Amid all these stories of celebrity women being sent into private meetings with predatory men there’s an undercurrent of complicity from the behind-the-scenes players, particularly the people arranging the meetings. Agents must have heard from their clients that these men were harassing and assaulting them, and they must have known that it was dangerous to send an actress to meet a particular man at a hotel or at their homes. Yet they continued to work with Weinstein, Price, Ratner and more, failing to warn their clients that it was dangerous to work with these men and failing to spread the word that this was happening. Portia de Rossi brought this home with a recent story about how her agent made a tasteless joke after Steven Seagal exposed himself to her, revealing that she already knew that Seagal would likely harass her or worse. Of course a lot of agents and managers must have been worried about their careers. Weinstein regularly ruined the careers of women who turned him down and he surely did the same to anyone who brought attention to his attacks. Still there’s the question of why they put their clients at risk, why they didn’t warn them, and why they maintained silence.
We’ve also heard about sexual assault being committed by the agents themselves, including the man who assaulted Terry Crews at a party, an executive at William Morris Agency named Adam Venit. Venit is the head of their “motion picture group” and is on leave following this news. He hasn’t been fired yet although I would bet that’s coming and that there are plenty of other allegations against him. An agent at APA, Gina Rodriguez’s agency, has been accused of sexual assault, as has Rodriguez’s former manager from another company called Primary Wave Entertainment. That’s all background to this story that both Crews and Gina Rodriguez have fired their agencies, with Rodriguez also firing her management team. Crews has also met with the LAPD to file a report detailing Venit’s sexual assault at a party last year.
Gina Rodriguez has dropped both her agency and management company, The Hollywood Reporter has exclusively learned. A source tells THR that she is now taking meetings with other agencies.
Both APA and Primary Wave Entertainment have been embroiled in Hollywood’s ongoing revelations of sexual misconduct in the industry. Rodriguez’s manager, Primary Wave co-CEO David Guillod, resigned on Saturday after actress Jessica Barth, a former client, accused him last week of drugging and then sexually assaulting her in 2012.
Meanwhile, APA fired agent Tyler Grasham on Oct. 20 after multiple men came forward with allegations of sexual harassment and assault, including underage abuse. Grasham specialized in youth talent and did not represent Rodriguez. The actress had been with APA since 2012, two years before landing her Golden Globe-winning breakout role on The CW’s Jane the Virgin.
Earlier Thursday, Brooklyn Nine-Nine star Terry Crews fired WME after one of its top agents, Adam Venit, was identified as the man who groped him at a party last year. Venit, who did not represent Crews, took a leave of absence from the agency on Friday.
THR claims that Rodriguez is looking to replace her agency, but Deadline reports that “Rodriguez is not currently taking meetings for a new agency.” Now that the extent of the abuse, complacency and general toxicity in the Hollywood machine is being exposed, it’s not surprising that celebrities don’t want to be a part of it anymore. Agents charge 10% for finding their clients’ work and that must feel like a betrayal after all the celebrities have seen and heard lately. As an outsider it’s been hard to even witness the extent of blatant ongoing abuse that’s been committed for decades. I can’t imagine what that must be like for actors trying to work within that system and with those same awful people.
In related news, Women in Film has launched a sexual harassment hotline and legal aid service. They’re doing good work. That’s the organization that Kevin Smith pledged to donate all his Weinstein residuals to along with $1,000 a month to for the rest of his life. To their credit, the William Morris Agency is behind the initial funding for this project.
Damn! Check out Terry Crews.
Photos credit: WENN, Instagram
This is putting your money where your mouth is and walking the walk! Good for Terry and for Gina!
^^This
I love the calling out of the agents. They’ve allowed this system to exist.
To my mind, it’s too bad that agents who sent women to hotel rooms to meet with Weinstein can’t be charged with a crime. If they knew that the women would be sexually assaulted then it seems like they could be charged with endangerment or procurement, or engaging in a conspiracy that ended with an assault. Obviously I don’t know anything about the law, but those agents should at least be exposed.
That. If they knew – and they surely must have – that’s like feeding someone to the monster.
Yup, not to mention the victims are basically paying these agents for the privilege of being fed to a predator. Appalling.
It’s teetering on the edge of trafficking really. Young women (and men) being lured into a sexually predatorial situation under the guise of better careers. It might be dramatic to compare it to human trafficking but the only difference is the victims got to go home afterwards.
Good for them. More people need to do this, especially those represented by CK’s manager.
Its more of a sign. They cant really go to other agencies because its the same BS. They will because they dont have a choice but its still a good warning sign.
Generally the agencies should face more backlash. Not only in this but in equal pay too and Im not just brining it up because its equal pay day. But one actress or one employee really cant do a lot. But a big agency with actors and directors can. They also know what everybody else makes. They can easily stop that.
That 10% is the reason agents are willing to put their clients at risk. That, and continued access. Greed is a powerful incentive! If all it took were accusation against Harvey to start a stampede of people coming forward with their experiences, just goes to the systemic nature of sexual abuse.
I’ve thought that people providing cover for predators should be held accountable as well, but now I’m wondering if such a threat would only cause the pilot fish and paid subordinates to close ranks
Always have liked both Terry and Gina.
I keep thinking about the clip of Courtney Love, from years ago, talking about- if you’re ever invited to a party at a hotel with Harvey Weinstein, Don’t Go.
For which she says she was banned from CAA, the popular agency. Would love to see them take some responsibility for protecting Weistein.
Yes, I came to say the same thing. CAA has some questions to answer.
CAA just needs to go away. They have been the worst enablers for years. I feel as if they caused a lot of this. Weinstein would not have had access to many of his victims unless he had some money or hand shaking going on with the agencies. I wonder how many of them are enjoying spending their hush money at Target.
Love Terry & Gina.