Since news broke last week about Harvey Weinstein’s sexual harassment allegations, numerous women have come to the fore, accusing the movie mogul of similar indiscretions.
Weinstein’s behavior has been described as an open secret in Hollywood, and that’s raised criticisms regarding the nature of Hollywood and its tendency to turn a blind eye to mysogynistic behavior.
High profile actresses like Ashley Judd and Gwyneth Paltrow are speaking out publicly for the first time and other actors have been called out for harassing women. Ben Affleck condemned Weinstein’s behavior in a tweet, but this prompted his own scandal with women accusing Affleck of sexually harassing them. One Tree Hill actress Hilarie Burton tweeted that Affleck groped her on TRL. She gave her account on-camera in a clip of TRL: Uncensored when the incident happened.
But will shedding light on the longstanding ‘casting couch’ situation actually change anything? Will it empower people who’ve been harassed to come forward? Or will this be a short-lived shaming of inappropriate behavior in the entertainment industry?
Guests:
Amy Nicholson, film critic for KPCC and host of The Canon podcast; she tweets @TheAmyNicholson
Wade Major, film critic for KPCC and CineGods.com
Andy Klein, KPCC film critic
