I tend to believe that George Clooney “gets it” more than Matt Damon. “It” being the scope and reach of the Harvey Weinstein story, and how attitudes and conversations need to change. It feels like George understands that business as usual in the boys’ club of Hollywood needs to shift and change. Matt Damon doesn’t get it. Matt hasn’t gotten it this whole time, and it seems like his “what, I never heard anything about that” story about Weinstein was absolute bullsh-t. George and Matt sat down for a Good Morning America interview and guess what? Matt Damon had some idea. He knew second-hand that Harvey Weinstein sexually harassed Gwyneth Paltrow, who was dating Ben Affleck at the time. These quotes are a mess.
Matt Damon knew Harvey Weinstein was a “womanizer” and an “a******” but said he never thought the disgraced producer engaged in “criminal sexual predation.” Damon told ABC that Weinstein, who has been accused by dozens of women of sexual harassment and assault, signed Damon up for a three-picture deal. On one of those films, “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” he worked with Gwyneth Paltrow, one of the many actresses who has come forward in recent days to say that Weinstein sexually harassed her. Paltrow, who dated Affleck in the late 1990s, told Affleck about Weinstein’s inappropriate advances. Affleck, in turn, told Damon.
“I knew the story about Gwyneth from Ben,” Damon told Strahan. “I never talked to Gwyneth about it. Ben told me . . . but I knew that . . . they had come to whatever, you know, agreement or understanding that they had come to, she had handled it.”
Clooney said that Weinstein had told him that he’d had affairs with numerous actresses, but the actor said he never quite believed it. “But the idea that this predator, this assaulter . . . was out there silencing women like that . . . it’s beyond infuriating,” Clooney said.
While Damon told ABC that “You had to spend about five minutes with [Weinstein] to know that he was a bully. He was intimidating. Miramax was the place, really the place, that was making great stuff in the ’90s. And it was like, ‘Could you survive Harvey?’ ” Despite hearing the rumors, Damon told Strahan he never saw such behavior from Weinstein in public. “If he did . . . if there was ever an event or something that I was at in public with Harvey, and he was doing this kind of thing . . . I missed it. And if I somehow missed it, then I’m sorry. . . That darkness was his . . . he did that in private.”
Again, the story here is not what these men think it is. They want the story to be “Movie stars say women are brave for speaking about Weinstein, who is the only predator, they swear.” There are a lot of men who need to give themselves good, hard looks in the mirror and really think about and examine their own attitudes and what they’re turning a blind eye to. I believe that George gets that, and I believe that Matt Damon does not. The fact that Matt can utter the words “he did that in private” while simultaneously acknowledging that he had heard the story about Gwyneth… well, he sucks as a person. Not to mention “she had handled it” – oh, good, then no follow-up questions were needed, Matt! Case closed!
Matt also told Variety this about the “fallout” from the Weinstein thing: “The fact that somebody that powerful, his career has been completely ruined, that’s a real message to anybody who would behave like this.” Matt, Weinstein behaved “like this” because he’s a sexual predator who was enabled by men willing to look the other way. The message to men should not be: “don’t assault and rape women, you’ll lose your career!” The message should be: “don’t assault and rape women because THAT SH-T IS ILLEGAL AND YOU ARE HURTING WOMEN.” Matt also told Variety: “Maybe I’m totally naive, I just don’t see how somebody could even think they could get away with this anymore in this day and age.” People are getting away with it. And you’re not naive. You’re just an a–hole, Matt.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Getty.
Matt Damon is finished and done and he is trying so hard to make sure his career isn’t over.
He’s an asshole, but his career is far from over. Everyone will forgive him because he is ADORED in Hollywood.
I am genuinely sad to see that he really is just a douche bro underneath it. I tend to be a little too forgiving of celebrities (mainly because I’m sure I’ve said some really problematic stuff in my day without realizing it) and so if they can accept when they are wrong I’ll give them a pass.
He’s always wrong. He’s never accepted it. He’s actually worse than just ignorance because Matt Damon knows enough to cover his opinions and behaviors because they are wrong. Ignorance can be rectified, willful defiance of humanity cannot. And really, that’s what he’s been showing lately with his inability to process racism, classism, sexism etc.
I’m not sure. His movies are bombing pretty hard. And people on social media are pretty done with him.
I am really disappointed to know he is a douche bro too. Ugh, I don’t want to see him in anything, and I loved the Bourne series.
I agree he will keep getting movies but I also agree that most women are over him. If his movies continue to bomb he will disappear.
No, his career is not over. He will be forgiven. He plays on the nice innocent looking guy image. He has spent the last week doing self depreciating skits on Jimmy Kimmel to stay in the public’s graces. Like he is on PR overdrive and sweating this. I’ve never seen him do this much time on Kimmel. Usually like once every three months or so.
I wish his career was over (along with Affleck’s-The douche bros from Boston), Unfortunately since the number one career killer (with women at least-getting older) is forgiven on men even when dead obvious they also lose their looks.
I sure loooove seeing 50 year old actresses playing the mother of 40 year old actors….
I would love for them to be over. But I don´t believe it. Weinstein will be back. Hollywood loves a comeback story. And when there is money and an potential oscar involved, they all will come running back. The same people that scream now, have no problem working with Polanski or Woody Allen. Or cheer for Casey Affleck. Or listen to R.Kelly. Or whatever.
It will never be over. And that is the sad truth
I don’t think Weinstein will be back, but I think his banishment will be used by Matt Damon and others to say “look! We did something! We fixed it!” And then they’ll continue to turn a blind eye towards others being abusive a-holes. I really hope not, but Matt doesn’t inspire optimism.
Mel Gibson is ‘back’. I think that says it all.
Mel never went away – just behind the camera instead of in front of it.
“If he did . . . if there was ever an event or something that I was at in public with Harvey, and he was doing this kind of thing . . . I missed it. And if I somehow missed it, then I’m sorry. . . ‘
Oh, he’s only sorry IF HE MISSED IT?
You knew, asshole.
Also him playing the ‘she became first lady of Miramax’ card is beyond low.
“they had come to whatever, you know, agreement or understanding that they had come to, she had handled it.”
What in the ever loving Fu*k is he saying with this comment, because it screams of victim blaming/shaming and shady deals being hammered out to allow things to proceed as “normal”
My thoughts exactly, in that I actually uttered the phrase, “what the ever loving f**k,” when I read that. Out loud! I was done with him when he explained diversity to Effie Brown on Project Greenlight, and he just keeps reaffirming that I made the right choice every time he opens his mouth.
+100000
He has 4 daughters and still thinks this way. Shame!
He’s saying that knowing about her being victimized made him super uncomfortable and he just wanted to avoid realizing things and feeling uncomfortable, okay, guys??? If only victims would all quietly take care of things, or even better- pretend they’re not happening- then those with privilege wouldn’t have to be uncomfortable and think about reality.
Matt Damon is that son/brother who just ghosts on the family when a parent gets sick and leaves it to everyone else to deal with.
I’m hearing “I knew, I just didn’t really care.”
“Also him playing the ‘she became first lady of Miramax’ card is beyond low.”
I agree, that comment really bothered me. Like it was all ok because they reached an agreement and she got to star in a bunch of movies. Gross, Matt.
A-hole, and sorry, but I am feeling the same way abt Clooney. An educated wife and new babies and the aw shucks gambit don’t work here, with this issue, for me. Just an opinion. But he’s on my Affleck pile with the others.
Yeah I think he’s talking more skillfully but is also not really acknowledging his role. Tarantino’s come the closest of any of them.
+1
Same. Tbh, they can all disappear into a black hole with the other dinosaurs: they had a good run, and they played themselves. Nothing of value will be lost at this point.
Just think of all those women – actresses, screenwriters, photographers, editors, directors – run out of the business with the aid of enabling attitudes like these.
Yes I feel the same way about Clooney also.
100%, and maybe really talented people will make the Movies in the Future, wouldn’t that be wonderful, good Movies with actually talented People.
Sounds good for me.
im actually pretty hacked off that the current narrative seems to be oh Clooney is the good guy here. He is a sanctimonious arsehole injecting himself into situation as a ‘voice of reason’
Why is it that George who had a long string of young models/waitresses who lets face it were in a situation with a huge imbalance of power – that he unceremoniously dumped every 18 months gets daily Male woke award?
just No.
Oh how true. He may not have been in the locker room bragging about grabbing p&$$y, but you can bet he was playing a similar game.
I’ve been done with these two for a long while even before the truth about Weinstein was exposed to the general public. I’ve said this before in other posts, but I believe George Clooney is better at the suave and sophisticated persona than Matt Damon. Clooney has gotten away with so much sh*t because of how people perceive him to be. I totally believe his choice in wife is also part of the ploy after Tina Fey was close to exposing him for just being another shallow douche bro in Hollywood sleeping around with models into his 50s. They are both cancelled as far as I am concerned. And I called it the first few days this scandal broke: Clooney, Damon, and Affleck knew about Weinstein. They were covering their tracks and they apparently are still attempting to do damage control to make it seem as if they didn’t know anything. Except, Damon is now confirming he actually did know about Gwyneth Paltrow from Affleck. If Paltrow could be affected, don’t you think douche bros Damon and Affleck were probably joking about lesser known models and actresses getting used by their friend Weinstein? I can just imagine all of these guys joking in their luxurious back yard with beers about all the women Weinstein bedded, probably envying the guy and wishing they could do the same.
Insert *pretends to be shocked* GIF
My friends aunt use to work in Hollywood up until ten years ago, according to my friend regarding the “who knew?”question her answer was that it an open secret about Weinstein, he is the tip of a very large and ugly iceberg and self preservation is deeply ingrained, something she doesn’t blame actors for, she said the ones deserving of the most ire are those who enable such behaviour to go on in their complicity.
My big bit of revulsion/fear is how many kids are being abused in the same way all of these women are ? We know its going on. We have seen a few survivors speak up many years after and be discarded/ignored. So its still going on until this day.
well if you watch the documentary an Open Secret on the tube you’ll know pedophilia is an even worse problem in that industry, scary stuff
I’m a 29 year old stay at home mom from a tiny community in Newfoundland, Canada….even I had heard the rumours about Harvey Weinstein. Anybody in Hollywood who says they had no idea are flat out lying.
Hello Newfoundland..
We want to go to there. For the dogs. And Trudeau.
He just truly, truly, does not want the boat rocked. A commenter used the bad apple analogy the other day, and it’s this. He wants to believe Wankstain and everyone’s looking the other way, the purposeful ignorance, is just a one off.
Someone help me, he’s such a bad stereotype and I can’t put my finger on it. It’s the combination of self righteousness, stupidity and pompous blindness. Dudley Do Right, without the Do Right? Cuz Matty would prefer to Do Nothing.
“Wankstain” ha ha, love it!!! Thank you for making me smile on a rotten day.
On a more serious note, you are absolutely right, they all knew it because it is endemic in Hollywood (and anywhere there are women, in fact), and no one wants to bite the hand that feeds them. Utterly, utterly disgusting.
Yep.
EXACTLY.
“criminal sexual predation”
Dear Damon,
If you are reduced to parsing and semantics to avoid taking your share of responsibility for profiting from an abusive and corrupted industry, you need to rethink your position.
No love from,
#allthewomen
Signed “No love from . . .”
Lol
Yes!
I think you are right. He wants to be perceived as saying the right things while not actually taking the right kind of action to curtail this kind of behavior. I would say I am disappointed but I have never really bought into his do-gooder persona.
The consummate “nice guy.” Ugh.
Is Damon hiding something?
I suspect they all are.
They’re all hiding something to an extent.. except for Quentin. He admitted his culpability, that he knew, and that he should have done more. I think the more Damon speaks on this, the worse he looks than anyone so far. Affleck has always been a dbag and Clooney has never fooled me. Damon has always had this clean cut image, this family man and he’s looking like not only like he knew but he participated with Weinstein. My radar is pinging with him for some reason.
Exactly what I am thinking this whole time! I cannot wait for someone to bust his bubble. Something is fishy about Matty D.
I have felt that way for years. Something about him is off. Maybe the way he reportedly dumped Minnie Driver? Then the whole Project Greenlight diversity controversy. I do not buy his “auw schucks” routine. I know many on this site love him (or used to) but he grates on me. And his repeated declarations that he is so lucky he married a civilian?
At first it seemed genuine but now I see a smugness behind it. But given who he is friends with perhaps he sees that as something in his favor.
anyway, he just bugs me.
As for this interview, no surprise. He looks ridiculous. It would have been better for him to remain quiet and take his time to make a more honest and introspective statement than to rush out with a denial.
As for George, well George is better at playing the game than Matt is – at least George did not try to feign complete ignorance – but George does not get a cookie here.
Me too, i never found him very good as an actor, he is always the same with different names in different stories.
He came over as arrogant, smug and someone who overestimate oneself…
I don’t care if he was in Harvard for 5 Minutes, that Ivana Trump Guy was too, both don’t seem to be the brightest.
He won the career-lottery and got rich, nothing more.
Never liked him, never understood his appeal, always had a bad vibe off him. The way he treated both Winona and Minnie amplified it for me.
Because he is lifelong friend of Affleck, that makes this more concerning. Casey etc.
@Carrie1, what did he to Winona? What he did ti Minnie was horrible ….
I think he is. Pretty sure he personally thanked that shady Italian “producer” he and Russell Crowe vouched for on the credits for The Talented Mr Ripley, and he’s been doing far, far too much since gropey Affleck got pulled into this, when one comment and done was quite enough.
To think most people liked him up until a few years ago, and that the backlash he’s getting is all his own doing.
100%!
@PURPLEHAZEFOREVER
I disagree about Quentin he wait 3 almost 4 weeks to make a statement. (My guess was to see if it will blow over and to see in his on skeleton would come out) Quentin had no chose, but to be truthful about his part. His ex girlfriend would have called him out if he tried to lie.
@ABBy
Yes the civilian wife comment has always buged me. Like you said it’s like he feels he above the rest. I also agree with your comments about Clooney and the fact that they are such good friends make me think Clooney is a lot like Matt in private.
It always bugged me, those language these Hollywood-people use, they are only rich not royalty, none of them.
They are all civilians, rich ones that’s it.
A lot of them came from bad Backgrounds, so this arrogant demeanor is sooooo ridiculous, here in Europe we roll our eyes that tacky people who got rich without any class act like they are the queen……
Damon is the guy who was involved in every illegal secret Hollywood poker parties for 18 years.Think about it.
Who is involved also ? Ben Affleck,Tobey Maguire and Dicaprio
Clooney is tight with Rande Gerber. RG and Cindy C have an odd marriage. Look at how she has pushed her kids to model from young ages. All these people are messed up and I try not to think about how badly.
@Don’t kill me I am French, wow i didn’t know that…..that’s telling.
@Carrie1, yeah i think Cindy C’s kid should finish the shool first, that Girl is looking very exhausted and even skinnier as her natural slim Frame, that’s not healthy for a 16 Yo. Rande+Cindy are odd, and all that narcissm from Cindy destroyd all the Model-Coolness from the 90′ at all.
She should do something for the less lucky people, it’s not like she has a career anymore, but no, it’s all about herself her insta and trying to live through her daughter.
Well Clooney….well his datinghistory says it all, Amal is a trophy-wife who loooooove the limelight and all the hollywood stuff….
I’m thinking something similar. I wonder when we’re gonna get stories of Damon groping some woman at an afterparty. I feel those are bound to surface. He’s got a “family man” image but the d0uchbags he hangs out tells me that he’s probably just better at hiding his predatory ways.
If he’d kept his mouth shut I would’ve never wondered. Now, after these statements, I’m wondering.
I’m starting to look at his squeaky clean image up to, let’s say, five years ago. I’m starting to think that maybe he’s pushed that image to hide something because most people who are predators do go way out of their way to look like the nice guy who would Never… I’m just saying.
There’s no doubt MD is smug, in a privilege bubble, perpetually seems to have his foot in his mouth these days, and a d-bag for his support for Casey, but I don’t think anyone has mentioned him as a groper/harasser.
I was not one bit surprised by the accusations against Ben Affleck though.
Well in the UK we call this ‘digging yourself a hole’. and he will insist on keep digging. For the sake of his reputation he needs to either wake up or shut up and as I’m not betting any time soon that he will ever wake up – the ‘good ole boyism’ is strong with this one, silence would seem to be the best option.
As my granddad would have said, “He’ll end up in Australia at this rate.”
😃
😀
Lol!
…it’s already deep, please let him dig some deeper, maybe he will be go away for good….
He *really* struggled in that interview…I watched it and was cringing. Even Clooney looked worried!
As for his Gwyneth comments…I thought he threw her under the bus a bit saying that Harvey treated her well as the first lady of Miramax. Like he couldn’t understand the power dynamics at work.
Yeah, it was hard to watch tbh
He’s not naive, he’s just a white guy with money who knows nothing. Swear to god, so many white men know nothing about issues that don’t affect them personally (that they notice), it’s like talking to a child sometimes.
It’s certainly like listening to one, “no it wasn’t me – honest”. he might just as well say that…
He’s starting to look like the kid with chocolate on his face who says, “I didn’t see any chocolate.”
LOL, you made my evening, that’s so funny, sorry but funny and perfect picture, great… despite the sad topic…
😀
It’s bigger than white men though maybe they’re the worst, MOC can also be unaware of rape culture
Teach all your babies about consent and keep them away from porn when they are teens
We all have blindspots. But I really do think white men are the ones with the biggest blindspot of them all. It’s different when you’ve never experienced first hand what discrimination looks like.
Yeah, if you look at the comments to this article, your point is vindicated: https://verysmartbrothas.theroot.com/straight-black-men-are-the-white-people-of-black-people-1814157214
I would just refine the category slightly to straight white men.
Yes! I was just talking to a friend about this how disappointed I’ve been with the comments from MOC. Some have come out and defended Harvey Weinstein, saying these women knew what the deal was. And these are men who Harvey Weinstein haven’t done Sh-t for. Sexism runs deep no matter your ethnicity. I’ve said it before, look at how women are treated in Hip Hop. The stories would make anyone sick. The difference between white men and MOC is that white men actually have the power to change the dynamics and they are not willing to.
It’s not an white or black problem, it’s an Men&abusers problem.
I’ve seen abusers and ignorance in all shades tbh. I don’t think any race of men treat woman the way we should be treated. Doubley so if you’re a black woman, then you get it from all sides. (In my experience)
I wasn’t referring specifically to abuse with that statement.
It happens everywhere and I’ll absolutely take your world for it that it’s worse for black women. That would make sense because predators in any place would go for an “easier” victim ie someone they assume would have a harder time fighting back with the justice system or social / power connections.
Covering for each other. Protecting their ass-ets
One week he did not know anything the next week it’s a different story, deflecting as usual.
He is always Throwing Ben under the bus, never mind the movie is going to bomb anyway.
The way he said revealed he knew about Gwyneth was so clumsy it makes me think that someone else knew he knew and he was afraid that would come out so tried to do some damage control before he was called a liar.
It doesn’t sound like Gwyneth knew that Damon knew. So either Matt is worried Ben would reveal that he knew (possibly to take some heat off himself) or Matt was talking about this with someone else after he found out.
Either way, you essentially Damon Matt talking about Gwyneth’s sexual harrassment behind her back and without her knowledge.
I’ve been thinking about his statements for a tangential reason. Where he says “Everyone knew Harvey was an asshole.. he owned it.” Is it not ridiculous how much we will put up with from a man who owns being a bully? It’s the same with Trump. His supporters can justify anything because he always owns it. Ugh I feel disgusted.
And Devil’s Advocate here. Matt Damon is incredibly inarticulate about this subject, I believe it’s in his blind spot. But what was he supposed to do about Gwyenth, exactly? Gwyenth knew and continued to work with him, Matt Damon was supposed to out her as a sexual harassment victim without her consent?
It is because he has a lot of Ewan McGregor in him and his not unlike Affleck but much more discreet and way under the radar.
There was some tea that someone from Boston spilled on here a few years ago on Matt. That he was a lot like Ben and had his “fun,” he was just better at hiding it, and that it didn’t change once he was married.
Yep, not only one from Boston…
Casey is awful, and I hope other women come forward. Many people just didn’t work with Harvey or had one encounter, and that was enough. It wasn’t just the sexual abuse, he ruined careers, he cheated financially and verbally and physically abused people. Even without the sexual angle he is a disgusting heartless a-hole.
Tom Brady is another heartless a-hole and part of the Boston cheaters club. His mask is slipping too.
The men who surrounded Harvey and were tight with him should be exposed for their own deeds and complicity.
“Gwyenth knew and continued to work with him, Matt Damon was supposed to out her as a sexual harassment victim without her consent”
This is where I struggle, too. It is NOT his place to out her as a victim and potentially sabotage her career.
Again, these threads are getting so tiresome with the focus on who knew/didn’t know, who should have said something etc.
Look, I am 100% on-board with Damon shouldering his portion of the blame for being part of a toxic male culture that closes ranks and protects their own in the face of female victimization, but in this specific incident I don’t think Damon should be blamed for knowing that GP was victimized and not doing anything about it. Women often put up with harassment for the sake of a successful career and I HIGHLY doubt that Paltrow would have been ok with Damon interfering with that on his own volition.
Of course, Damon’s silence also ensures his own protection from Harvey’s iron fist, but you know, he’s as selfish as most of these actors who HW surrounded himself with. It seems like the actors who were strong/brave enough to risk everything to distance themselves from HW paid the price with their careers.
My thinking is this–I don’t care about which actors or actresses knew/didn’t know. I hate these statements/conversations, because all it is doing is pointing fingers at each other. Some maybe didn’t know that HW was an abuser. I find that plausible. Where I go to college, it is one of the biggest campuses in the area in terms of alcohol, drugs, and trouble. If you asked me where a party was happening friday night and who would be there, I wouldn’t have a clue.
Then there are some who heard rumors………and some who witnessed those rumors first hand. If all you’ve heard is rumors……….the best you can do is avoid working with him. But if all you have is rumors…..you can’t just go and say publicly that you’re not working with Harvey because he rapes actresses, etc…….so I’m not understanding why people are being bashed for not saying anything before. Unless you are a victim……you really can’t. Not unless you want to be sued and blacklisted. If you are a victim…..well at least one of those things happened to you.
Just my problem is this–the people who saw Harvey’s behavior first hand i.e. his fellow studio heads, people on his board, and the talent agencies that sent their clients to him……….they are who I hold responsible and who have been SILENT this whole time. I don’t want to hear a bunch of actors basically say “I heard rumors/I heard from XYZ that Harvey did this”………..I want to hear from talent agencies and studios about why they didn’t protect their clients.
I know it feels pointless and no, I’m not in favor of pointing fingers but we should absolutely be talking about it in terms of why. Why did X not say anything? Or did they maybe and were shut down? I think the mechanisms are an important aspect and if we’re fine with not asking who knew, we won’t be able to dismantle any of it.
Hi VC 🙂
“his fellow studio heads, people on his board, and the talent agencies that sent their clients to him……….they are who I hold responsible and who have been SILENT this whole time. I don’t want to hear a bunch of actors basically say “I heard rumors/I heard from XYZ that Harvey did this”………..I want to hear from talent agencies and studios about why they didn’t protect their clients.”
This is where I’m at too. These people were relatively insulated from Harvey’s power in that their careers were not as directly contingent upon Weinstein’s approval/acceptance. I also assume that they were not directly targeted by HW (although at this point nothing would surprise me) as his pattern seemed to be one that specifically pursued actresses/models.
I also agree that this widespread assumption that all of Hollywood knew EXACTLY what Weinstein was doing is unfair. I always heard rumors about HW being a creepy bully as well as whispers of the casting couch however, I NEVER heard about him sexually assaulting women. I know that I don’t work in the industry but it’s still not a stretch for me to imagine that actors and other HW players would hear the whispers but without details or concrete proof, what recourse would they have?
@LittleMissNaughty- I would agree with you if we could talk to any of these people directly and/or confidentially and get some straight and honest answers. But I’m not sure I see a ton of value in speculating/assuming/gossiping about what actors knew what and when, particularly when we are left with a lot of non-answers that don’t really add anything elucidating to the larger conversation of systemic misogyny/sexism. We already know that there was abuse and a culture of coerced silence through intimidation and most of us very clearly understand how that can happen because many of us have experienced it firsthand. I guess I don’t see a need to individually single out every actor associated with Weinstein, especially at this point when it’s evident how this all played out.
JMO
*shrugs*
I agree about the not exposing victims without their consent.
I also agree with you about the nature of the rumors about Harvey. In the past, the rumors I had heard weren’t about sexual assault either. Just the typical “Let’s play a bitchy, thoughtless, and sometimes perverted round of “Guess which starlets we don’t like and see as undeserving are Secret Hollywood Hookers” (which actually gives the Harvey Weinsteins of the world something to hide behind). When you combine that very real, pervasive, misogynistic aspect of celebrity gossip with the fact that many of Harvey’s more recent celebrity victims didn’t even know what he was before he came after them, I think it’s a little illogical to assume that EVERYBODY in Hollywood knew he was sexually assaulting people. Especially considering the fact that some people were silenced.
I agree, Kitten and VC.
“his fellow studio heads, people on his board, and the talent agencies that sent their clients to him……….they are who I hold responsible and who have been SILENT this whole time”
Yes, this so much. There WERE people who knew, but they aren’t as “good for gossip” as the actors. Much like with Fox News, a company can’t say they didn’t know when their HR department handled claims, when they had related clauses written into contracts, when they had their female staff act as “honeypots”, when they were involved with payouts.
It is the corporate culture that REALLY protects the predators, because people will do horrible things for money and power. We’ve seen it so many places with concentrations of power: Fox News, Penn State, Uber, Amazon, etc.
Kitten I am so happy that someone has the same thoughts as myself. And the fact is most people don’t stand up to bullies or stick up for those being bullied, let alone the sexual harassed. A burger king commercial shows a kid being bullied and says only 12% stood up for him. That’s the behaviors we have to change. We have to unite and stand up together against the evils of sexual harassment, because we are only strong as a group. If everyone that was sexual harassed or knew about it had banded together he would have been buried, but they were helpless as one.
He didn’t need to out her without her consent but he could have done something. At least Tarantino sees and acknowledges that now. What did Damon do? Offer his support? Talk to Harvey? Ask other women? Nada, apparently. The wilful blindness of these guys is a big part of the problem.
Unpopular opinion here but it troubles me that all of the actresses and very few actors are being given the benefit of the doubt. There were several women who convinced some of Weinstein’s victims to accompany him to his hotel room when they professed discomfort with the idea. There were female execs with TWC who set up meetings with actresses only to find reasons to leave the room permanently once the actress was convinced it was just going to be a typical business meeting/lunch. Women were the victims but women were also complicit in the culture. I’m struggling with how to process this. Do we keep going after individuals, just the guys, just Weinstein and others like him, the enablers, the culture? If we erase gender ( of Hollywood, not the victims of course – they were, are and always will be disproportionately female) will we be able to get at the root of the problem? What about the female agents/managers who literally feed their child cluents to Hollywood abusers? I want to look at this organically and then systemically so eventually it can be fixed holistically.
PS -This is not about pathetic Damon. I rather enjoy watching him twist in the wind – I never said I wasn’t petty 🙂
I really need you amazing women to weigh in on this.
Of course there were complicit women. I would be an idiot not to acknowledge that. There were women in hillywood that looked the other way for an A list vehicle and a shiny award. There were female agents, assistants, producers that also participate in not just Weinstein getting victims but gross casting practices. The system would not work as well if there weren’t powerful men and silent women involved. Or worse women who participate.
Sometimes these women are victims as well and they should not be held accountable because trauma works in insidious ways. But there are plenty of women that knew or sent others in the fire. And they do not deserve my sympathy
Any agent, assistant, etc. who knowingly helped him get or trap victims and put other women in those situations is definitely complicit.
If an actor or actress dismissed actual abuse allegations made by victims (as opposed to just random gossip. The two should not be conflated) then they’re also complicit.
And all the women and men who participate in casually spreading casting couch rumors about women and girls in the entertainment industry are complicit too, whether inside or outside of Hollywood.
Thanks, Nicole. I’m in favor of going after these complicit women also. Otherwise these reforms are only superficial. Worse, future actresses will have a dalse sense of security and not protect themselves. I also think more women direcors, studio heads, agents, casting execs etc will go a long way towards real change.
I agree with Nicole.
And will reiterate the point I keep banging on about – while it’s natural we all want to personalise and individualise this fallout because our brains understand narratives with characters better, the problem isn’t one of “evil individuals”. The problem is the structure of an industry that gives unfettered, non-safeguarded access to “evil individuals” and leaves everyone else face with choosing varying degrees of complicity or finding a new industry to work in.
The solutions are STRUCTURAL. And the danger is that we have our “evil individuals” narrative as an autopsy and once that’s over, stop. Once we’ve dealt with how we feel about individuals, we need to turn our attention to structural solutions.
I agree Sixer. Well said.
@ Sixer, it’s not a structure-problem of HW, it’s a society Problem, to the Core.
The not-so-privileged normal woman in real life will remain silent. as long as it’s not changing for all in the whole society, it’s worthless.
I have very mixed feelings about all the privileged people who now playing shocked, it feels so fake.
Some of them maybe mean it (Rose MG) but alot of them seem only to try to swim with the tide, for image reasons.
Something like that will never happen for normal people/Woman.
The Society won’t change because of that, because woman hate woman and thats a big part.
We (Woman) could win, we are the majority (more woman then men) and statistically more/better educated.
I don’t know a lot of mediocre woman with a stellar career, but most men are mediocre, because that’s the system, they get away with a lot things, higher payments, no judgement about looks etc.
Nothing will seriously change, sorry people.
Also agree with you Sixer. The system needs to be dismantled. Just saying that we would be remiss to assume that only men are complicit in said system.
Other than that the whole system can burn to the ground.
Sarah – other women were among the most vociferous in attacking the suffragettes. That’s conditioning under patriarchy for you, I’m afraid. I agree we live in a misogynist culture, to the core. But structural change, even if we have to go industry by industry, workplace by workplace, does work. Which is why we have to take advantage of crisis points like the exposure of Weinstein.
Nicole – I agree completely. In the end, we’re all complicit to some degree, aren’t we? No matter how brave we try to be. And some women are wilfully complicit.
Its about actively reporting the smaller things. I can’t imagine participating in selling out other women or sending them to hotels to a rapist. But I can do my part to call out sexist culture (which I’ve been doing for a while now scary af). I think if we each did the little things the culture would change
Mr Sixer was saying much the same thing, Nicole. He’s never participated in the kind of workplace/pub/wellanyplaceactually low level harassment of women – but what he’s done is always just walk away and, if asked, just said that he doesn’t think it’s funny. He thinks he needs to do more. As do we all.
It IS scary af. And that’s the problem, isn’t it?
Sixer
You’re right abd ultimately, I think this is the only way to fix this.
It is my view that women can be complicit and even proxies for the abuser by blaming the abuse on the victim. Relatives or spouses or someone who has to stake in the abuser may shame the victim, accuse them of lying or threaten them to keep silent.
I don’t give men the benefit of the doubt in something this serious. They had to power to end this and stand up for actresses they claimed were important to them. The cold truth is that the system is structured so that some victims just thought it was part of being an actress and others like Lana Del Ray wrote a song about HW and seemed to seek out his attention.
I believe the actresses when they make a statement even if they weren’t forthcoming about the nature of their relationship with Harvey. They don’t owe us their shame or guilt or pain or ambivalence. Harvey is the story at the moment, but there are names could knock him from the top of the garbage heap at any time. He is just one guy in a sea of predators.
My sister used to laugh at a story and we all thought was funny but we talked last night and she realized that it wasn’t so funny afterall. She was 18 and the actor approached her but she thought he was old and knew he was married. He saw her again and he actually followed her as she drove over an hour out of LA. The persistence didn’t stop there either.
Actresses have to deal with abusive co-stars as well as the men in power who pull the strings behind the scenes. Men aren’t in that position because there aren’t enough women in power to create that culture. But there are gay predators who should be named and shunned too.
The way these guys abused actresses is unbelievable and men stood by and let it happen. I don’t mean they all could have stopped Harvey because he was so powerful but they allowed his power to grow even though he has been a known skeeve since the 70s.
magnoliarose
So true! I love the consistent tone you’ve held and your amazing observations.
I’m really grateful for this discussion about complicity. It’s a central player in this and in other forms of abuse.
We need to discuss the ENTIRE system and what roles people play in it. Not the names as much as how this went on so long and if there have been any moves to change dynamics at any level.
I am not outing Lana BTW because the song isn’t a secret, and they hung out a lot, but only she can explain that if she wants to or maybe she doesn’t. It doesn’t matter. Her reasoning is her own. Perhaps he had a sweet side for some people, and that is part of what increased his sense of power. But maybe she just doesn’t have anything negative to add. I wonder if there are people like that, but they don’t want to say anything. I wonder if that is part of the structure.
As misguided as Mayim’s editorial was there was something in it I thought about. If these men wanted to hire women they thought were f.ckble and further their careers, then that would explain why so many women were never up for roles and why older women and fuller figured women had such a hard time advancing in that system. By the time the former young beauties are older if they haven’t distinguished themselves then what is left for them? They want vulnerable young women on their sets to harass that they find desirable no matter their talent.
@ Enough Already
Well one of the ex-assistants is talking:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/harvey-weinstein-assistant-breaks-nda-details-history-cover-ups-1051258
FF
Fascinating article but these particular assistants were actually victims as well. I suspect the ones who actually helped Weinstein lure and trap women won’t be giving statements anytime soon. The part about Disney was very interesting.
I saw this last night. So awful. The level of participation (not this woman but the lawyers and company) just…
..its appalling and i’m running out of words
That is horrible, and there is another essay worth reading by Brit Marling about the economics of consent.
https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/10/harvey-weinstein-and-the-economics-of-consent/543618/
I’ll even add, there were women who wanted to be in the room with Weinstein. We were angling to be in the room with Weinstein to get the career boost and they are not victims.
Maybe not victims of abuse but almost certainly victims of the whole ugly machinery that does this to women – makes them feel they have to do this to succeed. I won’t judge them.
Eh. I’d argue that by choosing to play along and prosper they are just as much a part of the ugly machinery as some of those who chose not to see what was going on (but certainly not on par with the perpetrators). I do judge them.
But they are by no means the worst of the bunch.
@SlightlyAnonny: Any woman who actually wanted to be alone with Harvey for a career boost is ONLY complicit if she also knew about, witnessed, or participated in the sexual assaults. But she’s not complicit just by sleeping with him. Rapists aren’t made by wives, mistresses, or sex workers saying ‘yes’.
@Otaku: Again, eh. That’s a lot of parsing of complicitness for my tastes. I find it difficult to believe that anyone didn’t know. If you know you are benefiting by playing along with something that at the very least is unethical, it stands to reason that someone else is not benefiting (and probably suffering) because they didn’t. That’s why I put them on the same level as those who chose not to see. It wasn’t hurting “them” so why bother being concerned about someone else.
Again, not on par with the perpetrators, but not innocent or victims in my book and yes, I judge. I judge them along with the Afflecks and the Damons and the Clooneys and the Tarantinos and that screenwriter dude who knew but chose not to see.
“If you know you are benefiting by playing along with something that at the very least is unethical, it stands to reason that someone else is not benefiting (and probably suffering) because they didn’t. That’s why I put them on the same level as those who chose not to see. It wasn’t hurting ‘them’ so why bother being concerned about someone else.”
The underlying assumption of your paragraph here is that any woman who had sex with Harvey did so because she wanted to, and not because she felt that she had to make that choice if she wanted to have a career.
This is why we discuss the power structure–because in that scenario Harvey and the woman who had sex with him are not sharing an equal playing field. Remember that this isn’t merely about women who may have wanted a great career opportunity, but also women who were threatened to have their career destroyed if they didn’t comply.
Remember when Trump was asked about Ivanka getting harassed in a workplace environment and his response was “I would like to think she would find another career or find another company”?
The point is that women shouldn’t HAVE to make that choice. Women shouldn’t HAVE to choose between sex with a man in a powerful position and their career and women shouldn’t HAVE to choose between protecting other women and their career.
Yet that is far too often the choice that women face. And that choice doesn’t exist because women somehow failed to protect one another, it exists because of a patriarchal system that uses women to cover for men’s abuse; a system that ultimately seeks to victimize women and then blame us for our own victimization or for not doing more to prevent the victimization of other women.
@Kitten: That is not the underlying assumption that I am making and I refer back to my original comment.
I’m not talking about women who felt compelled/coerced to have sex with Harvey Weinstein. I’m talking about women who chose/wanted to do it because they knew what it could do for their careers. I am fully aware of the scope of the women involved and I thought I was pretty clear about which subset I was talking about.
Women who chose it didn’t give a crap about the women who were being victimized by Weinstein. They only saw it from the perspective of what it could do for them much like the men who claimed to have seen nothing. I’m not interested in trying to out those women but there are some out there whose careers are just fine because of what they chose/sought. Again, they are not victims.
Oh I understood what you were saying perfectly, I just strongly disagree.
Who exactly are these women who couldn’t wait to f*ck Harvey Weinstein for a career boost? Seriously who? Because I haven’t heard of one high-profile actress who has come forward saying that she had consensual sex with him so that she could have the career she has now.
But here’s the thing: even if she did, I still fail to see how that would make her responsible or even complicit for his victimization of other women.
With powerful and wealthy men, complicity–particularly when it comes to women–is also self-perpetuating/self-reinforcing, internalized and many times completely subconscious. In other words, it is FAR more complicated than it may seem on a surface level.
Ultimately, Weinstein’s behavior is emblematic of a system that concentrates all the power in the hands of men. This effectively allows them to buy the silence of women because as long as women are financially and professionally dependent on men, men can use that leverage to keep us quiet.
Finally, *IF* there are women who traded sex for a career boost that was a decision they made for THEMSELVES. It is not their place to tell on other women who decided not to take that path nor is it their responsibility to report other women’s victimization. In an ideal world, they wouldn’t be presented with a choice like that but given the fact that this is FAR from an ideal world, there is no way in hell I would blame any woman for making that decision.
Frankly, the pretext of your comments is more of a moral indictment of women who decide to have sex for a career kickback than any sort of principled stance on women in Hollywood being “complicit” in Harvey Weinstein’s revolting behavior.
I put this link upthread but it is an interesting read by Brit Marling:
https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/10/harvey-weinstein-and-the-economics-of-consent/543618/
It explains the nature of “consent” within the system.
@Kitten: I see that you edited your first comment after I responded.
“Who exactly are these women who couldn’t wait to f*ck Harvey Weinstein for a career boost? Seriously who? Because I haven’t heard of one high-profile actress who has come forward saying that she had consensual sex with him so that she could have the career she has now.”
Why would they? For all intents and purposes they’ve “won.” They’ve worked the existing system to their benefit. I’m certainly not asking them to reveal themselves.
To me, it seems you are trying to take agency away from the women who chose to play ball. Who chose to work within the existing system and sleep with a pig for a their own career advancement. Again and probably for the thousandth time, they are not victims, to me. They were not victimized, they saw the horrible playing field and chose to play, they didn’t care about who else might be being victimized. I judge them. I do, I would judge anyone in any similar situation whether the currency was sex, money, diamonds, etc. I judge anyone, male/female, who see a system so horrifically wrong and instead of bucking against it chooses to play along or ignore it as long as it benefits them. But that’s just me.
We’ll have to agree to disagree.
@SlighlyAnonny: That argument really is no different from blaming a man’s rapes on all the women who had sex with him willingly. (Which, of course is an example of both internalized misogyny and victim-blaming.) It’s just a more polite version of the patriarchal “Men wouldn’t/couldn’t rape if women would stop being such whores” argument. It puts undue and impossible responsibility on women to prevent sex crimes by being ‘good girls’.
Usually when a person decides to have sex with someone, there’s some type of benefit they’re seeking. Whether it’s about pleasure, money, approval, producing children, expression or release of emotions, status, boredom, satisfaction of curiosities, a relationship, or fulfillment of a role, just about all possible motives behind sex go back to ‘seeking to benefit’ in some way. That fact doesn’t make a woman somehow responsible if later on it comes out that someone she had consensual sex with is a rapist. She obviously could not have stopped his actions toward others and prevented anyone from potentially being a victim by keeping her legs closed. If a heterosexual Christian woman seeking financial security through marriage gives her virginity to her middle-or-upper-class husband on the wedding night, do you automatically judge her as complicit in her husband’s actions too, just based on the sex she had with him?
It’s obvious for anyone who can think logically – he didn’t change his tactics/methods for 30 years so in about 85 – 90 % they had to work. It’s sad truth and notice that both part – women and men really didn’t want to admit that casting couch still exists in Hollywood. I never heard about any action even discussion how to stop it – although it’s quite simple – to forbid all one to one meetings to discuss the role and during these auditions/casting processess the actors and actresses should be with their agents/assistants and second parts should be represented by a few people like producers, director and casting director.
1) I’m so shocked, I didn’t know about anything.
2) OK, I didn’t know about anything CRIMINAL.
3) OK, I did know about him trying to leverage sexual favors for a job in this one instance, but it was none of my business. And things like that continue to be none of my business. I’m just so shocked by this. I am not the story here, guys.
😅😂 talk about being up shit creek without a paddle! I hope reporters continue giving him & his douche posse the 3rd degree.
Colin Firth also had to retract his statement about not knowing because he suddenly, miraculously remembered that one of his co-stars confided in him about being harrased by Wankstain.
Matt needs to stop talking. Forever. Just stop.
Can’t stand that twerp.
He even said she went on to become the first lady of Miramax after the harassment. That was a really low blow even for Matt Damon.
I believe that’s what she was called in the industry because she starred in so many Miramax films. I’m not sure that’s really a low blow.
Wow thanks a lot I never knew that
Remember he blamed JLo for Affleck’s down career.Remember he was enough condescending with Jennifer Garner
God, he’s just so disgusting.
So basically his excuse is, she’d already told her boyfriend and they talked out it so that was okay. She probably had a plan or whatever. And anyway, he did all that stuff in private so it doesn’t matter what I might have heard, so please can we change the subject??
He is absolutely intent on making sure you know that no matter what absolutely nothing was his fault.
All he seems to care about is not looking guilty. He can’t even fake a care about the victims.
He sure is talking a lot. Does he think we need his footnotes to process everything? Because I’m sure we could figure this out without his contributions.
I just cannot stand Matt Damon anymore. He is a complete ass.
I’m so on-the-fence here. I think like many others he knew about the harassment and propositionings, but not the actual assaults and rapes. It’s such a fine line, isn’t it, between inappropriate & gross behavior and being a predator? MD, like Kevin Smith and Quentin Tarantino, was someone whose early career was nurtured and supported by HW. Wasn’t HW the one who got Good Will Hunting made and campaigned for its Oscar wins? Maybe there’s a lot of internal conflict going on that, unlike Kevin & Quentin, he isn’t ready or willing to look at and deal with. I know he’s not well liked around here, and he’s definitely stepped in it more than a few times, but I don’t want to demonize him for not responding the right way, or not saying the right things in regards to what *Harvey* did. I do think he needs to take a step back and really look at and think about what’s going on. He needs to do more and be more, but he seems stuck in some sort of denial that isn’t doing himself or anyone else any good.
Kevin Smith took the script to Miramax because he and Ben and Matt were friends and it was Kevin’s Studio at the time with his films Clerks and Clerks 2 and he had an in with Harvey Weinstein. None of the other Studios would touch Good Will Hunting. In return for his help with getting Good Will Hunting made, Ben and Matt starred in Kevin Smith’s film Dogma and did cameos in Chasing Amy and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.
Harvey Weinstein groomed the careers of young film makers Kevin Smith and Quintin Tarantino. Matt Damon has appeared in 7 Miramax films out of the 77 films he has made in his career and 5 of those were cameos for either Kevin Smith or Ben Affleck (Jersey Girl).
I still don’t get why these Damon posts don’t even mention his direct support and cover for Casey Affleck in MbtS. Damon’s actions there tell us everything we need to know about his real stance on this subject. Period. Unlike his shifty CYA words on the subject of Weinstein. As my Dad always says, “Look at what people do, not what they say.”
This.
Because everyone repeatedly covered up Casey Affleck’s crimes….
I think these post don’t mention Casey because they are trying to focus on Harvey. You are right the Matt and Casey thing dose show a pattern with Matt.
Zero follow-up questions by interviewer. Shambles.
If you know he’s an asshole, know he was cheating, know he did this and that but not criminal stuff (pfft)…..what did you actually see so you knew that you wouldn’t “want to be married to the guy” Exactly, what did you see to make that statement about not being married to him? something?
Awful that they just can go on tv and say any ole rubbish. Did they know about Rose McGowan? they weren’t even asked!
Matt Damon was never a nice guy. Go back to 90s drama, he dumped Minnie Driver on Orprah. Sure hes married with girls, but can we not allow men to wear women as shields? Weinstein had daughters too. Matt and Ben seem to have a specific toxic subset of Boston boy attitude towards women (subset, not all Boston men). I haven’t lived in Boston for a decade and hope it’s changed, but I had to learn to keep near a wall at parties or Id get my butt grabbed by strangers. I guess that is his version of “dealing with it” as the problem stopped when I learned I could never fully relax and go where I wanted at parties.
Minnie Driver recognized later they already broke when he talked at Oprah but it was not official
Did anyone else find Damon twitchy af in that ABC interview?
Watching him dig his own grave is hella fascinating, He should have just either shut up and let his public image take a hit like he did at Oscar season, or been unlikeable but honest.
Can’t help but wonder looking back how many times he finessed details and got a pass fromthe public on the back of his carefully cultivated good cop/nice guy dad image. He literally cannot seem to let it drop – which is creepy enough. Guess I’m a former fan now.
Well let’s see. Matt Damon looked the other way when it came to Harvey Weinstein, just like he looked the other way with groping, womanizer Ben Affleck and sexual abuser Casey Affleck. He’s a great judge of character. You can always tell what kind of a person someone is by the people they choose to associate with.
THIS^^^ I’m always teaching my daughter, who’s in 8th grade, you are who you run with. I try to lead by example and point out how some kids get a rep for being a troublemaker just because of who they hang out with.
Hahaha. Did you see what Matty D just did there? He threw his best friend the I-am-so-shocked-and-speechless-about-this-news Affleck under the bus. Not only did he heard about this but he basically allowed it to happen to his girlfriend. Well, probably in their bro universe it still is more excusible that shadig Affleck’s Batman. Maybe Clooney could give him a few pointers.
That’s TWO assaults that Ben Affleck knew about years and years ago. But he’s so sad and angry and sickened. LIAR. Cancel him.
If he doesn’t get asked about all of this during his JL promotion and is allowed to tell folksy kid anecdotes, I will flip out.
One of the assaults happened in 2014.
One of Ben’s assaults was in 2014. I was referring to Weinstein assaults that Ben Affleck had been pointedly told about (Rose McGowan’s and Paltrow’s).
Wait, that Ben allowed to happen years ago? Gwyneth wasn’t with Ben when it happened. She was with Brad. What was Ben supposed to do years after the fact? I still think our focus on the actors is short sighted. I want the board of directors who authorized the settlements, not the actors who might have heard about them.
Hmm, so the guy who dumped Minnie Driver on Oprah isn’t a gentleman after all? Shocker.
Poor dumb Matt. I have a feeling this will be what turns him into a bitter conservative. He doesn’t understand what’s happening at all.
It is beginning to smell a lot like Female First around here. I never ever thought I’d say or think that.
The pendulum of equality still swings heavily for men in every industry. Women so often react by finding another woman to hold responsible for not controlling the man because that’s been the trained response for generations . It’s good to see women holding men accountable for their actions without a qualifier. Nothing wrong with that.
This little boy needs to stop talking.
matt – you broke my heart. here is some free PR advice. just stop talking. go dark for a year – two maybe. then come back and produce an oscar worthy movie written by a woman, directed by a woman with a realistic cast including people of color. then do it again. then do it again. keep doing it until you retire from the business. there will be no shortage of excellent material from POC, women and LGBTQ writers, directors, crews and actors and if someone as famous and influential like you continues to promote the work of real people who live in this real world – it will feel less like a chore for others in the industry and actually improve representation on screen. white people can still be in your movies! so can men! but how about promoting the inclusion for the rest of the world too?
I like this idea for a movie, but hate the idea of Damon attached to it lol. But this movie should still be made!
I think both he and Ben Affleck have enjoyed fame and fortune for long enough that it should all be over for them soon. Time for someone else to have a turn.
…or for good.
Maybe some really talented people could get the good parts, he is at best mediocre.
he can fade away for good.
I think either Damon’s hiding his own predatory ways or he knows that he ignored it in order to rise to the top in Hollywood and he knows friends who behave this way (lol you think he never saw Affleck act inappropriate with a woman). I’m hoping it’s the later, while he’d be complicit at least he isn’t a predator.
But I can’t see how a man hangs around sexual predators like Casey Affleck and Ben Affleck and not be just as much of a d0uchbag.
I’m a little bit torn here. On one hand if I were a victim I don’t think I’d want people I had confided in telling everyone what happened – I’d want to handle that on my own when I would be comfortable. On the other hand people need to be held accountable for their actions and shouldn’t turn the other cheek because abuse needs to stop. I don’t know, what do you all think?
Clooney getting a pass and Matt taking all the heat is bullcrap. Clooney is one of the most powerful men in Hollywood, more powerful than Damon, so if Damon knew anything then so did George but he’s better at this game than obviously Damon is. Where I’m conflicted is the Gwyneth part. He was good friends with her, that circle of friends knew what happened, and if Gwyneth told them she handled it, and seemed okay with working with Weinstein again, I’m not sure what Matt or any of them were supposed to do in that situation. Gwyneth came from money and power and was very well connected in the business so if she decided to handle it this way then I don’t know how or what everyone around her was supposed to do.
I think Clooney is being disingenuous – that’s why he’s joining the hunt. I’m betting they ALL knew all about it, but he’s realized he better get on the right side of this thing. He’s slicker, smarter and better at lying than Damon. I bet they both know some dirt on their boy Affleck as well.
I find it interesting that Clooney is using the same lines on this issue:
1) What about the people leaving these women alone with Harvey??? (shock, horror)
2) Why did the press not reveal this years ago?? (evil press!)
3) it happens everywhere (Hollywood is the same as your office)
He is clinging to these just as Damon is clinging to “he was respectful to Gwyn after all this, I never saw this, gosh darn I wish I had because I would have given him a whopping.”
Both are lying and no where near revealing how much they knew.
Absolutely on all counts.
They are both full of skin-saving bullshit but Clooney’s bullshit is coming across as way more calculated than Damon’s.
100+
100% agree! I’m glad I’m not the only person here who thinks Clooney is being disingenuous. And most of us seem to be in agreement that Damon and Affleck are two peas in a pod. I’m so happy that Weinstein has been exposed, and consequently, the facade is falling from Affleck, Damon, and Clooney. These men have been worshiped for far too long. Even if they don’t suffer any real long-term consequences, I hope that more of their female fans understand who these men actually are behind the smoke and mirrors.
Weinstein got him and Affleck Good Will Hunting and he worked with Weinstein, plus the douche bro Afflecks. He strikes me as the “apologetic nice guy” accomplice that he himself never does anything but he’s standing around chortling at the “loveable misogynists” and saying “sorry, my friend is really drunk”. He can say he never saw anything that HE as a male observer considered assault or harassment. But doesn’t get that it’s not about what HE saw, it’s about what survivors say they went through regardless of HIS interpretation of it.
I Don’t expect EVERY man in Hollywood to give a great response to this or any response at all. I do not believe everyone knew and I do not believe people who often have lies written about them are being wilfully ignorant if they Don’t take gossip about others seriously. But, men like Damon and Cloney have chosen to use their position to advance their own political views and criticize others, so they need to step up their game now and show some real leadership. What is SAG doing? If anyone was abusive to me, the first thing I would do is speak to my union, is anyone investigating what they knew and did?
I am done with Matt damon. I’d also like to see every man in Hollywood, who receives dividends from work on past Weinstein movies, donate that money to resources for survivors of assault/abuse, Women in Film, or any other organization that does corrective work against this kind of toxicity. What if several dozen of the most powerful men in Hollywood (on any side of the screen -looking at you too, Tarantino) banded together to reinstate the founding donation for the institute for women filmmakers at UCLA that Weinstein was going to endow in his name? That insitute should still exist independent of the perv that was originally going to bankroll it.
You’re right, i think every male HW guy who earned mony per Weinstein should donate the money, but they won’t, because they don’t care that their Fortune is build on Rape and assault, and they willingly looked away, because the don’t see Woman as valuable human beings, so money is more important for these guys.
What about all the women who received great dividends from working with HW too?
Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Lawrence, Holly Hunter, Catherine Zeta Jones, Cate Blanchett and Kate Winslet all owe their Oscars to him….yes GP stood up to him and knew of his behavior but that didn’t stop her from working with HW for years. Winslet famously failed to thank HW in her Oscar acceptance speech….she knew everything.
The sad sad fact is many many actresses would willingly have looked the other way with HW just to get an award-winning role.
Sure blame it all on women now. Ugh!
@rose – Stop looking at women like they’re infants – oooh, girls are too weak and innocent to ever do anything self-serving and wrong. Magenta is right.
@JosieH
Women are not infants, but they are clearly not the ones in the power position here.
A LOT of people knew so I don’t know why all the blame is being placed on Matt Damon. Yes it’s disappointing that he knew, but so did Ben, George and tens of others- women too. I don’t hate Matt Damon but yes, for me, my view of him is tarnished. As expected Harvey Weinstein’s actions have caused an irreparable ripple effect in Hollywood. Good. I’m sad for all who have been effected. Its gross.
Because he was so close to the situation and worked with Harvey very often over the years and benefited from the association.
Yes, but that can be said for many many others. The whole situation is sickening. My point is I blame them ALL, not just Matt Damon.
Yes I watched him on GMA yesterday & when he said “she handled it” & became “the first lady at Mirmax”, I was so glad that he is finally showing his true colors to the world. Again, I’ve been done with him since the Effie Brown debacle, but this was on a whole other level.
It certainly wasn’t Damon’s responsibility to out Gwyneth’s story or handle it for her. My problem with him in all of this is his “I knew nothing” first statement & now his new story of “well I did know about Gwyneth”. It’s a lie.
Damon, Clooney, and other actors, didn’t call him out because they “missed it”–his statement about Paltrow proves that. And there is no way they misunderstood Rose McGowan’s cryptic tweets about her rapist (Famous people gossip just as much as we do if not more–I know because I have been around them). The fact is, they didn’t call him out because, consciously or unconsciously. they consider sexual harassment and assault unimportant, unless it involves their wives and daughters. Even men in my life whom I love don’t “get it” and I have had to school them on how corrosive harassment is, how virtually impossible it is to fight against it verbally, legally, or otherwise; and how unwanted touching, even if it does not involve actual rape, is destructive and can cause lifelong pain. Damon AND Clooney knew on some level– they just didn’t care enough to do anything about it. That’s the dirty little secret of pretty much every man around Weinstein. The fact is, men are still taken more seriously in all areas of life than women. It took a man’s opinion to get action taken on Cosby. If ONE famous actor like Damon or Clooney had refused to work with Weinstein and said why publicly, it could have saved hundreds of women contact with him. They were complicit, and shame on them. And shame on anyone working with Woody Allen. Allen is a perfect example of how they all KNOW he is guilty of, at the very least, luring a vulnerable young girl with limited experience and severe psychological damage from a horrendous past into a sexual relationship, then marrying her to make it “okay”. Even if they do not believe he molested his 5 year old daughter ( I do believe her, thoroughly), that they continue to work with him is appalling.
Memba how he broke up with Minnie Driver on a talk show. That said it all right there. Always considered him–and his wife–a big phony ever since. MR nice-guy perfect. Ugh.
At least Affleck owns his own messiness.
Affleck is out trying to pap stroll the bad press away. He doesn’t own shit.
Affleck? That sleazeball has always tried to hide behind his fake “family man” image. A is right. Affleck conveniently gets papped with his kids right after he gets bad publicity. Soon after his Weinstein comments, he got papped with a stray husky dog he supposedly adopted. His whitewashing never ends.
Did you forget what he did a few years ago? He was a guest on the PBS series “Finding Your Roots”. When it was revealed that an ancestor of his owned slaves (not unusual for white people who have a long family history in the U.S.), Affleck insisted that this information be edited out. No one was going to hold him responsible for what some ancestor did long ago, but he wanted it covered up.
The action of covering it up is what got him the criticism and negative publicity he deserved, not the family revelation. He got the host to remove the part about the slave-owning ancestor, which caused some controversy and led to the series being postponed for more than a year. So thoughtful, that Ben.
Affleck is obsessed about maintaining a good guy image. That’s what phonies do. If you have nothing to hide, you wouldn’t be so invested in how you are perceived.
They all knew. All of them.
My not shocked nor disappointed face
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. They knew that Harvey was getting young women to sleep with him in the hopes of career advancement. And that is still sexual harassment! They had an idea that something was wrong, they just didn’t think that systemically exploiting women’s bodies for career advancement was that big of a deal.
Exactly. The chorus of not everybody knew needs to stop. They knew HW harassed women and they knew there was a casting couch situation. Therefore, they knew he abused women.
They were clearly not sleeping with him because he’s charming and handsome. What he was doing was always wrong.
Ah! Well, finally! Someone with some sense. The Mercury News, posted a story acknowledging that Damon “Gets Off Easy” in the ABC interview. The reporter focuses in on Damon’s support for Casey/MbtS and how the ABC interviewer never even broached the subject of Casey.
It’s pretty unbelievable that the Casey thing is coming up NOWHERE for Matt. To me, this should be an even bigger – and more tangible – problem for him than Weinstein since he directly promoted Casey. I wonder if Damon/Clooney have explicitly told told interviewers that Casey
questions are “off limits” in exchange for Suburbicon press interviews and the ability to answer a few questions about Weinstein.
He doesn’t see how anyone could think they’d get away with it anymore? Does he know who the fcking president is?
I have never been more disgusted with men in general in my life. This whole year or two, between the way HRC was and is treated, dt, all of this Hollywood sht, Amazon’s dude, birth control restrictions, pushing abstinence (but Viagra is sacred), #MeToo, and, you know, EVERY DAY casual sexism that is majorly still rampant everywhere. It’s really having a profound effect on me. I’m much more keenly aware of, and disgusted by, my sexist boss, how many men I work with have high-paying jobs that they just basically walked into and act like they’re some sort of gods with great powers, rather than mediocre white men who benefitted from a fcked up system, being constantly questioned in terms of my abilities while a male colleague, with FAR less experience, is treated like some boy genius.
It’s the sexual harassment and assault, yes, obviously. Disgusting. It’s also the ingrained everyday pervasive Women Are Less Than bullsht. And I know plenty of dudes who think it’s not them, but it is. They’re not remotely aware. And what pisses me off even more is these dudes are talking the talk while they are are NOT REMOTELY genuinely even TRYING to get it.
Seriously, I feel like this whole mess is a personal turning point. I’m not dating anyone now and the thought of it makes me ill right now. I am just really beyond disgusted with many men and I feel like it’s going to take some time and some work before that changes.
Madonami, you are not alone. I feel the same way. In fact there is construction under way in my condo parking lot, and I find myself becoming furious every single day I walk out to a parking lot full of men. I mean, furious. I actually talk to myself about it, aloud. I don’t want a group of men outside my door. I feel like moving. I hate it. I am so fed up. And definitely this starts with the election, the campaign for me. I really felt in my heart that Greer was right when she said that women have very little idea how much men hate them. And that feeling has just been validated since that disgusting campaign with all of this.
Anyone who knew (which is pretty much everyone) and continued to work with him is pretty much sh!t in my book. I don’t think there was much more they could do beyond refusing to work with him. Reporting a victim who doesn’t want to be reported doesn’t help anything, and would only “out” a victim who doesn’t want to be outed. But the one thing they COULD have done is refuse to work with him or support his movies in any way — but they DID continue to work with him and support his movies. That’s what makes me sick. And I don’t only blame the men, but the women too. In this day and age, we shouldn’t view men as the only protectors of women.
Affleck and Damon are douches, Southie douches! I have been over them for a while now. Damon hides behind his wife and kids, but left to his own devices he’s a PR wreck.
Affleck will single handedly cause the Justice League movie to flop. I really wanted to see it, but I can’t stand the sight of Affleck’s smug face. And don’t let me see Casey Affleck’s guilty as hell face either! Let all three be done!
The more he speaks the less I think of him..
I think Damon’s comments make it so clear how men are able to remain so willfully oblivious, when actions that would immediately put any woman on alert for a sexual predator (like being a violent bully, bragging about sexual conquests, trading sex for work, and sexually harassing one or more friends of his) and he is like “I had no idea that meant he was a serial harasser/assaulter!” They think sexual predators don’t look like the people they work with every day,
I understood the celebs who preferred to pretend they didn’t know anything, b/c I thought they were just skipping a difficult answer. I thought in many cases they couldn’t have done anything without the victims wanting to come forward.
But Damon’s comment… He’s just throwing everyone, including a victim, under the bus to save face. And he CLEARLY couldn’t care less about this issue, he’s already downplaying it at the heel of such an egregious episode. I wouldn’t be surprised if deep down he’s now thinking “but what about all those false allegations?!”.
I read a brilliant article by Brit Marling, perfectly articulating the economics of consent. Then I hear, and over and over again now, the moronic blithering coming out of Damon et. al. ‘s mouths. Brit has an nth of their fame, money, power. Because she is just a woman in an industry that exploits women and children? Because she doesn’t bend over for the ruling class in Hollywood? Because her ability to use her brain instead of her body makes her interesting but not someone to be taken too seriously? There are good people in Hollywood who have become actors, but clearly, cream does not rise to the top there. And therein lies the problem. It’s whoever plays ball. Just like Damon accidentally spilled.
Noooo Sh***t _________________! I have nothing else to say about him.
IMHO Matt, George, Ben, Leo… a bunch of these guys were likely in this cess pool up to their eyebrows. They’re blubbering about how they didn’t know. BS! They were probably at all the same parties with Harvey. He was their mentor. They are pissing themselves now because they don’t know who might start singing like a canary. I haven’t been to a Woody Allen movie since I read about his ugly behavior. I can easily add all these fools to that list too. They are all just a big Nope in my book.
I’m really enjoying watching them digging their own holes. So glad nobody is really buying it and they’re exposed for who they really are. George is more well spoken but I don’t see any genuine ”outrage”, he’s just covering his ass and is phony. Matt is clearly scrambling and can’t help exposing himself as a jerk. If you get into the bed with dogs you will get fleas, and they are covered in them. They weren’t just business colleagues with HW, they were friends and all over him. I LOVE Seth Rogan. He worked with HW once and knew he was a nasty piece of shit and never worked with him again. I know not everyone had the privilege of that choice, but Matt and George certainly did (more so than Seth actually).
Agree with much of all that’s being said here. These are revolutionary times due to the brave and bold actions of all of these victims even risking their careers doing so.
That being said, I don’t understand the overwhelming condemnation of Matt Damon. So he might not have been the best communicator over the past several weeks, seemingly changing his tune. I don’t think this reflects his true feelings about what’s happened – more, that he’s just unsure how to best speak given the delicate and rapid-changing nature of the circumstances. No one wants to misspeak or make things worse, or in anyway worsen the experience of these victims. That doesn’t mean he is some sort of criminal though.
As for everyone suggesting he should have ‘done’ something back in the ’90s when Ben Affleck shared this information with him. What exactly do all of you propose he should have done? Gone directly to HW and make some sort of statement? Go to the press? Why is everyone making it sound as if, but for his lack of ‘action’, things would be different?
I strongly believe one of the main reasons the current climate has allowed for these women’s stories to come out is social media. The power of numbers has created the perfect storm for voices to be heard & amplified globally. Back in the 90’s there was no social media, and certainly no means of collective action as we’re seeing it now.
I guess what I’m saying is, let’s just remember the context here. As a woman who’s also experienced sexual abuse & harassment both in childhood and in adult career life, I’m well aware of predatory men or those who cover for them. I truly don’t think Matt Damon is one of them. I just think he’s gotten caught up in all of this and doesn’t know how to best articulate himself.