Weinsteins step down as Miramax CEOs

coming up on Frontline this week to celebrate the oscars

Drawing on exclusive insider accounts, Weinstein, a one-hour special co-produced with the BBC, examines how Weinstein used lawyers and private detectives to help him suppress sexual harassment allegations. The film shines new light on what those around Weinstein knew about his behavior, and when.

“I think looking back that I did know and I chose to suppress it,” Paul Webster, former head of production of Miramax, says in his first television interview on Weinstein’s alleged sexual misconduct. “I think we were all enablers. I think we were we were all complicit.”

“I had no idea of the breadth and enormity of the story. I thought he just preyed on us,” a former Weinstein assistant, Zelda Perkins, says in the documentary. “That was the most shocking thing, realizing he was a predator and he had been seriously abusing people with total impunity for all this time.”

The film traces Weinstein’s alleged predatory behavior all the way back to his very first movie, drawing on interviews with former executives at both Miramax and The Weinstein Company, a former assistant, and some of his accusers — including a woman who worked with Weinstein on his first film and is speaking out for the first time.

Using these firsthand accounts, Weinstein shows how the mogul successfully used non-disclosure agreements over the years to settle sexual harassment allegations — and examines how he hired private intelligence firms to investigate both his accusers, and journalists and actors who might pose a threat to him.

FRONTLINE also sat down with Eric Schneiderman, the New York State Attorney General who filed suit against The Weinstein Company: “[Weinstein] was using the company to advance his sexual interests and there are a lot of employees who were either manipulated or intimidated into helping him along,” Schneiderman tells FRONTLINE.

More than 100 women have now come for­ward to accuse Weinstein of sexual misconduct, abuse, and even rape. Weinstein denies all allegations of nonconsensual sexual contact and criminal conduct. Filled with fresh insights from those who worked with Weinstein, those who tried to confront him, and the journalists who ultimately broke the story, Weinstein is an in-depth look at the long history of allegations against the powerful producer.

“Any time you have a story like this where people are getting hurt over decades and decades, there are people around who knew enough and could have done more to stop it,” Ronan Farrow of The New Yorker tells FRONTLINE in the documentary.

Weinstein premieres Friday, Mar. 2 on PBS stations (check local listings), online at pbs.org/frontline, and will stream live on FRONTLINE’s Facebook page (facebook.com/frontline).

definitely setting my DVR for that, thx LL

http://www.chatelaine.com/survey-define-masculinity/

finally, what men think

When women talk about the pervasiveness of sexual harassment, 25 percent of respondents said they feel “nothing.” How do the other 75 percent feel?

Sad 42%
Angry 32%
Bored 12%
Persecuted 9%
Guilty 5%
Other 8%

Among the “other” answers were: “Reminded that men need to call out other men when they are creeps.” “That most women are bringing it on themselves.” “Ambivalent. I see little evidence of sexual harassment everywhere.” “I feel bad for the ones who have actually had it happen to them, but also persecuted by those who just want attention.”

what a gender

that adds up to 108%

feeling persecuted rn

ladies be wantin that unwanted attention

what portion of the 32% angry are angry at women

important q imo

12% bored

Alex Jones is accused of discrimination and sexual harassment by former InfoWars employees https://t.co/v7vNaHCbzA pic.twitter.com/xGKLhRWSWm

— Mother Jones (@MotherJones) March 1, 2018

"shirtless, and endlessly leering"

i thought he was just playing a character, what a shocker

i wonder if we're going to have to christen a new most overemployed man in america soon

https://www.thecut.com/2018/03/ryan-seacrest-suzie-hardy-me-too-movement-e-news-host.html

The reemergence of the allegations against Seacrest is the latest in a string of stings to E!’s image. Over the past few months, the go-to network for women who want to watch celebrities walking red carpets before awards shows has faced considerable backlash. Debra Messing told E! live on its Golden Globes preshow that the network should pay hosts like recently departed Catt Sadler the same wage as their male counterparts. Sarah Jessica Parker and Eva Longoria reiterated her statement. Then there was that moment when producers cut to a pan of Dakota Johnson’s Gucci dress when Michelle Williams’s date, activist and #MeToo founder Tarana Burke, had the mic.

A former producer of E!’s red-carpet show told the Cut that E! “was trying to avoid commenting or reacting to” the comments made live on-air about Sadler at the Golden Globes, adding, “I know from people who were in the truck beds listening that they were just uncomfortable.”

This source suspected part of E!’s problem is not knowing how to deal with being at the center of controversy, and, because they are so protective of their image, they fear publicly sympathizing with the #MeToo cause. “I know they’re spinning over there and trying to figure out how to handle [the Seacrest allegations],” the source added, noting the many hours of prep that go into awards-show planning.

Another former E! employee told the Cut that Seacrest enjoyed a close relationship with E! executives that seemed to afford him special privileges, like an ability to work for other networks without onerous negotiations, that other talent did not: “Ryan’s the golden boy of that network. They have fought very hard over the years to keep Ryan.” This person called E! “a boys’ club,” where, even though the programming is all geared toward millennial women, it’s still part of the corporate monolith that is NBCUniversal, which is mostly run by men. “He’s the image of E!. He’s the icon. He’s the physical embodiment of, I guess, the perfect man to them.” Sources described Seacrest as being adored by network executives because he’s good at his job and has historically been seen as a great ambassador for the E! brand.

it's astonishing to me how inside the industry, people with the skill set of Ryan Seacrest are constantly overrated and fawned over. I just don't think people at home care that much.

are you talking about.....ryan seacrest types

i mean at this point his skill set also includes KEEPING UP WITH THE KARDASHIANS and related enterprises. ryan seacrest productions also has its tentacles in LIVE WITH RYAN AND KELLY (ripa), NEW YEAR'S ROCKIN EVE, that show where jennifer lopez is a cop...

wow i guess i never paid attention to how much of a mogul he became.

and that doesn't even get into his various radio commitments. from 2015:

The entertainment mogul has inked a new, expanded deal with iHeartMedia. Seacrest will remain a key advisor for the company, continuing to work closely with CEO Bob Pittman and president Rich Bressler, and as a top personality across all of iHeartRadio's platforms. Seacrest also will develop new ways to connect advertisers and consumers and will provide input into all of the company’s major events and initiatives and host tent-pole events like the iHeartRadio Music Festival and iHeartRadio Music Awards.

As part of his new three-year pact, Seacrest will continue hosting and producing L.A.’s top-rated morning drive-time show for iHeart’s 102.7 KISS-FM as well as the nationally-syndicated On Air with Ryan Seacrest and American Top 40 with Ryan Seacrest, too. Though a Seacrest rep declined to discuss financial terms of the deal, his last pact was said to pay him $25 million; a new, expanded one likely amounts to more.

the skill set of Ryan Seacrest

the skill set of Ryan Seacrest

the skill set of Ryan Seacrest

the skill set of Ryan Seacrest

the skill set of Ryan Seacrest

there's a show where jennifer lopez is a cop???

SHADES OF BLUE

also starring Ray Liotta!

well dang

https://www.glamour.com/story/why-is-nobody-talking-about-marilyn-mansons-fantasy-of-killing-evan-rachel-wood

evan rachel wood's testimony wrt marilyn manson, i feel dumb that didn't occur to me

whoa. I'm dumb too.

I'm surprised he actually did turn out to be as dark as his image, albeit in a pitiful disgusting way.

I never heard or read anything about this.

Or rather, if I did I don't remember it.

folks i think it's time for u2 to cover the entire marilyn manson catalog to take these songs back from the sexual abuser who perverted them

xpost djp it was just a few days ago she testified

I think the idea was that he was publicly fantasizing about murdering her years ago and no one seemed to give a shit

^^ i read it and came away with the same message
it happened, people reported on it, and that was that
no one seemed concerned about her and mostly it was "how weird and messed up is this guy?!"
(pretty weird and messed up apparently -- i had forgotten about this too but the cutting himself when he called her and she didn't answer? wtf, and it's not like i haven't seen my share of messed up behavior)

but viewing him as weird and messed up would undermine that tremendously clever "onion" article

It's not often I side with the NYPD, but

https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-nypd-is-ready-to-arrest-harvey-weinstein-will-district-attorney-cy-vance-finally-agree-to-let-them

from ann friedman:

I’m listening to This American Life's Five Women episode. It's about a man I once worked for, Don Hazen, and the effect of his abuse and harassment on five different women. Don hired me for my first full-time, non-internship journalism job when I was 24. He is the only boss I've ever had who harassed me, and one of the primary inspirations for The Island -- a fantastical place that other young women and I invented as a shorthand for warning each other about the terrible men in our industry we wished we could banish. One of the women who came up with the Island metaphor with me is among the Five Women.

I know every women interviewed in that episode, actually -- from the woman observing weird behavior at a company dinner to the unnamed roommate who says matter-of-factly, "If you take this job you're definitely going to get sexually harassed." If you think it's intense to listen to #MeToo stories in general -- and it is -- try revisiting the details about your own first abusive boss in narrative audio. It instantly snapped me into the person I was more than 10 years ago, the vulnerability I felt, the exhaustion and futility of trying to constantly direct my boss's attention away from my personal life and toward my work.

Of course, thanks to the archival power of Gmail, I could go much deeper than This American Life to remind myself what it felt like to be around Don, and how his behavior was accepted and endured. My chat archive reveals an ex of mine joking, "who among us hasn't been squeezed hard by don hazen." It shows a friend asking me about working for him, and my reply: "in order to work there you basically have to shut off your emotions." I also find myself using Don as a trope, simultaneously damning and excusing one young DC journo dude with the description, "he's kind of a young don hazen. that's all." That's all. After I wrote about The Island in 2012, a young woman who worked for Don emailed me: "I used to think that the sexual harassment was just part of the package, something you have to deal with, sometimes, to get ahead. I was sexually harassed, but i went from intern to editor!" I talked to her on the phone and tried to help her find a new job. She is another one of the Five Women.

What makes the episode so good is that the women are not simply victims -- they are portrayed in all of their complexity and bravery and complicity. I only worked for Don for two months. My aforementioned ex helped me get a new job at a magazine in DC (which directly contributed to my next challenge in the Game of Starting Your Career As a Young Woman: Impostor syndrome). When I gave notice, Don screamed and slammed desk drawers, but at least I was out. After I left, a former coworker who was still there wrote me, "job search is sorta non existent right now... the idea of being unwittingly sucked into another don-esque situation frightens me." Chatting with her from my new office, thousands of miles away, I felt guilty that I had gotten out so quickly. I felt the survivor's guilt again when I listened to Five Women this week. Because long after I had the power to call out Don by name -- when there was nothing he could do to harm my career -- I was still writing blog posts that used clever metaphors and did not name him.

https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2018/03/how-to-lose-your-job-from-sexual-harassment-in-33-easy-steps/555197/

Is there any move to impeach Vance or even a mechanism to remove a NYC DA?

The last line of the editor's note speaks volumes:

Karklins confirmed to The Atlantic that there is no process for writers who aren’t on staff to file complaints.

yeah, freelancing sucks

BREAKING NEWS: @MetOpera fires James Levine, says its investigation “uncovered credible evidence that Mr. Levine had engaged in sexually abusive and harassing conduct both before and during the period when he worked at the Met.” My story:
https://t.co/WKAU0FtmRk

— Michael Cooper (@coopnytimes) March 12, 2018

terry gilliam sucks

http://variety.com/2018/film/news/terry-gilliam-metoo-mob-rule-1202728819

he sucks but also he's 77 and has no clout anymore, why do we keep publishing these irrelevant old jerks' opinions

lol, good question!
who cares what terry gilliam thinks? not me.

yeah he's made a couple of my favorite movies but I wouldn't dream of soliciting his opinion about current events in the year of our lord 2018

he must've felt a need to pipe up, i doubt his opinion was solicited. right?

he was being interviewed by the french press agency, probably decided to pick a stance to blend in in france

Only otm part of the interview:

I’ve gotten very old

lol mh

apologies to all french people who aren't misogynistic jerks though

Terry Gilliam being a clueless idiot was immortalised in that documentary terry gilliam being a clueless idiot but it's like totally admirable probably

is he still trying to make that failed don quixote movie or did i daydream that