself on me outside a pub in Fitzrovia.”

Within an hour of posting that, British GQ announced they were giving Rupert Myers the boot.

Myers ended up making himself scarce and deleting his Twitter account. But before then he had a few things to say about the situation. His first apology version: “If you feel I have said or done anything towards you that was sub-optimal in the past you have my sincere and unreserved apologies.”

Realizing that probably came off the wrong way, Rupert deleted that and replaced the tweet with this.

Sam Kriss

Sam Kriss was a freelance journalist from the United Kingdom that had a solid arrangement with VICE. Someone posted a Facebook note on October 17th that’d end up having serious consequences for Sam Kriss.

“I had hoped I would never have to write this account. But watching a man who repeatedly groped me, twisted my neck to forcibly kiss me, ignored any attempt I made to stop him, and refused to ‘let me’ drink non-alcohol, unashamedly attack feminists online, use misogynist language, singling out women for ridicule time and time again, means I’ve not really been able to forget.”

She met Sam on Twitter and invited to a talk at her old school. Tickets ended up being sold out so Kriss suggested they grab a pint instead. She chose a pub nearby her house. There were “warning signs” on this dates of theirs, apparently. She saw Sam at a friend’s book launch later on. But things crossed the line when they went to the theater. She says Sam forced his tongue down her throat. “I don’t think we should kiss here – we might make the old folk jealous of our youthful affections,” she told him. “Well, if you’ve got it, flaunt it, I say!” Sam replied before returning to tonsil town. Someone behind the two groaned at the sight. “I’m not really a fan of PDAs,” she said, pushing Sam away. Kriss was relentless. This woman thought the horror was over when Sam put his arm around her. He twisted her head and forced his tongue down her throat some more. During the break, Kriss offered to get her a drink. But only if it was alcohol. “Wine. Wine is what you drink at the theatre. I’m buying you wine,” Sam said. When they got back to the theater, Sam’s date didn’t touch it. He ended up demanding it of her before downing the booze for himself.

“At this point I was planning my escape. How can I get away without pissing him off? Sam and I know lots of mutual people, we both exist on the Marxist far-Left. He’s a writer for Vice, the Guardian, various other outlets, he circulates around Momentum, and I didn’t want ‘any trouble’ then or later. Sam is, by his own words, from an incredibly wealthy, well-connected background, and therefore compared to me, very powerful. After the play finished he wanted to go ‘for a drink’. One drink, I thought, and then it’ll seem ‘normal’ to head off after. He won’t know how upset I am and I can forget how shit I feel about his neck-twisting, glass-flicking, general domineering behaviour.”

She tried ordering her own drink, but Sam took over and ordered for her anyway. After an effort trying to keep a distance from Sam, they sat indoors. Kriss tried kissing her once again. “I really don’t want to do this here and now,” she told him. “But look, they’re doing it!” Kriss replied as he pointed to another couple making out in the corner of the bar. Sam decided to copy what the other couple was doing and dragged his date off to a corner in the pub room. During this kiss session, she tolerated Kriss and his tongue dance. But now Sam demanded more, grabbing the woman’s breasts. She pulled back once he started doing that. The lady got up to go to the toilet and Kriss slapped her behind while walking by him. When she came back, Sam wanted her to come back to his parent’s house. She didn’t want to do that. Negotiations lasted for a solid hour. “Haha, but we’re in West London, you don’t know where you are! You’re stranded, you’ll have to come back to mine,” Kriss said.

The woman elected to take the bus home, and Sam used that opportunity to grab her honkers once more. She was relieved when the bus finally arrived. Kriss tried jumping on at the last minute, but the woman shoved him out the door and told the driver to get her out of there.

Sam issued a Medium post statement, apologizing for his actions.

“Today an allegation of sexual harassment and aggression was made against me, and I want to address it here. My behaviour was absolutely unacceptable, beneath both me and especially the person involved, and there’s no excuse for it. I’ve apologised privately to her, and I’m apologising, publicly, now.”

Buzzfeed News wrote an article on the matter. According to their sources within VICE, the company had no further plans to work with Kriss again.

Twiggy Ramirez

On October 20th, the longtime Marilyn Manson bassist got in hot water. Twiggy Ramirez’s former girlfriend (who is also a musician) accused him of rape in a Facebook post.

Jessicka met Jeordie White (Twiggy) at age 18. They got into a relationship and moved in soon after. Their roommate was Pete, and he protected Jessicka when Jeordie’s rage got the better of him. Twiggy’s possessive side showed itself when Jessicka’s band Jack Off Jill got more popular.

“He got increasingly jealous when I hung out with male friends. He jumped into the New River as a protest to me giving a male friend a ride home. He began to body shame me. He slashed my tires. When I came home late one night, he put one of the stuffed animals he bought me into the burning oven in the kitchen. But, I stayed, because I was conditioned since a child to endure my abuser. And this for me… was love at 19.”

Physical abuse became a thing after a few months. Jeordie took a cage full of their white mice pets and dumped into Jessicka’s mother’s car. Addams remembers Twiggy punching her multiple times that day. He said it wouldn’t happen again but it did. The possessiveness got worse with situations like that time he stacked TVs in front of Jessicka’s car to trap her at home. Twiggy didn’t have a car, nor could he drive. Therefore in his eyes, neither will she. At one point, Trent Reznor dropped by for a visit and they all had an evening out. Trent and Addams chatted with each other and got along. This pissed Jeordie off. After demanding the group leave, they all stacked into Jessicka’s car. Twiggy took everyone for a dangerous drive. While doing so he proceeded to punch Jessicka’s chest and rip off the car’s rearview mirror and throw it out the window.

The rape happened during a break on the Nine Inch Nails tour they were opening for. Addams was now staying with friends. Twiggy was cheating on her and she knew he was. But Jeordie came back to the apartment and the two had a fight.

“He forced me on to the floor with his hand around my neck. I said NO. I said NO. I said it so loud enough, that Pete came rushing in from the other room to get him off of me. But I had been raped. I had been raped by somebody I thought I loved. That night I slept in Pete’s bed and cried myself to sleep. Neither of us discussed it until years later as we both had our own shame about not reporting it.”

This all happened at some point before 1997. According to Addams, Jack Off Jill’s record company said there was a good chance they’d all get blackballed by promoters, other bands, and radio folks if Jessicka went public with her story. Jeordie White was with Marilyn Manson’s band at that point, and there were fears they’d use their star power to retaliate.

But on October 21st, 2017 we’d hear from Manson himself. In response to the story, he gave this statement to Pitchfork Magazine:

“I knew Jessicka and Jeordie had a romantic relationship many years ago and I considered and still consider Jessicka to be a friend,” he said. “I knew nothing about these allegations until very recently and am saddened by Jessicka’s obvious distress.”

That was that.

Tyler Malka

The downfall of Tyler Malka and his website NeoGAF was a long time coming. I covered this topic in extreme detail earlier this year. But for those of you who haven’t heard of him, the down-low of it is pretty simple.

Tyler Malka was an internet forum lurker on Gaming Age Forums, back in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Through luck, Malka worked his way up in the community. To the extent that he became their leader through some turbulent times and site migration. This led him to seize ownership of NeoGAF when it was officially launched on April 4th, 2006. The key distinction with NeoGAF over other forums was the rigorous admission process. Sign-ups for accounts required manual approval by the site’s administration or moderators. You couldn’t use any old Gmail or Yahoo account either. It needed a legitimate looking school or business email, as a sign you aren’t some random shmuck troll. In theory (adding all the emphasis possible on this), NeoGAF was a video game industry discussion hub. It stayed up to date on not just new releases, but scandals and news too. The site gained a reputation for the amount of “insiders” and “leakers” that’d lurk there. In practice, NeoGAF’s community was a twisted cesspool of cancer. The moderators of the website had a habit of banning all dissent, to the point that the overall left-leaning political narrative they maintained faced scrutiny. The spotlight had been on the moderators themselves in the past. As they encountered controversies of their own doing (including at least one mod getting arrested for child pornography).

Every time a moderator got into trouble, the gaming community asked how much more the site could take before buckling. On October 19th we got an answer to that.

It started with Texas filmmaker Ima Leupp telling her story on Facebook. While she didn’t name Malka in the original post, she told people “google evilore” (Malka’s alias) in the comments. The only reason the post got any traction was their sister shared the story on NeoGAF. That thread was insta-nuked by the moderators. By October 21st, the small-talk going on behind the scenes erupted when NeoGAF moderators began walking out. Word was getting around beforehand but this was the tipping point. The first notable moderator to leave was Besada. Soon we found out that number was up to four, walking away from their post. It was around this time the site was going up and down, with 503 Service Unavailable being the common error message. After that, it came out NeoGAF admins were leaving too. As more moderators left and the heat intensified, there were database errors as well. Soon all that remained was one admin, out of the five that were there beforehand. For people who want a play by play, click here. For more on the aftermath of NeoGAF’s downfall, slide over here.

The site went dark for a short time. People thought that was it. Game over.

The first we heard back from Malka was on October 23rd over at Waypoint. They did an article explaining the situation in great detail. As the original post says, Leupp and Malka had a night of heavy drinking. This happened in April 2015 during a road trip to New Orleans. So much in fact, that it caused Ima to get sick in their hotel room. While cleaning up her puke, Tyler Malka approached Ima Leupp “fully naked” from behind. Ima was put in a compromising spot since she had a boyfriend. Leupp told Malka she wasn’t a cheater. After that, Tyler became resentful toward her during the rest of their New Orleans road trip. Eventually, Leupp and her boyfriend broke up, which Ima blames in part due to this incident. The two had some history. Tyler was an actor on one of Leupp’s film shoots earlier on in 2015.

It wasn’t until now Ima came forward. She was afraid of retaliation. Something to that effect came from Malka as he emailed back and forth with Waypoint. Tyler called Leupp “a deeply disturbed, malicious individual,” saying the two haven’t spoken in years. He alleges that incident was “totally harmonious and consensual.”

“I pretty clearly remember closing the door,” Ima said in response. “Maybe not closing it all the way, but closing it enough so that I was protected. I wasn’t getting naked in front of him and then going ‘Oh, I’m going to puke. You wanna come in the shower with me? That’s fucking gross.”

Tyler lashed back further. He said Leupp’s apparent taking down of the Facebook post after it started making the rounds was evidence she was making it up. Ima replied she didn’t take it down at all. Just made the post private so random people wouldn’t come poking around her personal profile.

“I didn’t delete it out of shame or anything, I just got afraid,” Ima told Waypoint. “I never meant to out him publicly. I never meant to have any of this happen. It was a story that had come up. Instead of just reposting a hashtag, I thought if I described some more details of certain situations that it would become more real for friends in my life.”

Leupp says she was polyamorous and had an open relationship with her boyfriend at the time. She even chalked up the New Orleans incident as a one-off. “I had no reason not to trust him still,” Leupp said. “It was a creepy thing, but I tend to give people second chances. He had already invited me to go to E3.” Malka’s and Leupp’s relationship did include consensual sex at one point. But the two ended up having a falling out after the E3 trip to Los Angeles.

That wasn’t the first time NeoGAF’s Tyler Malka got into trouble with women.

Back in 2012, Tyler Malka was globe-trotting. He shared his experiences with NeoGAF, and things got rough around Spain. People picked up on the fact Malka admitted to groping a woman at a bar.

“At one point in a bar a girl who didn’t speak any English came up to me and started flirting heavily, then went straight into asking me to buy her a drink, as Itxaka translated when I didn’t know what the hell was going on. I laughed, because drinks here were all of two Euros, but consented and then grabbed her ass hard to show that I wasn’t being taken advantage of, and she thought better of treating me as a mark and left without taking her drink.”

“She started the grabbing. We were joking and laughing about the whole thing and I saw her later that night and the joking and laughing continued.The outraged feminist posturing in this thread couldn’t be further from the truth.”

He found himself on the defense trying to justify what happened. Trapped within the confines of his own words. There wouldn’t be much of a resolution, either. Malka’s coping mechanism in these matters involves deleting the thread and moving on with life. Five years later an alternative take on the events that happened back then emerged. This became known after I published my articles about NeoGAF, coming from a first-hand source from that night.

“So it was San Fermin in my city (Pamplona) so its a party 24/7. Tyler had come for several days to run in front of the bulls and have some partying.

So I think the second day we were out, we went from bar to bar with a group of my friends, it was pretty late I guess, I was already drunk for several hours and this friend(the boyfriend of the girl) was in the bar that we arrived to, so he came with us and we started talking, drinking and so on.

So his girlfriend, which was an acquaintance of mine, asks me about Tyler to know who he is and whats he doing there. to put in context, most of my friends speak zero english, so Im the official translator during the night.

I tell this girl who Tyler is and so on, so she says “Im gonna get him to pay for a drink” (yeah, shes not the nicest girl around for sure…) and goes up to him and ask for that in spanish. I get closer and translate to him, he looks at me and at her and says ok. By this time, he knows she’s the girlfriend of my friend as introductions were already made.

So they get closer to the bar and come back later as the bar was full, the girl comes up to me and says something to the tune of (Cant remember the exact words) “This fucking guy just grabbed my ass, the fucking dick. Fuck him, at least I got a drink out of this, the fucking asshole” and she goes back to her boyfriend.

I go back to him and ask about, and he says “Yeah I grabbed her ass as a power move, nobody takes advantage of me. If she wants a drink, shes gotta work for that”

So by that time Im a bit puzzled and go back to the boyfriend, and of course he’s mad, I talk to him, I explain what a fucking clown Tyler is and of course the boyfriend wants to kick his ass, I mean the guy just grabbed his girlfriend ass knowing that he was there. Anyway, I talk him out of it, mainly explaining how fucking insecure Tyler is, and that the alcohol may be making him do stupid things (I did not see him do anything stupid like that the other days).”

However, the demise of NeoGAF had permanent effects. This is seen in the ResetERA off-shoot forum that came to be afterward. Their community is made up of the members of NeoGAF who were left stranded during the controversy and downtime on the site. This epiphany of dependency led them to create their own fresh site somewhere else. Tyler Malka wanted to just get NeoGAF back up and running, and continue like before this incident. Malka even made a policy change to disallow political discussions. But the point was moot.

The people who he assumed were coming back were long gone now.

As demonstrated here, the userbase didn’t share that sentiment. There was a period of open rebellion against site management.

Vincent Ingenito

Game journalist Kallie Plagge used the #MeToo hashtag to tell people a story of her own. Back in 2016 while working at IGN, she and another female employee had to deal with sexual harassment from IGN editor Vince Ingenito. The two ladies were subjected to a mix of abusive comments, awkward compliments, and sexual remarks. It was egregious enough that Kallie felt obligated to report it to HR and upper management in June 2016. They told Plagge to have “better judgment” in who she associates with. Her boss wanted her to not be “uptight” around Vince and HR implied Plagge used her body to prove him. Kallie was forced to sign a document saying she behaved inappropriately, and that she’d be fired if it happened again. She managed to survive six more months at IGN until leaving, and she cites the Vince incident as a major factor. All Ingenito got was a stern talking to in comparison, and despite that, he continued to violate Plagge’s personal boundaries.

Plagge interviewed with Kotaku where she discussed the matter further.

Vincent Ingenito was quick to respond to Plagge. In a series of tweets, he stated how he misread their friendship. Vincent thought he could be “very personal” with her because Kallie shared the same with him. Ingenito admits he believed she felt uncomfortable with their friendship, and that there are “legal limits” about what he can say towards the allegations made against him. Ingenito shares the final exchange he had with Plagge, where they confronted the situation that developed. Vincent says he handed over his phone and worked for home over the course of two weeks, to comply with the investigation. The conclusion was that he didn’t harass her, and was asked to change seats to keep things more comfortable. When it comes to the continued interaction, Ingenito says he was allowed under the pretense it was only work-related. On top of all that, Vincent denies making any sort of sexual comments about Plagge.

November 13th, Alanah Pearce announces there wouldn’t be an IGN Daily Fix until management acknowledged the Kallie Plagge situation. It’s worth pointing out this was only a week after Pearce got the job hosting Daily Fix. That evening IGN released their statement. It starts off by acknowledging their failure to deal with the situation, and explaining they as a company sat down and had a two-hour meeting about the situation.

“We care deeply about what we do, and we hope our passion for video games and entertainment shines through in our articles, videos, and podcasts every day. But we care even more deeply about each other, and we will continue to fight to make this right for the past, present, and certainly the future. Any future allegations will be taken extremely seriously, and we are actively working to ensure that everyone on our team feels like they work in a safe environment; we will not tolerate the exclusion or mistreatment of any people. The human resources representative who oversaw this situation originally is no longer with the company, and our current HR rep has been transparent and willing to listen to ideas and suggestions for how to create a better work environment going forward.”

An update added later outlines the next steps the outlet is taking. Mitch Galbraith (EVP and GM) and Peer Schneider (CCO and Co-Founder) apologized for the situation, personally. In steps taken forward, they announced the hiring of an independent consultant that will review how the matter at hand was handled, and the company’s general HR practices.

Conclusion/The End

As we arrive at the last page, I have to make a note about how taken aback at the extent of everything. I was only going to write a follow-up update on Devin Faraci’s situation. Then shit kept hitting the fan over and over. It got to the point where I dedicated myself to writing about this topic to the fuller extent you see now.

Now that we’re at the closing end of it? It’s astounding. I don’t mean it in a self-congratulating sense. More like: “wow this subject matter is more complicated and deep than I thought.”

I didn’t mean to write a book here. But since I am, it needs a proper send-off conclusion that ties things together. At the core of all this lays an ugly reality. Harvey Weinstein’s actions were evil, and to the extent of how long he got away with it is a reflection of his character. In the end, he was caught by the New York Times for being himself. Weinstein’s existence went on for so long because society allowed that to. Some things in the world are just fucked beyond all repair. Born as a broken machine in their design and nature. There’s beyond enough testimony and evidence for it all. Audio recordings and documents showing how and where he carried out duplicitous acts.

It’s that anchor of pure evil that caused this massive shockwave throughout the rest of the world. Seeing that sickness exist? It begs the question whether or not it spread elsewhere. It’s that kind of a catalyst that triggered this Sexodus we’ve seen over the past few months. Again we’re keeping in mind that what Harvey did is absolutely horrifying no matter what. Those caught in the spotlight of Weinstein aftermath are left for the public to judge.

What you’re looking at is the glory of nuance in the flesh. This series of graphs from YouGov was the result of a polling effort they did across several countries. Asking people about particular actions a man does to a woman (whose not a romantic partner) being considered sexual harassment or not.

For every senseless act of pain and disrespect that goes on in the world, there’s the opportunity to mend things and make it twice a better place too.

The intention of dumping as much material as I could here was to demonstrate to you in full the reality of what’s going on here. At the heart of this entire Sexodus is the people impacted by wrongdoing and inappropriate behavior. Something that was allowed to fester unchecked until the past few months.

The ending of the Sexodus is whatever we as a society choose to make of it. As a species, we’re pretty damn good at killing each other and going to war. We can do that again. But eventually, we’ll wind up right back here at this crossroads of a choice.

The first step is acknowledging the fact of the matter being something went wrong. It’ll be one hell of a reckoning for people in positions of power, who take advantage of their status in ways unacceptable to human decency.

The over-saturation of this topic in the public eye has had an effect over time. We’ve begun painting it all with the same brush of contempt and fear (or indifference), losing sight of the nuances throughout these situations. Society needs to re-establish limitations for bringing judgment over people. If we don’t, it feeds into the cycle of paranoia that keeps everyone on their guard. We’ll tear each other down until there’s nobody left, otherwise. No matter what we’re all stuck here on Earth with each other. You can rip careers away from as many people as you can. But they still exist.

What does rehabilitation back into public life look like? A question I posed back in the Devin Faraci section comes into play again. I don’t have the answer to it. But people like Mel Gibson, Tim Allen, and Robert Downey Jr. do. The solution comes to down the environment. I don’t mean Mother Earth and the trees. But our professional world and the interpersonal ecosystem. What was wrong before with online discussions surrounding Feminism is best described by this comic.

For a movement with such a hyperfocus on women’s rights, nothing was done about the predatory men among their own ranks. Shouting down misogyny in society and making an active effort to turn over every last rock looking for it. But completely blind to the obvious creeps right in front of them.

For anyone asking what the underlying flaw in the system was? That is what it is. This is actually why I kept politics out of this discussion as much as I could help it. It breaks my damn heart to read garbage pieces like this over on Buzzfeed. Going for the left vs. right mentality with this conversation does nothing in the long run. It’s pointless, feeding in on itself in a continuous infinite circle of bullshit.

The world we live in means all of this isn’t happening in a vacuum. That’s obvious. We also need to restore the basic humanity people involved in these situations are robbed of. Accept the fact that we can both punish someone for their actions, and yet not disown them altogether. But moreover, give those who spoke up the dignity to continue on with their lives like everyone else.

People like to rag on Christianity and religion, but you have to hand it to them on keeping themselves together when it comes to that sort of thing. There was a widespread panic over priests allegedly being pedophiles. Yet the church managed to get a handle on that and clean house. Society has shifted from the morality and values instilled by Catholicism, and moved toward a world where people engage in whatever act they want. No matter how taboo or disgusting it may be. I’m going to cut this off at the pass and stop you from interpreting this as some sort of “anti-gay” thing. I’m not saying that at all. The point is the fact that there is a greater sense of order in people’s lives when they practice religion.

We all act as a judge, jury, and executioner from our own points of view. Understanding perception matters. Given the substantial amount of examples to work with here, a classification system might come in handy to easily assess cases.

The Double S.E.T. system.

• Scale: how many people were involved in the incident? This could mean either victims or perpetrators.
• Strength: how severe was the incident? This section is for describing the action itself. Are we talking about something that was confined to verbal harassment? Or did it escalate to physical contact?
• Environment: what are the surrounding circumstances of where this incident happened? This applies to immediate stuff (bar, nightclub, hotel room, office, etc.) as well as psychological and mental too.
• Evidence: is there anything physical or digital to corroborate the incident description? were there possible witnesses?
• Time: how long ago did the incident happen? how long was the incident in question? frequency? how long did the victim know the person who committed it?
• Tell: were other people told about the incident? was it reported to the authorities? was the media told about it and did they investigate?

The real end of this story happens over a long time. The gradual progression from points A to B consists of those tiny and more immediate steps we take in the present. Everything I went over here in this book demonstrates there’s a vertical and horizontal angle to take. With the vertical: what can be done about addressing sexual abuse as it happens along during a Hollywood production? what can be done in situations where it’s a superior dominating a business underling? With the horizontal: how do we come to terms with addressing the fluid nature of sexual harassment and assault? what do the different industries it takes place in share in common?

That’s where this whole public conversation is headed. But until next time, that’s the end of this book.

(I’ve got two more add-ons to this. At some point, I’ll bite the bullet and go over the shake-ups that happened to the political world as a result of Weinstein. People will stay polarized in their own camps of thought, believing what they want to. But for completionist’s sake, I should address it. Also, later on, I intend to explore the pedophiles of Hollywood and beyond. The violation of innocence that happens to children creates its own series of complications and damages. But yes. What Corey Feldman brought to the public’s attention is worth talking about. In fuller attention.)