Harvey Weinstein allegations; who's next when it comes to allegations? (1 Viewer)

[Robert Crawford]

Amazon Studios just suspended Roy Price for sexually harassing a female producer...so we are probably looking at some changes in how business will be conducted.

Amazon fired him!

 

[FoxyMulder]

I read a good book about the golden age of Hollywood, specifically MGM and how they had massive power in Los Angeles back then and how Spencer Tracy asked the fixers to arrange a ‘date’ with a young 15 year old Judy Garland, he was considerably older.

Clark Gable, by his own words, slept with every gal and maybe a few guys in Hollywood, as did Grace Kelly but that was also a secret within the Hollywood studio system. Fixed arranged marriages was common practice.

Another major incident involved a murder being covered up by the MGM fixers to look like a suicide and an actor ( see above ) driving a speeding car that killed a pedestrian that was also covered up.

I could bring up Bruckheimers old producing parter Don Simpson or discuss how certain recorded scandals get covered up, the paedophile links to major Hollywood players that just seems to have gone away, lack of evidence? Pay offs? Didn’t happen? I couldn’t say but I do wonder, no names can be mentioned on that here.

Did people like Bryan Singer pay off ‘victims’ to make a story go away or was there no story, maybe one day we find out, until then we discuss without evidence on forums like this.

Louis B. Mayer, Howard Hughes, ??? Allegedly, say no more.

Harvey Weinstein was called out by his brother, many women who were scared to talk as he yielded power, his excuses and rubbish about going to rehab simply show him to be cowardly, too many reputable people say things happened, I fear he will walk away rich and nothing will be done.

 

[ChristopherG]

should make for an interesting Oscars telecast this year. I might even watch.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

I think way back when in Hollywood you could get away with a lot...now, with the internet, social media, and the 24 hour news cycle with cameras everywhere it just is no longer possible to keep things quiet. So, if you are doing something you are likely to get caught and you will be tried in the court of public opinion quite quickly.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

He stops making money and his studio is perceived to be on a downward course and now it is okay to stab him with their steely knives.

Are you suggesting they just can't kill the beast?

 

[Jake Lipson]

More, including a statement from TWC staff: http://deadline.com/2017/10/weinste...ement-harvey-weinstein-new-yorker-1202191545/

And a New Yorker piece also about the staff: https://www.newyorker.com/news/news...eckon-with-what-they-knew-and-what-they-didnt

And from the NY Times, an interview with and lengthy statement by Quentin Tarintino: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/19/movies/tarantino-weinstein.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur

 

[TravisR]

And from the NY Times, an interview with and lengthy statement by Quentin Tarintino: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/19/movies/tarantino-weinstein.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur

I'm sure there's going to be people who will attack Quentin Tarantino for this and they're not wrong but I have to give the guy some credit for essentially admitting to fucking up. Apparently many people in Hollywood knew about Harvey Weinstein and they did & said nothing for years and after the story came out, they've just claimed ignorance rather than taking any responsibility for their failure. To be clear, I'm not trying to give Tarantino a pass for his inaction but I do think he's being more honest and saying more of value than all of the people who worked with Weinsten for years and their "I have a daughter and I would never..." responses combined.

 

[Edwin-S]

Are you suggesting they just can't kill the beast?

Not.really, but do you think they can?

 

[Edwin-S]

Thete aren't any innocents in this mess. They all kept their mouths shut out of self interest. Tarantino going on about how he should have taken a stand earlier makes me laugh. Where would he have been if he had taken a stand as a rising star? Nowhere, that's where. If he had challenged Weinstein about his behavior early in his career, he wouldn't be where he is, apologizing for not coming forward. He would have been back working in a video store, kicking his ass for opening his mouth.

The above makes me sound like I'm being hard on him. I'm not. It is easy for him to talk now, because Weinstein can't hurt him now. However, as a new talent, Weinstein could have destroyed his career as a director before it even got started, had he decided to "White Knight" it over allegations and stories.

 

[Jake Lipson]

The thing that scares me about it is that it's now so many women, and yet Harvey seemed to make each of them feel like they were in an isolated situation, like it was them alone he was doing this to, and one person against someone as intimidating as Harvey would certainly understandably be afraid to speak up. It's just really surprising that he was able to make so many feel like they were so few when in fact the reverse seems to be the case.

While I agree with you, Edwin, about the fact that Weinstein put QT where he is and that would not have happened if he spoke up earlier, it's also true that QT has been where he is for a while now. Maybe he needed Weinstein's help to make his early films like Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, but now that he is a name director with a longer list of credits and established fan base, he could have made his more recent films, like Django Unchained and The Hateful Eight, via other studios in the event of a fallout with Weinstein had he spoken up in the more recent term. However, if it was hard for the women to put together that this was a huge pattern of abuse, I can also understand why it would be easy for QT to rationalize what he was hearing as scattered incidents, which we as human beings would have a natural tendency to do, since he and Harvey were good friends, and no one would really want to admit to themselves that their friend is capable of such disgusting behavior.

I agree with Travis that it's nice to see QT owning up to this. However, he also stops short in the article of saying "I won't work with The Weinstein Company again," which is interesting. I'm not sure if there will be a Weinstein Company in six months anyway, but if there is still any chance of that studio surviving, I think Bob Weinstein would certainly want to step in and try to ensure that QT, who as the article says has been more identified with Weinstein than anybody else, is still making his next film for whatever the next iteration of the company is. However, when QT is ready to get going with a distributor on another film, it's not like he doesn't have options. I'm sure other distributors would love to bring him into the fold, and if he really feels that guilty about it, he should go elsewhere.

 

[TravisR]

Where would he have been if he had taken a stand as a rising star? Nowhere, that's where. If he had challenged Weinstein about his behavior early in his career, he wouldn't be where he is, apologizing for not coming forward. He would have been back working in a video store, kicking his ass for opening his mouth.

That's not really accurate. Pulp Fiction made Quentin Tarantino's career and it made Harvey Weinstein into a mogul. Prior to Pulp Fiction, Miramax was a distributor of art house movies so I doubt that Weinstein was able to strong arm many women into sex by saying "I'm the distributor of Sex, Lies and Videotape! I can break you in this town!" After PF, Weinstein was able to be a degenerate with actual clout and Tarantino could have gone anywhere & could have spoken out against Weinstein as he began to accumulate victims and Tarantino wouldn't have been working in a video store at the end of it.

I agree with Travis that it's nice to see QT owning up to this. However, he also stops short in the article of saying "I won't work with The Weinstein Company again," which is interesting.

That could be a situation where he's contractually obligated to The Weinstein Company or they have first rights to his script and if they pass, he can go somewhere else.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

So, the list of women with stories about Weinstein continues to grow but the side effect has been all kinds of people, male and female, telling their stories of sexual predators in the business. So, I would say it is a good thing that this is happening because it seems to have become open season on sexual predators and they are getting fired when the stories come out.

So, another person recently ensnared in this is Kevin Spacey which is both a bit interesting and expected. He is another person who has long been surrounded by rumors and stories and the story of him attacking a 14 year old Anthony Rapp is now out...and Spacey is now also officially "out" as well as he made that announcement as part of his strange apology/non-apology to Rapp.

So, here is something both hideous and telling...and hard to avoid...Spacey is one of the people that appears in the flight logs of billionaire pedophile Jeffery Epstein the child sex slave provider to presidents (Trump and Bill Clinton also availed themselves of his services and appear in logs according to a variety of sources), the wealthy, and famous...this story has barely been touched upon by the media and all of Epstein's records (which include videotape of the wealthy and famous partaking in what he had to offer) have been seized and sealed. Presumably because Epstein was buddies with people like Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew and Donald Trump and a who's who of the wealthy and famous and so the harm that could come from exposing all his records would be immense.

So, I am thinking this could expand to cleaning out a lot more than Hollywood but we shall see.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

I want to point out that the above post is neither political nor a conspiracy theory...Jeffrey Epstein was arrested, charged, and convicted...what I mention in the above post is in the public record. I mention it because as more people come out and more people tell their stories I wonder how many people will be taken down by this. It would be great as far as I am concerned if this expands beyond the Hollywood stories into other powerful people victimizing the weak also having to pay for their crimes.

 

[Ruz-El]

I want to point out that the above post is neither political nor a conspiracy theory...Jeffrey Epstein was arrested, charged, and convicted...what I mention in the above post is in the public record. I mention it because as more people come out and more people tell their stories I wonder how many people will be taken down by this. It would be great as far as I am concerned if this expands beyond the Hollywood stories into other powerful people victimizing the weak also having to pay for their crimes.

With Spacey's statement (an absolutely horrendous one, putting the blame on "being gay") more people are going to look deeper into Brian Singer and the others as well. I haven't watched it yet, but it's time to have a look at the Open Secret documentary from a couple of years ago.

 

[TravisR]

Maybe I'm a chump but I find it hard to believe that there's a cabal of powerful Hollywood people that molest children with impunity. That's not to say that there aren't sick animals in Hollywood and everywhere else that molest kids but an orchestrated decades-long conspiracy (which, due to the length of time, would involve hundreds if not thousands of people) that facilitates and covers it up? That's hard for me to buy.

 

[Ruz-El]

Some background:

http://nypost.com/2016/10/09/the-se...xposed-pedophile-billionaire-jeffrey-epstein/

 

[Ruz-El]

Maybe I'm a chump but I find it hard to believe that there's a cabal of powerful Hollywood people that molest children with impunity. That's not to say that there aren't sick animals in Hollywood and everywhere else that molest kids but an orchestrated decades-long conspiracy (which, due to the length of time, would involve hundreds if not thousands of people) that facilitates and covers it up? That's hard for me to buy.

Not that I think you're a chump by me posting that link. It's one of those bonkers things you hear about. His jet was nicknamed "The Lolita Express", they clearly thought they were above the law as opposed to a underground society. I have no idea, obviously, how deep it goes. I have heard the rumours of both Spacey and Singer being involved with alleged abuse of minors at numerous parties, including the palm springs house of Epstein. I think the Vanity Fair piece on Epstein had those details but I'm not sure.

Anyway, it's why some of us thought that Weinstein was just the start of the allegations.

 

[WillG]

With Spacey's statement (an absolutely horrendous one, putting the blame on "being gay") more people are going to look deeper into Brian Singer and the others as well. I haven't watched it yet, but it's time to have a look at the Open Secret documentary from a couple of years ago.

I watched that doc. It doesn't focus on anyone major, but Singer's name is brought up a couple of times. He's got to have major eyes on him now and he must be shitting himself. I'd be flabbergasted if it turned out he was clean. I am sort of delighted that Spacey's obvious attempt to play his coming out as a Trump card backfired immensely (it probably would have worked Pre-Harvey though)

Maybe I'm a chump but I find it hard to believe that there's a cabal of powerful Hollywood people that molest children with impunity. That's not to say that there aren't sick animals in Hollywood and everywhere else that molest kids but an orchestrated decades-long conspiracy (which, due to the length of time, would involve hundreds if not thousands of people) that facilitates and covers it up? That's hard for me to buy.

It wouldn't surprise me much. You have to remember this is an industry run by people who have a ton of money and power. And the even worse part is that it's an industry that many people are desperate to get into even to the point where is alledged that parents actually pimp out their children (one of the common questions I've seen today is how Rapp's parents allowed him to be in a situation to have been allegedly molested by Spacey.) As we know, Singer on a few occasions has been under fire. Epstein's (Not Ron, of course) "Lolita Express" has been discussed. Also take a look at Dan Schneider (formerly of "Head of the Class"). A lot of creepy photos of him with tween stars. I think the power and money corrupts, and it's an industry that attracts the unscrupulous by nature.

I also think of the scene in the extended version of The Godfather. Remember when Tom Hagen is leaving Jack Woltz's house and he sees that young girl and it's heavily implied she's Woltz's sex slave. I can't help but think Woltz was based on someone (like Johnny Fontaine was based on Sinatra).

 

[TravisR]

Epstein's (Not Ron, of course) "Lolita Express" has been discussed.

Much like Harvey Weinstein, I think the case of that Epstein creep there is that people ignore the rumors for whatever self-serving reason they choose. Or since it's claims of pedophilia, they ignore it because the potential truth is so horrible that they don't even want to think it's a possibility that a person would do something like that. That New York Post article mentions both a Democratic and a Republican President and one of them I loath and the other I can tolerate but I don't think either one is a pedophile simply because they did business with the guy or went to his island. They just chose to do business with a guy that they most likely knew was an obscenity of a human being. That makes them bad people but it doesn't mean they're a member of a child sex ring.

By no means am I trying to say that there's no pedophiles in Hollywood (it's a crime that is terrifyingly under reported) but I doubt it's any more prevalent in Hollywood than anywhere else and I don't see some secret club keeping them all safe.

 

[WillG]

By no means am I trying to say that there's no pedophiles in Hollywood (it's a crime that is terrifyingly under reported) but I doubt it's any more prevalent in Hollywood than anywhere else and I don't see some secret club keeping them all safe.

Well, I'm not saying there's a secret society or anything like that. I think like Weinstein, it's another thing that's being "kept in the family". I also theorize that the media has been reluctant to report on it, in spite of plenty of anecdotal evidence because if pedo in Hollywood was truly exposed, it would inevitably be revealed that the media buried stories about it years. They might get away with a slap on the wrist for being remiss in reporting stuff about Harvey, but pedo activity would bring down a lot of people.

I'm also very annoyed that for all the people who have turned on Harvey (bad enough that it only happened when he got caught) not a soul in Hollywood that I've yet heard has yet had any words of remorse for, to this day, lionizing Roman Polanski (even as another woman who was underage at the time has recently come forward).