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Thread: #metoo (An Open Secret: Hollywood - Please Watch)

  1. #106
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    Quote Originally Posted by mickey View Post
    Greetings,

    The media has been going out of it's way to control the blowback of the Weinstein situation by, in many ways, making it look like "It is just what happens around here, too everybody."; hence, the "Me Too, Me Too" song that is being shared throughout media. Hollywood pedophilia has been hurriedly swept under the media rug. I hope more former child actors step forward.


    mickey
    Hi, mickey. I agree 100%. The #Metoo thing has become a cult unto itself. It's actually buried the subject of pedophilia (esp. in Hollywood) even deeper. While it MIGHT have originally started out with positive intentions, the #Metoo movement has devolved into a complete study in self-serving contradictions:

    "All men are either perpetrators or enablers."

    "Women are endlessly objectified by men."

    "Women are the only victims of sexual harassment/sexual violation."

    "Women are greater and more powerful than men." (see previous line)

    "All women are beautiful, no matter what, and should be seen and accepted as such by all men. Men need to stop objectifying women by ogling women in swimsuits who have idealized bodies that are unrealistic and unattainable to the average woman."

    "OTOH, the ideal man must be a certain height, a certain race(s), has 6-or-8-pack abs, and hopefully looks like Channing Tatum or Shemar Moore. Or they better have that $$$." (Note: I'm well aware that not all women have this mentality. But many of the militant #Metoo supporters DO).

    At first, I was supportive of the anti-harassment movement. And if it exposes real abusers, then that's a good thing. However, it's become a witch hunt, where an accusation equals guilt without proof. I've never been a fan of Louis C.K., but his uninvitedly playing with himself in front of women meriting the destruction of his career, while big-time Hollywood pedophiles remain free as a bird, tells the whole story. I originally thought that all of this would open the door to the decades-old accounts by Corey Feldman, and all the other former child actors who came forward with reports of pedophilia, but that hasn't happened, and likely never will.

    Keep in mind, I am all for equality in representation and respect between the sexes. I am totally against misogyny. But respect has to go both ways, and highlighting one wrong to bolster one's own agenda while purposely hiding another serious injustice is not only wrong, it's evil. The crimes that continue to be perpetrated against underage boys (and girls) in Hollywood are no less horrific (and are often worse in the long-term effects) than those perpetrated against adult women.
    Last edited by Jimbo; 03-09-2018 at 07:59 PM.

  2. #107
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    Weinstein indicted

    There's something so twisted about thanking the survivors of crimes you perpetrated.

    Grand Jury Indicts Harvey Weinstein on Charges of Rape and Criminal Sexual Act
    “I thank the heroic survivors for their strength throughout this process,” said Manhattan district attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. in a statement.
    by YOHANA DESTA
    MAY 30, 2018 6:29 PM


    A handcuffed Harvey Weinstein is led into criminal court in lower Manhattan, May 25, 2018.
    HILARY SWIFT

    Just a few days after Harvey Weinstein turned himself in to the police, a grand jury has moved to indict the disgraced mogul on charges of rape in the first and third degree, and a criminal sexual act in the first degree. The decision was announced on Wednesday by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr.

    “This indictment brings the defendant another step closer to accountability for the crimes of violence with which he is now charged,” Vance said in a statement. “Our office will try this case not in the press, but in the courtroom where it belongs. The defendant’s recent assault on the integrity of the survivors and the legal process is predictable. We are confident that when the jury hears the evidence, it will reject these attacks out of hand.”

    He continued, thanking the “heroic survivors for their strength throughout this process. I also thank Commissioner James O’Neill and members of the New York City Police Department for their dedication to this case. This investigation remains active and ongoing. We continue to urge additional survivors and others with relevant information to call us at 212-335-9373.”

    This is the most recent development in the Weinstein case, which began on Friday, when the shellacked producer turned himself in to the police and was charged with first-degree rape and third-degree rape in one case, and with a first-degree criminal sex act in another. The charges are related to the allegations of two women, one of whom is Lucia Evans. In an interview with The New Yorker, the marketing consultant and former aspiring actress claimed that Weinstein sexually assaulted her in 2004.

    The Weinstein controversy began last October, when dozens of women accused the celebrated Hollywood figure of sexual misconduct. Actresses like Gwyneth Paltrow, Salma Hayek, and Ashley Judd accused him of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior. Stars like Rose McGowan and Asia Argento both accused him of rape. The accusations led to a broader sexual-misconduct reckoning in Hollywood, and across various industries. Weinstein, through a spokesperson, denied all accusations of sexual misconduct. His attorney, Benjamin Brafman, told the A.P. on Friday that his client denies the allegations. Brafman also said he believes a jury will not side with Weinstein’s accusers, so long as potential jurors are “not consumed by the movement that seems to have consumed this case.”

    In Portrait: Rose McGowan, BRAVE

    Rose McGowan, in New York City. Her memoir, BRAVE, comes out this month.
    Photo: Photograph by Brigitte Lacombe.

    Yohana Desta is a Hollywood writer for VanityFair.com.
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  3. #108
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    Takei absolved and forgives

    George Takei Forgives Sexual Assault Accuser After Accuser Retracts Claim
    “I do not bear Mr. Brunton any ill will, and I wish him peace,” the actor tweeted on Friday.
    by EMMA STEFANSKY
    MAY 27, 2018 12:37 PM


    By Santiago Felipe/Getty Images.

    Back in November, while Hollywood was in the midst of an ever-growing series of accusations and allegations that began with twin bombshell reports against Harvey Weinstein, former model Scott Brunton offered his own tale to The Hollywood Reporter, saying that he had been drugged and groped by Star Trek actor and social-media personality George Takei. Six months later, Brunton has walked back his story, saying he doesn‘t actually recall a few key moments that he originally claimed had happened.

    In a new piece from the Observer, published Thursday, Brunton acknowledged a few inconsistencies in his story. He said that he does not actually recall Takei touching his genitals, which would have turned the encounter into one involving criminal sexual assault, and he also doesn’t recall a coffee meeting the two had years later, which Takei also said he had no memory of. Toxicologists who have examined the story say that Brunton could not have gotten up and left so immediately if he had been drugged, as the only sort of drugs that were available at the time (the mid-80s) would have knocked someone out for hours. Brunton also noted that he wasn’t traumatized by what happened, and that instead it had become “a great party story.”

    “I rarely thought of it,” he said. “Just occasionally, if his name popped up,” or if a Star Trek reference came up with friends. “I’d say, ‘Oh, well, I’ve got a story for you!’” he recalled, laughing. “They go, ‘Really? What?’ I’d tell people, and they’d go, ‘Ew!’”

    He explained, “He was 20 years older than me and short. And I wasn’t attracted to Asian men.” He added, “I was a hot, surfer, California-boy type, that he probably could have only gotten had he bought, paid for, or found someone just willing to ride on his coattails of fame.”
    Brunton says that he was “disappointed“ by what happened, and said that, if anything, he’d like an apology from Takei. “I felt so privileged to know him [because] he was so nice, and a celebrity,” he said. “I thought, ‘Well, he could be friends with lots of people, but he chose to be my friend’ . . . I just want him to apologize for taking advantage of our friendship.”

    Takei has responded to the story on Twitter, tweeting on Friday that he offers Brunton his forgiveness.

    As many of you know, this has been a very difficult period for myself and my husband Brad as we have dealt with the impact of these accusations, but we are happy to see that this nightmare is finally drawing to a close. http://observer.com/2018/05/george-t...drugs-assault/

    10:17 AM - May 25, 2018

    Exclusive: George Takei’s Accuser Has Changed His Story of Drugging and Assault
    Last November, Scott Brunton accused George Takei of drugging and sexual assault in 1981. Now he says it may not have happened.

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    George Takei

    @GeorgeTakei
    25 May
    Replying to @GeorgeTakei
    As I stated before, I do not remember Mr. Brunton or any of the events he described from forty years ago, but I do understand that this was part of a very important national conversation that we as a society must have, painful as it might be.


    George Takei

    @GeorgeTakei
    It is in that spirit that I want folks to know, despite what he has put us through, I do not bear Mr. Brunton any ill will, and I wish him peace.

    10:17 AM - May 25, 2018
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    Previous posts: #1 & #2
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  4. #109
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    If this scumbag-idiot did wrongfully accuse Takei, and it certainly looks like that is the case, all I can say to the accuser is, "Karma is a *****."

    And this applies to anybody who wrongfully accuses another person of sexual misconduct. It negatively affects the perception of credibility (and belittles the experiences) of those accusers who have ACTUALLY been sexually assaulted/molested and are seeking justice in the right way. It also leaves a permanent stain on the reputation of the wrongfully accused.
    Last edited by Jimbo; 06-01-2018 at 10:09 AM.

  5. #110
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    More from Margulies

    Julianna Margulies Recalls a Meeting With Steven Seagal and His Gun: "I Was Scared"
    12:00 AM PDT 5/24/2018 by Lexy Perez


    Vera Anderson/WireImage; Kristina Nikishina/Getty Images

    “He lifted up the cushion and he took out his gun. And I had never seen a gun in my life, not up close. And I said, 'Oh, my god.' I started getting very sweaty," the 'Dietland' actress said on Katie Couric's podcast.
    Julianna Margulies opened up about her uncomfortable meeting with a gun-toting Steven Seagal for The Katie Couric Podcast on Thursday, where she also addressed the #MeToo movement and Matt Damon's "spectrum of behavior" controversy.

    The Dietland star told Couric that her “horrific” hotel meeting with Seagal, who has been accused of sexual harassment by multiple women, took a dark turn when she realized he had a gun hidden in the couch.

    “I walked in and I sat down and I jumped right back up because there was something very uncomfortable and hard in the couch. He laughed and said, 'Oh, sorry, that must have been my gun,'” the actress told Couric. “He lifted up the cushion and he took out his gun. And I had never seen a gun in my life, not up close. And I said, 'Oh, my god.' I started getting very sweaty and he said, 'Oh, it’s just for all the crazies that are out there. I have to protect myself.'”

    After a casting director informed the then-recent college graduate that Seagal wanted to go over a scene with her in his hotel room, Margulies visited the actor, believing the female casting director would be accompanying her. Margulies quickly learned that she was alone with an armed actor.

    “I started getting angry at myself. Because my inner dialogue was, 'You stupid idiot. How could you have done this? No one knows where you are, and you’re in a hotel room alone with this guy and he’s got a gun. How stupid. You’re stupid.’ I was just chastising myself,” Margulies recalled.

    Margulies continued to grow uncomfortable after the actor informed her that he was a “healer” and requested she allow him to read her palm, something the actress recalled being odd and comical. “He told me I had really weak kidneys. At that point, to be honest, as a New York girl, I kind of started laughing inside. Like, this guy’s pathetic. Does he think I’m buying this line of crap? ... I just started talking a lot out of nerves. ...I squirmed my way out of there.”

    Though the actress left “sweating” and with a “pounding” heart, she had to return to Seagal’s hotel room, after realizing she had no cab fare. Prior to their meeting, Margulies had requested that she be reimbursed for her trip to Brooklyn. “I went back and I knocked on the door, and he smirked, and I think he thought I was coming back, like, ‘Oh, she got smart.’ And I stayed on the other side of the door and I held my hand out and I said, ... 'It cost me $15 to get here and I need cab fare to get home,” the actress explained.

    After Seagal supplied her with money, Margulies rushed away. “I couldn’t believe it. I thought if I just survived Steven Seagal and a gun in a hotel room by myself, I can handle a subway back to Brooklyn.” The actress would later land the role in Out for Justice, but warned the film’s team that she refused to meet with Seagal alone. “I said to everyone in there, I know you don’t know me, but I’d really appreciate it if no one would ever let me be in the room alone with him. Because I was scared.”

    Margulies’ story comes in wake of the #MeToo movement, which has seen a slew of Hollywood figures being accused of sexual harassment and assault. Apart from female empowerment, the actress explained that the movement has also instigated a conversation as to what qualifies as everyday bad behavior and sexual assault, something she defends Damon on attempting to speak out about. The actor received backlash after arguing that there’s a “continuum” and “hierarchy of abuse” with predatory behavior.

    “Matt Damon tried to do that, quite eloquently, and he got demonized,” Margulies argued. “I didn’t think that was right. I understood what he was saying. He was completely compassionate about what was going with people who are raping, but it’s not the same as what’s going on with people who are joking around on a set. You have to differentiate between what’s acceptable and what’s not acceptable. The dialogue has been opened, finally, after all these years. The reason the pendulum swung so far was that women, it’s been bubbling under the surface and this tiny little opening happened, and we all just ran out of that one ripped seam.”

    In light of the #MeToo movement, the actress admitted to Couric that she too has endured “invasive” experiences with men after a man once got underneath her legs to look under her skirt. Margulies added that the current climate has marked an “empowering” change among both men and women, but it's important "not to pit women against men." "This isn’t about women against bad guys. This is about people who abuse power. I think what’s important to remember is that there is also women who abuse their power. This whole movement, I feel, has been bubbling under the surface for years. ... It's just the beginning.”

    Marguilies also added, "I truly do think that when you’re desperate for a job and you’re excited and you want to act and here is someone offering you something, you don’t think that’s going to happen, but now you will. So hopefully now that conversation will protect the next generation of actors."


    Listen to the full audio of Couric's interview with Margulies below.
    Julianna Margulies has been lighting up the small screen for over two decades, with standout roles on TV shows like ER and The Good Wife. She joins Katie and Brian to discuss everything from the big impact George Clooney had on her career to what she loved about playing Alicia Florrick. She also explains what makes her latest character on AMC's Dietland such a delicious role. Plus, Julianna opens up about her own experiences with harassment as a young actress.
    https://art19.com/shows/katie-couric...2-41aece4891be
    Margulies' initial report here.

    THREADS:
    Seagal is at it again
    An Open Secret: Hollywood - Please Watch
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  6. #111
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    Adam Fields

    Quote Originally Posted by Jimbo View Post
    If this scumbag-idiot did wrongfully accuse Takei, and it certainly looks like that is the case, all I can say to the accuser is, "Karma is a *****."

    And this applies to anybody who wrongfully accuses another person of sexual misconduct. It negatively affects the perception of credibility (and belittles the experiences) of those accusers who have ACTUALLY been sexually assaulted/molested and are seeking justice in the right way. It also leaves a permanent stain on the reputation of the wrongfully accused.
    I feel ya, Jimbo. It's such a loaded issue. Here's another faked one.

    Relativity Faked Memo Accusing Executive of Sexual Harassment, Judge Rules
    7:02 PM PDT 6/4/2018 by Gregg Kilday


    Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic; JB Lacroix/WireImage
    Adam Fields (left), Ryan Kavanaugh

    Adam Fields has been awarded $8.44 million, which he is now seeking as a creditor in the current bankruptcy proceeding.
    Adam Fields, who worked briefly as co-president of Relativity Media in 2016, has been awarded $8.44 million by an arbitration judge who ruled that a Relativity memo in which seven women claimed they had been sexually harassed by Fields had been fraudulently created.

    The memo resulted from a breach-of-contract suit that Fields filed against Relativity and its founder Ryan Kavanaugh in Los Angeles Superior Court in early 2017 that went to a JAMS arbitration. Documents from that case also were filed May 29 with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, where Relativity is currently seeking approval to sell most of its assets to Ultra V Holdings and where Fields is now a creditor.

    "Without breaching the confidentiality of the arbitration, we cannot respond except to say it is skewed and inaccurate," a spokesman for Kavanaugh said. "This is nothing more than a desperate attempt by Adam Fields who lost against Mr. Kavanaugh 100 percent. Relativity would have appealed had Mr. Fields won anything of value, he won on a sole count of breach of contract and Relativity decided it was not worth an appeal as he will not even receive $100,000, let alone the absurd $8 million quoted."

    According to the presentation by Fields’ attorneys, at the arbitration, Relativity produced a memo which it said had been authored by Relativity’s then-managing director Carol Genis and which claimed that Fields had sexually harassed at least seven unnamed women, including one whom he allegedly promised a promotion in exchange for sex.

    But, testifying at the arbitration, Genis denied she had authored the memo and said she was unaware of any complaints of sexual harassment against Fields. Kavanaugh's spokesperson alleges, "She was and continues to work directly with Mr. Fields behind the scenes in an attempt to collect money from Relativity for herself."

    The judge ruled that “the evidence was overwhelming and undeniable that Relativity falsified the Genis memorandum,” and he pointed a finger at Kavanaugh himself, noting that the memo had been modified by a user who signed in as “kav kav,” noting that must be Kavanaugh.

    Fields, who first worked for Relativity as a producer on the 2011 film Limitless, was named a co-president of Relativity in late 2015 as it emerged from an earlier bankruptcy with, the court filing says, "a four-year contract worth in excess of $10 million." But his attorneys allege that when he began work at the company in 2016, he found himself in "a hostile work environment" where "his job was superfluous."

    Fields was fired in a Sept. 8, 2016, letter which said he was terminated for violating confidentiality agreements by making "disparaging statements to multiple third parties including the press without authorization." Fields' attorneys assert he had simply shared a seven-second elevator ride with a reporter. The termination letter contained no mention of any sexual harassment complaints.

    Two weeks before the hearing, however, Relativity produced 2,000 pages of new documents, including the memo alleging harassment. Kavanaugh claimed that he had found the memo in a private folder belonged to Genis, who was no longer with the company. Fields brought in a forensics expert who testified that Kavanaugh had falsified the document, after Fields had been fired, and just days before it was produced in court. The arbiter agreed that "the metadata refutes all of Relativity’s theories linking the memorandum to Genis," saying that "by falsifying the memorandum to manufacture evidence that it had cause to terminate Fields, Relativity admitted that it otherwise lacked cause."

    The judge awarded Fields $1,162,500 for the remaining unpaid portion of his company’s consulting services; $171,153 for the remaining portion of his base salary; $900,000 for its discretionary bonus; $287,452 for the unpaid portion of his car allowance; and $5.5 million for Ralativity’s repurchase of his vested profit interest. The arbitrator's partial award was later increased to $425,000 for attorneys' fees, interest on past due amounts and a present value discount for those payments due in the future. The resulting total amounted to $8.446 million.

    In their filing, Fields' attorneys claim, "It is clear that Relativity and Mr. Kavanaugh tried to exploit the current #MeToo moviement to destory Mr. Fields' reputation with false and fabricated accusations."

    Responded Kavanuagh's spokesperson: "This arbitration was not about Adam's sexual harassment or predatory behavior. To attempt to mute the accounts of multiple women, which took a lot of courage and with a lot to lose by sharing their own independent accounts of what can only be described as horrific and predator-like behavior by Adam Fields against them, by inferring this arbitration was in any way related to those accusations is truly sick and just wrong."

    June 4, 7:25 p.m. Updated with responses from Kavanaugh's spokesperson.
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  7. #112
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    Srsly Sly?

    Sylvester Stallone Sexual Assault Case Being Reviewed by L.A. District Attorney
    3:35 PM PDT 6/13/2018 by Katie Kilkenny


    Getty Images
    Sylvester Stallone

    The Santa Monica Police Department filed the case on Wednesday, according to a DA spokesperson.
    A sex crime case involving Sylvester Stallone is under review by the Los Angeles District Attorney's office, spokesman Greg Riesling confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter.

    The Santa Monica Police Department filed the case on Wednesday, according to Riesling.

    In December, Stallone was accused of sexual assault in a police report filed to the Santa Monica Police Department. The alleged incident occurred in the 1990s, which makes the case technically outside the statute of limitations in California. The actor disputed the claims as false via his lawyer in December.

    In November, The Daily Mail additionally reported that Stallone was accused of sexual assault of a minor in Las Vegas in the late 1980s. According to the article, a police report was filed but charges were never brought. Las Vegas police could not verify that a report had ever been filed, given the time that had passed since the alleged event.

    Stallone has also denied that veracity of the claims from the late 1980s.

    THR has reached out to Stallone's representatives for comment.

    Ryan Parker contributed to this report.

    KATIE KILKENNY
    Katherine.Kilkenny@THR.com
    katiekilkenny7
    Maybe it's good that he dropped out of Project X.
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  8. #113
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    Terry Crews testifies before Senate

    What fascinates me about the Crews case is that he's the last person you'd think of as a victim. That really speaks to the pervasiveness of the problem.

    Terry Crews says he was asked to withdraw sexual assault lawsuit to stay in 'Expendables'
    The Associated Press Published 10:16 p.m. ET June 26, 2018 | Updated 8:37 a.m. ET June 27, 2018

    Actor Terry Crews testifies before Senate, says a film producer said he could only return to the "Expendables" franchise if he dropped his sexual assault lawsuit against a Hollywood agent. (June 27) AP


    (Photo: Taylor Jewell/Invision/AP)

    Terry Crews says a film producer said he could only return to the "Expendables" franchise if he dropped his sexual assault lawsuit against a Hollywood agent. The actor said it was an example of how "abusers protect abusers," according to The Associated Press.

    The actor and former football player made the allegation Tuesday at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the Sexual Assault Survivor Bill of Rights, which establishes rights for survivors of sexual assault.

    Crews, who last year accused William Morris Endeavor talent agent Adam Venit of groping him at a party, was asked if there had been any retaliation for making the sexual assault allegation.

    He said "Expendables" producer Avi Lerner asked that the actor drop his case in order to appear in the fourth installment of the action film and warned of "troubles" if it wasn't dropped. Crews has been in each of the previous films.


    View image on Twitter

    The Hill

    @thehill
    Terry Crews opens up about his experience with sexual assault in Senate testimony http://hill.cm/ZDOJhnZ

    9:01 AM - Jun 26, 2018
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    "Abusers protect abusers — and this is one thing I had to decide, whether I was going to draw the line on. Am I going to be a part of this or am I gonna take a stand, and there are projects I had to turn down," he said.

    An email seeking comment from Lerner's Millennium Films was not immediately returned Tuesday afternoon.

    Millennium Films is being sued for sexual harassment and gender discrimination by a former employee.

    The Los Angeles County district attorney's office decided in March not to file charges against Venit, determining the allegations were not a felony. Crews has also filed a lawsuit against Venit.
    THREADS
    Expendables 4
    An Open Secret: Hollywood
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  9. #114
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    Luc Besson

    10 JUL 2018
    French film mogul Luc Besson hit by more sex assault claims


    AFP / Stefanie LOOS

    With a string of international hits and his own studio on the edge of Paris, Luc Besson is one of the most powerful players in the French film industry
    A second woman has accused the French movie mogul Luc Besson of sexual assault, according to reports, two months after a young actress alleged he had raped her.

    The 49-year-old casting director said that she was assaulted by the director "every time I took the lift with him", and that he also demanded sexual favours from her on set.

    Two other women told the French website Mediapart that Besson "behaved inappropriately" with them, with one actress claiming she had to escape from a casting in his Paris office on her hands and knees.

    The director's lawyer Thierry Marembert has already denounced the rape allegation as "fantasist accusations".

    Contacted by AFP Tuesday, his office said that he had nothing to add to his statement to Mediapart that Besson "categorically denies any type of inappropriate or reprehensible behaviour.

    "Mr Besson is reserving his answers for the investigators so that his innocence can be shown."

    Mediapart said that the casting director had written to prosecutors and that the actress who had made the previous rape claim had levelled a further allegation against Besson.

    But prosecutors said Tuesday that they had yet to receive the new complaints.

    With a string of international hits -- including "The Fifth Element", "The Big Blue" and "Nikita" -- and his own studio on the edge of Paris, Besson is one of the most powerful players in the French film industry.

    - 'Controlling relationship' -

    Blood tests conducted after the rape claim was first made in May showed that the woman was not drugged.

    The 27-year-old actress -- who has only ever appeared in Besson's films -- told police she was in an on-off relationship with the 59-year-old.

    She said she felt pressured into sex to keep her roles, including in his 2017 sci-fi epic "Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets", which with its 158-million-euro ($180-million) budget was the most expensive European film ever made.

    Her mother, a Belgian doctor, and a number of her friends told Mediapart that the actress had been in a controlling relationship with the director, who made her diet and dye her hair blonde.

    Hours after the alleged rape in May in a luxury Paris hotel, her mother said that she talked to her daughter on FaceTime and she was "trembling, crying and sweating. It was awful."

    The actress told the website that the director "liked to make her suffer during sex" sometimes until she bled and that he had twice assaulted her while she slept before the rape.

    Besson's production company refused to comment on the new allegations but told AFP that "we fully support Luc Besson in this difficult period".

    The film industry has been rocked by a wave of rape and sexual abuse scandals since Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein was accused of a series of assault last year, sparking the #MeToo movement.

    The French industry -- the world's second-biggest movie exporter -- has been relatively untouched, with veteran French actress Catherine Deneuve even making headlines by defending men's right to "hit on" women.
    I hope Besson is absolved if these accusations are false and busted if true. I am a fan of his films and will be saddened if he's guilty.
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  10. #115
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    Should we just change the title of this to #metoo?

    #woyeshi = Wo Ye Shi #我也是 - literally 'me also indeed'

    WITH A VENGEANCE
    China tried to crush #MeToo, but it’s making a comeback


    In this Aug. 31, 2016 photo, Chinese student gather on a field as they attend the opening ceremony of the Haileybury College's Chinese campus in northern China's Tianjin Municipality. International schools from outside China are booming thanks to growing demand from Chinese parents seeking different pathways for their children to college abroad. Top prep schools are opening campuses in China and catering to students who want to go to university in the West. Getting into China’s best public high schools can be monumentally difficult and many parents are opting to pay for what they see as a less stressful and more enriching experience at an international school. (AP Photo/Nomaan Merchant)
    Silence encouraged.

    WRITTEN BY Echo Huang
    OBSESSION China's Transition
    July 27, 2018

    In China, it’s rare for people to speak out about their rights—when they do, authorities, eager to maintain public order and security, are swift to shut it down, no matter what the cause.

    It’s why authorities clamped down in 2015 on something as innocuous as protesting against sexual harassment on public buses: Five women, who later became known as the “Feminist Five,” were detained for 30 days on the suspicion of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” after planning protests in multiple cities. It’s also why Ye Haiyan, an activist who tried to expose cases of sexual abuse against schoolgirls in Hainan province in 2013, was detained and assaulted by public security officers.

    “Authorities don’t care so much about the topic itself, it’s who’s involved and how many people participate in these movements that matter,” said Zhang Leilei, a 24-year-old feminist activist in Guangzhou. “Their logic is not to fix a problem, but to quash people who try to fix the problem.”

    Chinese authorities may not have expected female activists to come back this year after the setback of 2015—but they did, with a vengeance.

    The rise of #MeToo in China

    As the #MeToo movement took off around the world, women in China did not stay silent. In January, a graduate of a Chinese university detailed on social media how a professor forced himself on her (link in Chinese) a decade ago. That inspired many to post their stories with the hashtag #MeToo, or the Chinese version #Woyeshi. Censors acted quickly to delete those posts.

    That didn’t stop the movement. In fact, people were only further provoked after authorities tried to silence Yue Xin, a student at the prestigious Peking University who in April petitioned for information regarding a decades-old sexual harassment case in which a female student died. Posters went up around campus accusing the institution of betraying its values, with some even making reference to a student-led patriotic uprising in 1919 (paywall). They were quickly taken down. A school counselor told Yue that she had “no real freedom,” according to an open letter written by Yue (link in Chinese). The school didn’t respond to requests for comment.

    That the #MeToo movement has managed to gain traction at all in China is surprising, given the steadily deteriorating environment for civil society under president Xi Jinping. Even parents seeking answers to allegations that their children were abused at an elite Beijing kindergarten last year have been silenced.

    Despite the tightening restrictions, young activists have proven “very brave” and continued to fight for gender equality, said Zhang Lijia, a writer and commentator on social issues. The fact that it’s led by savvy, educated feminists has contributed to the #MeToo movement in China, she added.

    You can’t silence everyone
    It’s not just feminists speaking up. People across the country are. Recent research suggests that 15% of women (link in Chinese) living in urban areas and aged between 20 to 64 in China have been sexually harassed at some point in their life.

    Li Maizi, one of the Feminist Five, notes that the #MeToo movement in China is decentralized, which is one reason it’s made a comeback recently, spreading beyond campuses. This month more than a dozen Chinese women have come forward with accusations of sexual assault and harassment against prominent men, including authors, journalists, and leaders of charity organizations.

    On Thursday (July 26), an open letter accusing Zhu Jun, a news anchor at state broadcaster CCTV, of sexual assault began circulating on the social network Weibo. That rejuvenated the #MeToo hashtag, with 760,000 Weibo users (link in Chinese) searching for the topic at one point.

    The letter’s author said Zhu molested her in a dressing room when she was an intern at CCTV in 2014, but she only spoke up after seeing the growing feminism movement in China this year. She wrote that the police suggested she drop the case, and also put pressure on her parents, both of whom worked for the government. They also told her not to taint society’s impressions of CCTV and Zhu, a longtime host of China’s annual New Year gala, because both had “big and positive influences” (link in Chinese). Until today, the author still refuses to give her real name, fearing repercussions to her family, according to the New York Times (paywall). Zhu didn’t reply to comment requests sent via Weibo.

    Censors acted quickly after the open letter started spreading. Users found they couldn’t repost related news reports a few hours after (link in Chinese) Zhu became a trending topic on Weibo. A search of the #MeToo hashtag today showed “the topic doesn’t exist according to relevant laws and policies.” Weibo didn’t reply to requests for comment.

    “Censorship can only stop public discussion for a while,” Fu King-wa, a Hong Kong-based media scholar who runs a project tracking censorship on Weibo, told the New York Times (paywall). “When something big happens again, it will come back.”

    “Every time there’s a hot issue, the authorities treat the public like an enemy, and gradually they lose people’s trust,” said Zhao Nan, a 22-year-old college student in the central Henan province. “But if we don’t speak up for others today, who will speak up for us later when we have a similar situation?”
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
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  11. #116
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    Xuecheng, Abbot of Longquan Temple

    HEALTH
    China investigates high-ranking Buddhist monk accused of coercing nuns into sex
    Abbot of the Longquan Temple on the outskirts of Beijing denies allegations, saying they stemmed from ‘fabricated material’ and ‘distorted facts’
    PUBLISHED : Thursday, 02 August, 2018, 8:50pm
    UPDATED : Thursday, 02 August, 2018, 10:11pm
    Reuters



    China’s religious affairs administration said on Thursday it would investigate claims a high-ranking Buddhist monk sexually harassed nuns and coerced them into sex, the latest case of a prominent figure accused of sexual misconduct in the country.

    Xuecheng, the abbot of the well-known Longquan Temple on the outskirts of Beijing, has denied the allegations and on Wednesday night posted a statement from the temple on Weibo – China’s Twitter-like service – saying the allegations stemmed from “fabricated material” and “distorted facts”.

    Why Chinese women don’t speak out about sexual harassment in the workplace
    The claims made against Xuecheng, who also heads the Buddhist Association of China and is a member of the Communist Party’s top political advisory body, were outlined in a 95-page document prepared by two former monks at the monastery.

    The document swiftly went viral on Chinese social media on Tuesday amid a wave of other allegations that has stoked heated debate and seen China’s fledgling #MeToo movement gain momentum and widen to different aspects of society despite government pressure and censorship.

    Included in the document were extensive details and screenshots of explicit text messages allegedly sent by Xuecheng, including claims to nuns that they could be “purified” through the physical contact and that sex was part of their study of religious doctrines.

    The monastery, in its statement, acknowledged that the document was prepared by the two former monks and that it reserved the right to take legal action against them.

    China’s State Administration for Religious Affairs said in a statement that it had started an investigation and was treating it as a matter of “high importance”.

    The Chinese Buddhist Association did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

    The global #MeToo movement was triggered by accusations by dozens of women against US film producer Harvey Weinstein of sexual misconduct, including rape, triggering a wider scandal that has roiled Hollywood and beyond. Weinstein has denied having non-consensual sex with anyone.

    The catalyst for a Chinese #MeToo-style movement came in December last year when a US-based Chinese software engineer published a blog post accusing a professor at a Beijing university of sexual harassment.

    In China, the hashtag #MeToo has so far appeared more than 77 million times on Weibo, although most the posts with that hashtag are not viewable.
    THREADS:
    An Open Secret: Hollywood - Please Watch
    Buddhists behaving badly
    Gene Ching
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  13. #118
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    Past the statute of limitations

    I've never quite understood the justice behind the statute of limitations.

    L.A. District Attorney Declines Sex Crime Cases Against Kevin Spacey, Anthony Anderson and Steven Seagal
    11:24 AM PDT 9/4/2018 by Ryan Parker

    Two of the cases were past the statute of limitations.

    The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office on Tuesday announced that it declined to prosecute sex crime cases against actors Kevin Spacey, Anthony Anderson and Steven Seagal.

    In the matter of the Spacey and Seagal cases, the statute of limitations had passed, according to authorities. For Anderson's case, the reporting party declined to be interviewed by authorities for the case.

    Spacey has been accused by numerous men both in the U.S. and abroad of sexual assault. This particular case was alleged to have occurred in 1992. The victim was not a minor at the time of the alleged crime, according to authorities.

    Seagal was accused of an alleged sexual assault that took place in 1993 when the victim was 18 years old, according to court documents.

    Los Angeles police opened an investigation into Anderson in July after a woman accused him of sexual assault. Authorities say she declined to be interviewed after filing the initial report. Therefore, that case was declined.

    The D.A.'s office is still reviewing cases against Harvey Weinstein, whose massive scandal created the #MeToo movement.
    THREADS:
    An Open Secret: Hollywood - Please Watch
    Seagal is at it again
    Gene Ching
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    Still considering changing the title of this thread to #metoo - thoughts? Jimbo?

    This article precedes the Kavanaugh scandal, but it's more relevant to our forum.

    #米兔 is freakin brilliant.

    How China’s feminists launched #MeToo in a country where protest is barely possible
    By ROBYN DIXON
    SEP 14, 2018 | 3:00 AM
    | GUANGZHOU, CHINA


    Zhang Leilei, a feminist activist in Guangzhou, southern China, wears a poster against groping on buses and trains after authorities refused permission to post a billboard in the subway. When people shared her photos on social media, police told her to leave the city. (Zhang Leilei)

    Dressed in black, Li Yiyi sat on a ledge on the eighth floor of a downtown office building, staring at her cellphone as people on social media urged her to jump.

    Her life had started unraveling two years before when a schoolteacher forced himself on her, kissing and fondling her as he tried to pull off her clothes. Once an ambitious, talkative 16-year-old with plans to attend a top university in China, she dropped out of school, retreated inward and settled for a job as a shop assistant. Her father tried without success to get authorities to pursue criminal charges against the teacher.

    “She was a very open-minded and positive person, but she seemed to change into a completely different person after the incident happened,” said Li Yifei, her 28-year-old cousin who had raced to the building in downtown Gansu when he saw that she had posted a suicide message on social media.

    When he arrived, Li Yiyi was clinging to the ledge by her hands. A fireman tried to coax her down. Instead she let go.

    Li Yiyi’s death in June underscored again the long road ahead for the embryonic #MeToo movement in China, where gender inequality is still deeply entrenched and social protest is swiftly stifled.

    “I was so sad,” Wan Miaoyan, a commercial lawyer in China who also handles sexual harassment and domestic violence cases, said of Li Yiyi’s death. “But during my research on the history of setting up laws and regulations against sexual harassment around the world, there was always blood and lives lost in the process, and that is the cost.

    “That is why I wish China could introduce laws so that cases like Li Yiyi’s do not happen.”

    Employers, universities and even police are generally reluctant to get involved in sexual harassment cases in China and assailants are rarely charged and often never punished, leaving few women bold enough to speak out. When five women tried to organize multi-city protests in 2015 to focus attention on unwanted groping on buses and trains, they were arrested and jailed for more than five weeks for “picking quarrels and stirring up trouble.”

    Yet there is evidence of progress. A prominent Buddhist monk, a university professor, the founder of a well-known charity, an environmental activist, a famous state television host, two badminton coaches and several journalists have all been accused of sexual harassment in recent months, with the accusations spreading rapidly on Chinese social media, though state censors usually quash the messages quickly.

    When censors in China banned the #MeToo hashtag, activists came up with imaginative ways to get around the ban, using the characters “rice bunny,” pronounced “mi tu,” to tag posts or by using the emojis for a bowl of rice and a rabbit.

    Though victims are often pressured to remain silent, Wan believes public awareness of sexual harassment is growing and pressure is building in China to finally create a clear criminal law banning sexual harassment. In a 2016 online survey of 6,592 university students, 70% reported being sexually harassed. A survey of female factory workers three years earlier by a labor rights group, the Sunflower Women Workers Center in Guangzhou, found the same thing.

    Wan now is handling a case she believes could mark a turning point for the #MeToo movement in China.

    In December, Nanchang University, in Jiangxi province, dismissed two professors, one of whom is accused of raping a student in 2016 and the other accused of discouraging the student from reporting the incident. The professors were fired a day after details of the case began swirling on Chinese social media.

    Now Wan is suing the professors and school for damages of about $21,000 on behalf of the student, far more than the few hundred dollars awarded in the handful of successful sexual harassment cases to date.

    “In some countries victims get significant compensation. Here, we’re just starting,” she said. “I will really put a lot of effort and thought into this case. It’s really important to win. It would mean that institutions would start to take responsibility.”

    One of the earliest sexual harassment scandals in China emerged in 1998 after a 21-year-old student, Gao Yan, committed suicide. She’d alleged she was raped by a professor at prestigious Peking University, Shen Yang, now 62. He denied the allegations. At the time, the university quietly gave him a demerit on his employment record, a minor administrative punishment.

    Two decades later, the case drew renewed anger when it surfaced on Chinese social media. In response, the professor’s two current employers, Shanghai Normal University and Nanjing University, fired him.

    One thing slowing the #MeToo movement in China is the lack of a clear legal definition of sexual harassment. Of the more than 50 million legal cases that were filed between 2010 and 2017, only two were brought by women alleging they were victims of sexual harassment.

    The Beijing Yuanzhong Gender Development Center, which supports victims of sexual harassment and domestic violence, is now pushing for a national law to define and ban sexual harassment and discrimination against women and, for the first time, the government is actually drafting a measure that would require employers to take steps to discourage harassment in any form. Activists, though, say that doesn’t go far enough and want perpetrators to face the risk of criminal charges.

    China’s intolerance for activism has also likely slowed the #MeToo movement.

    When a famous state TV host, Zhu Jun, was accused by a former station intern of sexual harassment in a social media post last month, censors swiftly eliminated any social media references to #MeToo or “Zhu Jun.”

    The intern posted that she was asked to take fruit to Zhu’s room, where he attempted to molest her and boasted that he had the influence to get her a job at the station. She said her supervisor pressured her not to go to the police.

    State media then were ordered to “immediately delete all information related to Zhu Jun” and “leave no area neglected,” according to a notice published by California-based China Digital Times. Two days later, a notice went out warning state media not to “hype” coverage of the #MeToo movement.


    Last year, activist Zhang Leilei had no hope that a campaign against sexual harassment in China would ever take hold. "But this year you can see the #MeToo movement is really thriving. It’s the people, especially women, who have taken this movement to the next level.” (Zhang Leilei)

    Zhang Leilei, a feminist activist in Guangzhou, southern China, ran up against the limits of official tolerance last year when she and other activists crowd-funded a project to put up a billboard in the local subway protesting sexual groping.

    When she was 12, Zhang said, she was riding home on the school bus when a middle-aged man pushed himself up against her so hard she couldn’t pull free.

    “He was just standing there and smiling and really creepy. He was not even nervous. I was really afraid.” She said she was groped other times as well, once in a bookstore. Victim-blaming is so entrenched in China, she said, that it took her years to realize she was not at fault.

    Now emboldened enough to fight for reform, she and other activists raised almost $6,500 for a subway billboard that showed a female hand with bright red fingernails blocking a male’s groping hand with the slogan: “Temptation is no excuse. Stop the wandering hands.” Authorities said the image could cause public anxiety and rejected the design.

    When the women redesigned the sign with a cat’s paw and a pig foot, authorities told her that only government agencies and companies could put billboard advertisements in the subway.

    So Zhang dyed her hair pink, donned a pink tutu, pink T-shirt and pink plastic slippers and photographed herself at locations across the city holding up a smaller version of the billboard and posted the images online, urging others to do the same.

    “It was the only thing I had left. Whenever I went outside, I carried the billboard with me.”

    She said more than 100 supporters in 20 different areas of China posted her photos, enough to attract official attention.

    “I intended to do it every day for a month. But after two weeks the police came to my house and told me to stop.”

    She said the police, who had made warning visits to her home before, asked her to leave the city for at least six months.

    Instead, she moved elsewhere in the city. Police then called her parents and uncle, reporting that she was “causing trouble.”

    “It’s difficult to be a feminist in China,” she said.

    The fight for change, Zhang said, will be long.

    “Last year I felt really frustrated and I felt no hope,” she said. “But this year you can see the #MeToo movement is really thriving. It’s the people, especially women, who have taken this movement to the next level.”
    Gene Ching
    Publisher www.KungFuMagazine.com
    Author of Shaolin Trips
    Support our forum by getting your gear at MartialArtSmart

  15. #120
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    Hi, Gene.

    You can change the thread title if you want. The thread has outgrown the video it was originally titled around. Although I do kinda like the current thread title, as it's a bit eye-catching.

    This story has been making the rounds lately. Julie Chen's shows are not the type I would watch, but I have heard that in the past she has supported the #metoo movement and called out others who were in the very same position she is in now (Camille Cosby, for example). I would say that any celebrities or other public figures had better be very careful when jumping onto the #metoo bandwagon and publicly pointing the finger at others, lest something comes up and bites THEM in the rear. Of course, if the allegations against Moonves are true, Chen had nothing to do with it, but unquestionably throwing her support behind him after previously criticizing others for doing the same almost certainly spells the end of her career (which is inextricably tied in with her husband anyway).


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