I had no idea Skeet Ulrich is in Riverdale! Crazy world. Back in the ‘90s, Skeet Ulrich was the poor man’s Johnny Depp – the skeevier, less pretty Depp. Since his heyday as an in-demand film actor in the 1990s, Ulrich has worked consistently but somewhat uneventfully in television. He’s basically just a solid character actor on TV at this point, and there’s no shame in that at all. Here’s the biggest shock of all: Skeet is 47 years old. Isn’t that crazy? Anyway, to promote Riverdale, Skeet chatted with Cosmopolitan. This must have happened last week, because there’s a bunch of Harvey Weinstein stuff in here. You can read the full piece here. Highlights:
On the allegations against Harvey Weinstein (who produced the Scream franchise): “I knew. Most people knew. I had dinner with someone who is one of the most famous women on the planet — I won’t say who it is — who has not come out, who told me similar things…There is nothing you can do. I mean, What am I gonna do? I can’t step up, certainly then, on allegations. Honestly, and I think it’s what most people faced: How do you cut your livelihood from a very powerful corporation on something that you don’t know what the facts are? Now that it’s starting to come out and people are finally stepping up and saying stuff, I’m glad. That’s what it takes. Because one person stepping up and making allegations is gonna hurt that one person and not help anyone, especially [against] someone with that power.”
On Rose McGowan (his Scream costar): “I saw her about a year ago and that was the only time I’d seen her since like ’99 or something. None of this [news] was out at that time, so it certainly wasn’t anything I was going to bring up with her. It wasn’t even in my thought process…What industry is safe? Where is a beautiful woman, or any woman, free to walk down the street and not be a feast to some a–hole’s eyes? I see how men can be. And then you give a man power? It’s scary.”
On being a ‘90s heartthrob: “This was when you received hard fan mail, and there would be trash bags full of letters, so I was aware that I had a popularity. As to where I sat on the heartthrob scale, I had no [idea]. There was no real barometer.”
On fellow teen heartthrob of his era Leonardo DiCaprio: “I see Leo around quite a bit. He’s always very nice. He’ll stop conversations he’s having to come say hi to me, so whatever bond we formed 20 years ago, it still has relevance to both of us.”
On being relentlessly compared to Johnny Depp early in his career: “All the time. There’s certainly worse people to be compared to … I always thought he was a very good-looking guy. It hurt when people compared our acting and [said] I’m not half the actor he is. And yet I think I’ve done some stuff he couldn’t do. He also did — what was it called, [with] Angelina Jolie? The Tourist. So we all have ‘em.”
On actress Busy Philipps praising him on her Instagram Stories for putting his acting career on hold to raise his kids: “[She said] I left the business or something? I didn’t. I left a great deal of opportunities because I couldn’t work outside of L.A. with [my kids] being little. I had such a nonexistent father, I knew that if I did have kids I would never allow them to feel unwanted…I stockpiled some money on a couple of movies I shouldn’t have been a part of. I’m sure [my distance from the scene] hurt me in the long run — when you’re not in producers’ faces, when you’re not at the parties and all that stuff, it took its toll, for sure. But I wouldn’t trade it.”
“I mean, What am I gonna do? I can’t step up, certainly then, on allegations.” So, his friend told him that Harvey Weinstein assaulted her in some way and that was his response? I mean, this was probably 20 years ago, and I see his dilemma to a certain extent – he can’t go to the police on someone else’s behalf, especially if they don’t want to go to the police or whatever. Plus, he’s actually being pragmatic: he’s right that one person going public about Weinstein back then would have meant that the incident would be hushed up and the person would be ostracized. Rock, hard place. But yeah, it reminds me of this recent piece on Very Smart Brothas about the need for men to publicly and privately call out other men, even when it’s not about a wife/girlfriend/daughter. Also: I do wonder who the woman is who hasn’t come forward.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Still a total babe
Oh yes.
Gorgeous. Some get better as they get older
Completely.
Yeah I would still. Completely.
Honestly thought he was Scott Baio at first glance in the header pic. He looks more like himself and what I remember in the second one.
The hotness scale reversed with Johnny Depp’s
Right? I’m so proud of him for shoving “the poor man’s Depp” thing right back in my face (I totally used to call him that!).
I can’t and it kills me because I used to adore him. But now he looks like my uncle (Rip).
Yes! Certainly not the less pretty skeevier Depp now! Lol
As sh*tty as it sounds, he is being honest and is refreshing to hear this than “I had no idea” from virtually all of the men in the industry.
This ^^ It still sucks, but I rather hear someone telling the truth, instead of spouting off placating BS.
On another note – I do not find him attractive at all.
Yes, would have much preferred this response from Clooney and Damon than denial. You knew, but he owned you and your career, so you stayed quiet. It’s the honest answer.
Agreed. This faux “i don’t know stance” especially from people that worked with him is so unbelievable and insulting to my intelligence
While disappointing what he said is truthful
Yes. I get it. If you don’t have prosecutable evidence, it’s a very difficult situation.
Then again, thinking about the NY DA who scuttled the case against The Perv, it’s a no win when the perp is a bigwig. Effing awful.
It is honest and I also appreciate honesty, given this cesspit we have discovered.
Also, it is not his place to disclose any woman’s abuse. It’s up to the woman to disclose – or not – at a time and place of her choosing. Even without someone’s own career prospects being put at risk, evidence from a whistleblower forcibly requires disclosure from a woman who may not be ready or willing. You can’t do that.
Abusers operating in corrupted institutions have perfect cover from whistleblowers. That’s why change needs to be structural, not individual.
This is so true. I’m finding some of the comments people are making (not here necessarily) rather infuriating. Knowing is one thing, knowing first-hand and being able to testify about it is something else.
Yes. You can’t whistleblow if that whistleblowing compels a rape victim to disclose. That’s just abusing her all over again.
And you can’t take people to court on hearsay.
I agree with this so much. She confided in him and hopefully at the time, he gave her an appropriate response (a listening ear, someone to lean on, etc.) but outside of that, there’s really nothing he could have done. We don’t know how he responded to her at the time, but at this moment he’s being honest.
I’ve confided in others (who I felt I could trust) about experiences I’ve had (I think it helped them to understand me a bit more as well), but I didn’t expect them to do anything about it. There are moments where I wish I had done X or Y, but honestly, I think I did what I had to do at the time to just be able to live. I wouldn’t want anyone pushing me in one direction or another, or trying to “save” me.
Exactly it is the system. On a related note I’m getting really tired of the rising tide of misogyny in the vein if ‘but they knew and those women played the game for the sake of their careers’ that failed to acknowledge they didn’t make the bloody game in the first place and have been clearly working within a system designed to both abuse them and keep that abuse quiet. At least this guy is honest but he’s only confirming what most of us have already guessed. If a few more like him come forward it may serve to shine a light on those denying that they knew what was going on and highlight their silent complicity in the whole bloody mess.
We live in an individualistic culture (particularly the US, the most individualistic nation on Earth) so it’s hard to get it into our heads that the system which enabled Weinstein is far, far more important than Weinstein himself, however foul his crimes. And that ALL individual women are operating as best they can in this abusive system even though a FEW of them are awful enough not to give a shit about their sisters if they’re not affected themselves.
“I’m getting really tired of the rising tide of misogyny in the vein if ‘but they knew and those women played the game for the sake of their careers’ that failed to acknowledge they didn’t make the bloody game in the first place and have been clearly working within a system designed to both abuse them and keep that abuse quiet.”
I love you, Frisbee ♥
@ kitten, love you back
“We live in an individualistic culture (particularly the US, the most individualistic nation on Earth) so it’s hard to get it into our heads that the system which enabled Weinstein is far, far more important than Weinstein himself, however foul his crimes.”
Thank you sixer, and for your other comment too, I agree.
It’s so much more easy to dominate and exploit a divided populace -divided by cultural individualization. I am very happy and lucky to be a woman in a western culture. There’s been incredible progress over the last hundred years. Yet, I’d have to say our greatest weakness is also too much individualization causing a loss of communal cohesion. It’s a very hard balance because individualization is also what helped women claim independence and equality.
Thank you, Sixer. It’s too easy to blame people who had heard things abot HW for not coming forward. They had no standing to do anything.
Also I may be mistaken but he didn’t say the actress confided an rape to him. Sexual Harassment is not a law enforcement issue. it is ground for dismissal and civil suits, but not criminal. So you know if she told him about being harassed then there really wasn’t much he could do except support her and be there for her in whatever way she needed him to be.
If she did confide a rape than yeah you can’t force a rape victim to come forward before they are ready.
I like that he was honest.
men and women******
Honestly, I’m not gonna shade this:
“I mean, What am I gonna do? I can’t step up, certainly then, on allegations.”
He literally can’t. Nothing would happen. If someone confessed something to him, all he has is hearsay, and he certainly can’t bring the victim’s story forward without their permission… so what did we expect anyone in this position, who heard things but didn’t personally witness anything, to do?
Exactly, what’re he or other guys in his position going to do? Go to the authorities and say “Harvey Weinstein has been sexually abusing women.” They’d laugh him out of the room because without evidence or a victim pressing charges, in tow, hearsay is all it is.
It’s an honest and realistic answer. The woman did not want to publicly name him. He pretty much is going on hearsay if he spoke up and it would effectively end his career. I don’t blame him.
I am so done with the I didn’t know. It worked in the beginning but not anymore. We are much more knowledgeable about the whole mess now.
Agreed. And I think it’s important for him to say this in light of all the “why didn’t you do something?” judgement used to discredit women who do step forward.
My best friend was date raped in college. She didn’t use the word “rape” when she told me about it, but what she described was definitely rape. It was clear that she wanted to move on, and so kept checking in but didn’t push her one way or the other in terms of reporting it. It sucked but I felt like there were no good choices, and the fact that we are focusing on women’s choices instead of men’s actions is bullshit.
Yes, this. The honesty is really refreshing, and as Chastain says, everyone knew and pretending that they didn’t is just setting the scene for it all to continue.
But the problem is that you really cannot do anything. If the victim doesn’t speak up, you are powerless. It’s sad truth. You cannot go against wishes of someone who aready suffered more than enough.
Exactly. I’ve been lectured at by so many men on Facebook about actresses not speaking up, I’m like, how are you going to speak up for someone when they don’t want you to? You weren’t there so you’re not even a witness. It’ll kill your career and get you into legal trouble.
On top of that, he’s Skeet Ulrich. Practically a nobody going up against HW who was major player. Even if he had verifiable proof, nothing would have been done. We know that from what happened in NY.
I appreciate that he is being honest about it. So many of these actors are saying “we had no idea!!! we knew he liked pretty girls but had no clue about any of THIS!!!!” and the reality is that Hollywood is a pretty small town and I’m sure a lot more actors knew than are coming forward now. So at least he admits it.
Admits it, and sounds pretty remorseful and unhappy about it. Nobody is perfect but I have a hell of a lot more respect for the guy that says “I knew, I felt helpless too, like I couldn’t do anything. This situation is shitty and I’m glad it’s out now.” Because it IS shitty, for everyone.
I think it’s difficult, Jessica Chastain also said she knew but it wasn’t her story to tell at the time. I understand that logic.
In Hollywood the situation with blacklisting I think has made everyone uneasy about coming forward already. Kate Beckinsale mentioned how her male actor friend got blacklisted by Weinstein just for warning an actress about him (who went on to sleep with him) and that just showed me how while yes they should speak up more, I understand why they don’t.
It’s easy to say you would, but when you’re career is on the line I don’t think many can say they wouldn’t stay silent. Actors are people too, and not all of them are rich and famous.
This entire situation is unfair to everyone. It’s the executives and directors fault. They have created a culture in Hollywood which makes it seem like it’s okay to treat actors like sex dolls. This has been happening since the beginning and it needs to stop.
Yes exactly. At the end of the day the actors – even if they make a lot of money – are still at the end of the totem pole when it comes to power in Hollywood. They are lowly employees and this whole HW business has shown how they have no real power at all except to walk away. Which is easy to do if you are Angelina Jolie because there are other opportunities.
But for the random working actor or actress just starting out? I don’t really blame anyone for not being willing to put their careers or their livelyhood on the line. Especially in a business where there is no legal recourse against blacklisting. One phone call and nobody will hire you again. How do you even TRY to build a lawsuit on that if worst comes to worst?
It’s so odd how the people whom they need the most are the ones with the lowest power.
I mean there are laws in place, but it becomes a he-said-she-said thing. Hard to prove in court.
I think the more powerful actors should start speaking out, but there are few of those around anymore, to be honest. Powerful-Powerful actors should speak out, as well as Executives, and Directors who aren’t like this.
SU is right, unfortunately – he didn’t have any proof, what was he to do? He couldn’t go to the police. He couldn’t go into a studio and say “I heard this about so and so, you need to do something.”
All you can do is be there for someone who is confiding in you, and warn others to be careful. But then Kate Beckinsale’s story came to mind reading this, even someone doing the right thing and warning women was professionally punished.
He aged much better than Depp. I’d say he’s winning the long game.
Plus he doesn’t gaslight or abuse his wife like Depp.
A piece of moldy cheese is aging better than Depp.
Lol. A bottle of Boone’s Farm is aging better than Depp.
Lol. #truth
Sounds like a solid dude so sorry Skeet, I called you Depp lite! Depp is not half the man you are.
Dito
Gorgeous man. Wow! And I rarely say this about an actor to be honest. I love his commitment to putting his children First at the expense of potential big acting roles.
I also wonder if there are some actresses, who are quiet because they actually slept with him …?
And who hasnt come forward? Why not?
To be fair, it’s not obligatory to come forward. The women who have are very brave, but let’s not turn this around and start blaming the ones who didn’t. I could think of a million reasons not to. Shame and fear being the most important ones,
This times a million.
I’m kind of tired of shame and fear being constantly cited. If you’re a woman who’s been through this, you know how people react. They don’t react well. They ask you stupid questions, like why you didn’t fight back or come forward earlier. You can tell who doubts you. They might talk about it behind your back. They see you as fundamentally broken. If you don’t want to deal with being disappointed by the people closest to you, the smartest thing to do, is not to tell them. That’s why I don’t tell. I’ve already been disappointed enough. I have no shame for myself, just humanity in general.
Yes I agree and posted as much above. It’s systematic abuse from an abusive system, let’s stop blaming those who have suffered from it and keep the responsibility where it belongs.
Yes, PPP, there are many people who you just don’t tell because they don’t want to know. I’ve had a couple people turn away, I learned my lesson.
I’m sure some did willingly sleep with Weinstein. So they probably don’t want to come forward and be attacked as “that kind of woman”. In reality there’s an imbalance of power and therefore an element of coercion.
Even where I am I’ve heard a couple of stories of harassment (third hand, not Weinstein). I wouldn’t even name names on a gossip blog because that’s inappropriate. I wish I could air the SOB out because the harasser is still working very steadily and is a pretty well known name. He also plants good press about himself in the media, but people who’ve worked for him say he’s extremely controlling and abusive. The story I was told involved the term “psychological torture”. I would cheer if just one of his victims came forward.
I know right. People would attack and attack hard. I have had sex with someone in power as I wasn’t strong enough to say no like so many of these stronger than me women have. I’d be considered a whore for it even though I had no desire to do so but did so from fear and a sense of obligation.
Honestly, given the career implications and the extreme way he pressured women who said no, there was complete coercion for many, I’m sure. I mean, Alice Evans saw her husband’s career hampered because she wouldn’t play.
There will be some who were totally willing, no matter what a toad he was, because of who he was. They aren’t the issue, except that it is not fair or appropriate to favour some employees because they sleep with you – that’s wrong in itself. But it isn’t disgusting in the way coercion is.
There are woman who willingly slept with him sure. And women who were coerced into sleeping with him (ie rape) as a quid pro quo. It would probably be a nasty thing to have to parse the difference
It doesn’t matter. Those can come forward, and it is their choice. Their peers know, and that is shame enough without having the public join in and double down on the slut shaming and victim blaming. They have to live with this, and they deserve to deal with it privately if they choose.
Yep. None of us deserve that info. It is theirs. He’s been stopped now, and while more voices against this conduct are important, the details over Weinstein at this point really are not.
I’m not surprised at all that those who willingly slept with him don’t come forward. They would just be judged, blamed and shamed worse than those who refused him.
People are already blaming Gwenyth for finding a way to work for him after he tried to coerce her, and not just walking away from her career.
What good would it do? People don’t want to look at the imbalance of power in these situations and can’t seem to understand context or nuance.
One of the most famous women makes me think…Julia Robert maybe?
I’m thinking Drew Barrymore.
My first thought was Sharon Stone; they both acted in Last Dance.
I thought of Keri Russell because they did a movie together, had a fling I think, and her career disappeared for a long while there.
Omg, my first guess was Julia Roberts too! The only other woman who can command the kind of $$$ would be Angelina who already came out. unless you think of the younger ones—Emma Stone & JLaw—who already denied inappropriate exchanges. Maybe Winona Ryder? (Meryl has already denied knowing about his predation. Charlize did not come out but someone mentioned her already. Hillary Swank is talented but I was but surprised by how far she went. Who else? Uma Thurman? Michelle Feiffer?
Here’s an article about the positive knock-on effect, with two douchebags of this ilk being called out in Canada, including the head of the Just for Laughs organization whose criminal record was cleared supposedly for the sake of the Montreal economy. Justice system, check yoself:
https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2017/10/18/just-for-laughs-founder-gilbert-rozon-resigns-over-abuse-allegations.html
smdh…atrocious.
It seems to have had a knock-on to political media here in the UK – two high profile columnists outed as abusive skeeves this week.
Did anyone hear about the speeedsheet called “sh-ty men in media”? It was reportedly a list kept by female journalists about men to avoid. It was reported on by buzzfeed and it’s been pulled because of the media attention. People are pissed both about it being pulled down and for it not giving the men the chance to defend themselves. I hope more abusive men are named.
Heard of it today but never saw it.
Now that this knock on affect is taking hold, I hope it’s permanent. And one way to ensure that is for all the actors and companies to name names anytime this happens again, for them to take responsibility of being decent human beings.
They’re now looking at culpability of assistants, confidential agreements etc for all and holding people responsible if they know and don’t speak up. Today there was news in Sweden and France of women not taking this anymore and how bad it is, legal changes to protect victims etc.
Maybe Neve Campbell? She didn’t really have a career outside the 90s and it seems she could have. I do keep thinking about how many women seemed to have been “it” and then suddenly weren’t and hoping it wasn’t bc of him. Or Drew?
Yes, this. It never made sense to me that after Meet Joe Black, Claire Forlani wasn’t HUGE. Now I can’t help but think HW buried her career.
One of my eternal crushes, along with Keanu Reeves. He sounds honest and empathetic enough. And to me, any actor who claims to never have known about it is lying. Damn, even I had an slight idea about the little information I heard about the guy, how could they not?
So, I agreed with everyone who says, “how could they not have known?” Then I started thinking about life in Corporate America, and how many people don’t know what other people are doing.
I’ll give you an example. Director, at a Fortune 50 in a pretty tight-knit industry, with ~100 direct/indirect reports or so. I’m female and in my 30s. One of my direct reports is a man in his early 50s who knew my boss and who my boss wanted me to hire. This man has said so many inappropriate things, including stories about his own and other people’s sex lives, and I haven’t told my boss. I’ve addressed it with the employee, but if it had been ANY other of the people who work for me, I would have been in my boss’s office in a heartbeat, because that’s potential harassment and a lawsuit waiting to happen. However…the boy’s club makes it a challenge. Similarly, another one of my boss’s buddies has sent me inappropriate emails, including things about what I wear and what I should do with him. I haven’t told my boss. He’s the best boss I’ve ever had, and while I know he would it handle it appropriately and immediately-it would be SO awful. I can deal with this crap, and if someone actually touches me, that would be my line to report it. So…I can get how people don’t tell other people, especially men, about someone else, in insular industries. We all have our lines up to which we will tolerate shit.
*sigh* I’m tired and it’s only 10AM.
Accidentally forward the email on to………………………….
Be sure to document everything you can. I’m glad you have a good boss who will believe you and do the right thing, but save every email, note every inappropriate comment.
I would agree with you in other businesses, but the entertainment industry is a hotbed of gossip. No one works with the same group of people all the time, and it is not a large community as far as connections to each other. They like to have rundowns on other people to know where they stand in the game. Secrets are hard to keep inside especially when it involves someone who is successful and been around for stretch.
I think people are forgetting that you can’t make a claim about someone without being able to prove it. So truly what could he do? I’m getting tired of hearing people shout for names. If you name someone for something that serious you have to have the proof to back it up. Plain and simple. Otherwise you can be sued for slander and/or libel. I have a friend being sued for calling a local doctor a pedophile on Facebook. It was proven not to be true but has cost him business. I don’t get why folks don’t understand this. I’m not saying don’t believe victims. I do and you should to. But calling someone out publicly is another story and often why people don’t come forward. The burden of proof is typically on the accuser.
ITA GaitorBait
Also, while i find Weinstein’s survivor stories very interesting i have been rather intrigued by the bigger players.
Over the past few days I’ve been reading about how Peter Bart, formerly at Variety (now at Deadline) pretty much protected Harvey from media scrutiny.
And the amFar scandal with Kenneth Cole.
Heavens to Betsy! What a mess.
And people wonder why young, relatively inexperienced actresses and models stayed quiet? Or people who may have heard but had no proof?
Harvey was always a step ahead.
He had powerful enablers. And they haven’t all been exposed.
I’m glad that around here at least, people are actually stopping to think about what the ones who knew something could have done and why, in detail, women decided not to come forward.
It’s already a huge challenge if going after a boss, a teacher, a doctor… Now imagine you are going after the biggest producer in Hollywood that has the power he had and just like you explained with leverage and enablers who are willing to play dirty if needed to cover up for him. He had journalists in his pocket (beyond Variety) and intimidated people. I bet he knows many secrets about many people in power so they would do everything they could for him. We now also know that the DA in NY was likely doing favours for Harvey… I mean, the layers and layers of power and influence would destroy anyone. It was absolutely legitimate to fear him.
There was really no incentive for any woman to come forward. She would lose a career and reputation, be punished again by the court of public opinion. Without a guarantee that sacrifice would actually mean that Harvey would pay for what he did and not touch anyone again. And it’s not much different for someone else who knew because someone told them. We can’t just go and accuse someone of something without proof, witnesses… It’s a big risk. The nature of this type of crime is challenging to prove by default.
I’ve seen people online criticising this actor which makes me wonder if those people live in the real world…
I know in my case, a man who is a church member, father, grandfather, married to a gorgeous woman and well known and liked in the community for years tried to rape me. I can’t tell anyone as I have zero proof. All anyone would say is “______ wouldn’t do that. He’s a family man and a church man. Why would he try to rape you? His wife is beautiful.” It’s pointless unless you have dang video evidence these days. It’s just the world we live in. If I had told people what he tried to do I’d have been accused of smearing his “good” name when I am the victim in this situation. Some folks clearly have never gotten out in real world.
Everyone said that Gwyneth’s story was not Brad Pitt’s to tell unless she ok’d it. I think the same would apply to Skeet and one of the most famous women on the planet who confided in him.
I’ve always had the biggest crush on him after since seeing him in Scream.
I hope this isn’t threadjacking but I’m in lve with how he deflected/elaborated the Busy Philips praise for pulling back to raise his children. No martyrdom, no dad praise, no humble bragging – he simply normalized it. Yes!
Yeah and he corrected the interviewer to say that he didn’t actually give up his career, just had to say no to offers that took him away from his children.
And I too appreciated how lowkey/blasé he was about his parental duties instead of the indignant “I RAISE my kids!” so give me a cookie nonsense.
Kitten
This! And how sad is it that I want to celebrate because he didn’t mention that he has a daughter.
Same. The bar has been set so low for men. Sigh.
He did disappear right when he became hot, but I understand his choice. It is honorable that he settled for a lesser career, but I hope he gets his chances to shine again in some good roles. He is the kind of guy that needs to stick around.
I like him.
First time commenting, so hello to everyone!
so..this is quite upsetting, but at the same time no surprise really. This shows how Rose Mcgowan only is a victim when it suits her. Hypocracy at its best –
“In 2011, Rose McGowan starred in the B horror movie Rosewood Lane, a film that not many people remember. Rosewood Lane is an unsuspecting title in a long line of films she has been apart of throughout her career besides one tiny detail, Rosewood Lane was directed by convicted child molestor Victor Salva of Jeepers Creepers fame. In 1988, Victor Salva was convicted of the sexual molestation of a 12-year-old boy who just so happened to be an actor in one of his early films.
While I won’t go into the details of Salva’s sordid and disgusting past, I will point out the blatant hypocrisy in how Rose McGowan handled this situation. Besides being guilty of simply working with the man, which is troubling enough, Rose went on to defend the director during a press tour for the film. During a 2011 interview with Advocate Magazine, an LGBT news and entertainment outlet, Rose brought up some awkwardness she had felt on set after Salva told her he “didn’t relate to women well”. The Advocate journalist went on to say “Well, Salva is registered sex offender, which might account for some awkwardness.” to which Rose replied “Yeah, I still don’t really understand the whole story or history there, and I’d rather not, because it’s not really my business. But he’s an incredibly sweet and gentle man, lovely to his crew, and a very hard worker”.
How much is Harvey paying you to smear Rose McGowan’s reputation online? Do me a favor, ok? Send him the same message he sent the girls who wouldn’t have sex with him: you’ll never work in this town again.
OK…so how does ANY of that impact what HW did to Rose? And the dozens (if not hundreds) of other women out there that he abused and assaulted? Is Salva awful? Yes. Should Rose or anyone else support him? No. Does that mean HW didn’t rape Rose or should be given a pass? NOOOOOO.
Whataboutism at its finest, folks.
Oh wow, you’re bad at this. There are no perfect victims.
You seem to be hard of thinking, if I feel charitable, so let me put this in nice short words for you.
It does not matter what she did or did not do. It does not matter if she is a very very bad person, or alternatively if she has choirs of angels shepherding her around. Who the victims are as people does not matter; what matters is that they ARE all people, and their bodies are their own. It is no worse for him to rape a nun than a street sex worker. Society’s conviction otherwise is why we have such a problem. He was able to assault more than 50 women, and those are just the ones who are now on record; the true figure must be a large multiple.
The only issue when someone sexually assaults someone else is their choice to do that to a non-consenting party. Who the party is, let alone what they said on another occasion, is not relevant.
Do you understand, now?
Dear everyone who replied to my post.
1. I don’t know why you got the impression that I don’t support Rose or the whole movement. Which part of my post seemed like that?
2. No I am not being paid by anyone nor do i wish to smear her reputation. I did not want to bring my personal stuff into this but feel pushed your angry replies. I am #metoo. i was raped and almost sold to prostitution. 14y.o naive country side girl -perfect target. was using the taxi first time in my life. taxi driver was the predator. had to jump out of moving car as I was taken to be sold hell know who. And after got beaten the life out of me by my extranged father (who I was visiting in that city!!) for this being “my fault”. Just 1 of many personal experiences, “the lightest one”. Thanks for bringing the memories and forcing me to defend.
3. All I wanted to say is that Rose is pointing fingers at other people from the industry for not speaking up or working with HW, right? Victor Salva is a convicted pedofile. Not a rumour. it is a fact. He did time for it. She had no problem working with him that, again, i don’t judge, maybe she was broke / had a contract she could not break/ whatever the reasons, not my business. Just don’t blame others for something you did too.
4. thanks for calling me stupid and other epitets. This was the best lesson. I came to this website to share something what really upset me because this was the only website that i trusted and commentators were respectful of each other. I’ve been reading this site for many years. Hell I changed the husbands, but not the site 🙂
So just wanna say good bye to you and good luck. Gonna have a large drink and wipe the tears and forget about this.
I’m truly sorry about what happened to you, Antonia. I should not have jumped on you. All I can say is this story has brought out a lot of strong, negative feelings in a lot of people, including me.
I wasn’t happy when I read about Rose working with that guy Salva, nor what she said. However, I’ve been doing my best to keep my attention on the true monster, which in this instance is Harvey.
Sometimes you really need to read the room, so to speak. Right now the victim blaming is crazy, and I think everybody is tired and angry about, along with dealing with their own past experiences. I’m sorry that I misread your intentions.
I just don’t understand all these rather angry comments at all. There’s no Whataboutism in stating that RoseMcGowen wasn’t that conscious about abuse that happened to someone else, and obviously considered it rather unimportant to the point of defending a convicted abuser, calling him a gentle person and a hard worker. It’s actually similar to what quite a few actresses did when asked about Woody Allen. It’s plain hypocrisy. Of course it doesn’t change a thing about Weinstein, and her being raped and a victim, but it DOES show how it is possible that people like him are able to harass and abuse over a very long period of time. By ignoring signs when they are staring you in the face, or downplaying them because you yourself haven’t had that experience. Or simply out of fear it could cost you the next job.
And Skeet is great. Loved him in the 90s and always happy when i see him in a role.
I thought it was Scott Baio in the top pic.
Goddamn you. I was enjoying him but now I cannot unsee 🙁
Ugh, same.
I really think folks should be careful about suggesting names of actresses who haven’t said anything and might have been victims.
It doesn’t take much for internet gossip to become “truth” and could be very hurtful.
It’s like people have learned nothing from Gretchen Mol’s story. Sigh.
100% agree. This person hasn’t come forward for a reason. Respect her decision to do so, and don’t guess.
It’s gossip, not testimony. I think we are ok here.
I don’t think we are okay, actually, in trying to speculate on which woman has been sexually assaulted by this, or any other man. She wants anonymity. That’s her right. And linking any other woman to this is not okay, either.
This story should be about him, and who enabled him in his company and in the Hollywood power structure. Not the women he victimised.
But I mean, what could he do? Hearing rumors about the guy isnt the same thing as actually being a witness. Police arent going to arrest the guy over “Well I heard from so and so….”. And even if the police did start an investigation unless other people are willing to come forward, that puts a stop to an investigation right there. So then what? He makes a public statement? Because Harvey would bury him into the ground in legal fees. And then Harvey would make sure that no big production companies would hire him.
I’ve adored him since I saw him in The Craft, and he is honestly one of the best parts of Riverdale ( Which is saying something, since I love Riverdale.)
While I agree that it’s probably true”There is nothing you can do” as 20-something Skeet Ulrich taking on the institution of Harvey Weinstein with someone else’s story, he could do more than “nothing” for the women he worked with that he knew were vulnerable.
New starlet comes on set and excitedly says Harvey invited her to a meeting in his hotel room? SAY SOMETHING. Everyone’s out for drinks and Harvey offers to get her home? DO SOMETHING.
And maybe he did all these things and he’s just talking about his inability to take on the whole culture of harassment, but this ¯_(ツ)_/¯ attitude by men with some degree of power and privilege in the situation is infuriating.
It seems like A LOT of men were abusing power in Hollywood. The culture of weirdness in that place seems to be rampant. It wasn’t just women who were being abused (as indicated by James Van Der Beek’s story about harrassment). Yes, harassment and assault occurs in all industries, but I feel like the level of it in Hollywood is just way beyond…Even if I were a guy (well, one of the good ones), I think I’d probably feel helpless.
He did say he stepped away from opportunities for awhile to take care of his kids so he also might not have been in Hollywood at all times to warn women away from Weinstein. He mentioned not being in producers’ faces and not going to the parties, etc. to network. So, based on why own speculation of what he said, he may not have even been physically present at some of these places to actually be able to warn someone not to go to Weinstein.
There are so many strange men in Hollywood, now I get why Robert Redford lives in Idaho….
It’s absolutely true that he would’ve been sabotaging his career and though it would 100% have been the right thing to do, I don’t think it’s a fair or realistic expectation. Look at Corey Feldman and Corey Haim as examples of people whose careers got canned for opening their mouths. They spent YEARS talking about sexual abuse in the industry and look at how they got treated! They were ostracized and their careers were indefinitely over, and anyone who wasn’t powerful and DID speak up lost their careers.
An interview on The View is circulating now where even Barbara Walters scolded Feldman for speaking up about abuse. It’s hard to expect people to rail so hard against what’s wrong when even a powerful reporter like Barbara Walters is on the predator’s side. There are SO many people in Hollywood who had the power to change this and they all turned a blind eye because they told themselves it wasn’t their problem.
I wanna hear more outrage & inquiry directed toward complicit talent scouts, agents & pr…. um – cuz don’t tell me THEY didn’t know. so far theres only been one story about the agent who sent Harvey a pig-trough filled w/ Diet Cokes (and that’s one awesome story!)
(also, its not just a Hollywood thing – good god, its everything – every day)
I saw Riverdale for the first time last night. He is a fine looking man. In a not-so-related vein, that is seriously the most melodramatic show I’ve been in decades.
He looks good on that show! The 50 year olds on that show are more attractive than the 25 year olds.
It’s a Dallas-Dynasty-Falcon Crest level melodrama. LOVE IT.
I was madly in love with him back in the day.
I don’t think he said or did anything wrong in regard to the Weinstein comments he made. I actually give him credit for being honest that he knew. There are too many people being dishonest, blatantly lying and saying they had no idea because they don’t want to be accused of being co-conspirators. For example, so many people act like Meryl Streep and Judi Dench are the voices of reason and beacons of empowerment for women, but the fact is that they are examples of two powerful women who knew and turned a blind eye because 1. Weinstein helped them, and 2. it wasn’t happening to them, so they wrote it off as not being their problem. This is why I scoff everytime I see that “feminist” image of Meryl Streep whooping it up at the Oscars, standing up and clapping, in response to Patricia Arquette’s speech about equal pay in Hollywood. If there has been any actress of our time who had the power, it was HER, the most nominated woman of all time… and she is box office gold. She had the power and she ignored it. If we’re going to question anyone’s authenticity, I find myself looking at her now.
This is one of those tricky situations where you can’t start blaming every single person who knew. I’m not going to blame Skeet Ulrich of all people for having someone tell him something in confidence and him not blasting it out there in an effort to start a brigade of justice–his career had been on the wane from about the minute that he hit it big. There are MANY big name and powerful celebrities who were all too happy to treat Harvey like he was the greatest guy in the world because they’re leeches and all that mattered to them was that he was powerful… Again, I’m using Meryl Streep as an example.
Here’s how I made peace with Meryl et al… people are different in comfort levels, in causes they care about, in things which hit them in their core. I truly don’t think Meryl or Judi understood, knew in depth, nor could relate UNTIL they heard women speak out, speak up, on anything as an activist or advocate. I just don’t think either woman was wired that way. Plus they’re from different generations. That’s not an excuse, it’s reality impacting how they go through life.
I wonder if he’s talking about Drew Barrymore? Maybe they became friends on Scream? And yes, he’s still so cute…
I had a brief crush on Skeet back in the day, during my teens but had no idea he was such a nice guy. I remember his wife (ex wife?) is British. Glad he’s doing well in his TV career. The Tourist was SO AWFUL.
I don’t know who this guy is but I appreceate his honesty. In my view he is right, more thean one person needed to be brave enough and come forward. This is why the NYT and New Yorker pieces had multiple stories because we all know how one woman’s voice can be denounced by men, especially with power like HW. And I really appreceate people like this guy, who come forward and say yes, I knew but hey, there are power structures, conflicting interests and general attitude of society towards women and sexual abuse that indeed makes a hell of a lot of people to stay silent. This not only helps to inderstand the situation but also may be a catalysis for change unlike all those fake “I heard nothing” or “he never did that to me” statements.
That makes only two men that I know of who have come forward and admitted they knew. And stated the fact that everyone knew. I thought Scott Rosenberg’s piece was excellent. Everyone knew HW harassed women, and no one did anything. I also believe him when he says not everyone knew about the rape though.
http://deadline.com/2017/10/scott-rosenberg-harvey-weinstein-miramax-beautiful-girls-guilt-over-sexual-assault-allegations-1202189525/
Anthony La Paglia said he knew and anyone who’d worked in HW for more than five years would have lied if they said they didn’t know (Meryl Streep, Blake Lively, etc).