Because of the nature of my job, I had already formed a positive opinion of entertainment journalist Ken Baker. I remember when Baker was employed by Us Weekly, and he was probably one of the big reasons why Us Weekly used to get some really great, genuine scoops. Several years back, Baker left Us Weekly and went to work for E!. While he rarely worked as an anchor or co-anchor for E! News, he will often appear as a correspondent/editor to explain some of the bigger gossip/entertainment stories. Plus, E! Online improved a lot once Baker came along and I gave him some credit for that too. Anyway, it turns out that Baker left Us Weekly because of sexual harassment complaints, and now women are accusing him of harassment at E!.
Since the Harvey Weinstein scandal broke, E! News correspondent Ken Baker has appeared on the air expressing disgust at the shamed mogul’s behavior. But two women who have worked with Baker told TheWrap he has his own history of sexual harassment.
One former E! News employee said that in 2012, he called her into his dimly lit office and, after a few minutes, invited her to sit on his lap. Another woman, a former E! News intern, said he kissed her without her consent in 2011, propositioned her for sex repeatedly over several years, and, in 2015, texted her that he wanted to give her “a Tiffany dildo with ‘Ken Baker’ engraved on the shaft.”
“I am very disturbed by these anonymous allegations, which make my heart ache. I take them very seriously,” Baker said in a statement to TheWrap. “I care deeply for people’s feelings and sincerely live in a way that treats people with dignity and respect.”
The Wrap’s story is very detailed and you should just read the whole thing. The accusations involve repeated (and insistent) sexual comments and propositions, unwanted physical contact (surprising one woman with a kiss on the lips), lots of unwanted sexts and more. It sounds pretty gross and it sounds like he was doing this to many women over the course of… well, his whole career. And not just that, he was harassing his family’s employees too, like his kids’ nanny. Ugh. Let’s just be done with men.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
Ugh. Why are so many men so disgusting?
Men are dogs.
Ugh these men. Didn’t their mamas teach them anything?
let’s not blame moms for this, it is just another version of blaming women for the faults of men–even if this is a comment in jest, this attitude needs to stop.
Amen Kaye!
didn’t their FATHERS teach them anything?? Men need to take the lead on this issue.
Again, another one I thought was gay turns out to be a predator. Mark Halperin being the other.
I remember when he used to call into the Howard Stern Show and he just seemed like an opportunistic little twit. When he started showing up on TV, I thought he looked as skeevy as he sounded. But i thought for sure he was gay.
He pinged for me, too.
He always struck me as straight but i thought he was an ass.
Thank goodness you said it.!😏
I was thinking “Him? Really”?
Talk about being off base.😇,😜
Me too, I just always assumed he was gay. Shrug?
I’m very sorry for the women he harassed, but glad they feel able to speak up now. It’s like an avalanche right now.
Me three. Or four!
From personal experience, I can tell you that fashion, theatre, editorial, publishing, the arts and arts administration – not to mention their food chain of affiliated groups, unions and support staff – have their share of gay men who feel perfectly free and safe to verbally and physically abuse women.
In many cases, it’s almost considered gauche, or ‘bad form,’ to point out when a certain kind of bitchy gay male humor, critique and verbal clapback can quickly turn openly misogynist and threatening. And I’ve had my boobs + my ass grabbed more than once, without any expectation that I would or should object, because I was in a ‘creative’ environment and the man assaulting and objectifying them/me was assumed to be gay.
People are often uncomfortable calling this stuff out – especially, I think, when they have supportive, loving, hilarious, respectful and wonderful gay men in their lives and in their hearts. But it is definitely an often ‘looked-over’ phenomenon of male privilege and entitlement.
Amen.
I didn’t know and never would’ve thought a gay man would be a misogynist until recent personal experiences. An advocate for women was writing about it and it was a painful, disturbing realization. Looking back over many years, I see it now -it was right there all the time but I made excuses such as they’re sensitivity or indeed that they’re gay and the abuse they are at risk of taking. Because I was so focused on supporting them because the were gay, I ended up abused and traumatized by a gay man.
If not for women speaking out due to Weinstein and the cascade since then, advocates writing about the details, what misogyny and harassment and hate really is and how it is enacted, I’d still be crying about a person I loved who hurt me repeatedly and not knowing why. Now I know there was nothing I could’ve done to ever be treated or seen as a human being with rights and I’ve let it go. It’s been a horrific painful experience.
Gay men are not any safer than straight men, or any men for that matter. And misogyny is very real in all cases.
I always thought he was gay. He has a wife and kids. Moving away from Ken, I’m glad my perceptions of only straight guys harassing women has changed. I’m constantly learning how gay men can often assault women. It’s about power not sex. I’m glad to know better now. I hope I made sense.
My very gay colleague shared an office with me and everyone else worked from home offices. We worked at a children’s video company and every day he would get listings of video titles from our parent company. He would read out the porn titles every morning and then make comments about my breasts. When I complained to my (female) boss she said, well, it’s not like he’s hitting on you.
oh boy, its even more complicated cause gay men think they CAN do it because they arent attracted to the women.
gay men are just as bad as hetero men when it comes to sexual harrassment and even assault – look at Isaac Mizrahi and him grabbing Scarlt Johannsen’s breasts on the red carpet. They think oh, I’m not sexually interested in you, so these things aren’t bad.
No, they are bad despite the perpetrators sexual orientation. Both straight and gay men are…ugh.
In more traditional offices, there’s also occasionally that guy who hasn’t come out yet (probably not to himself, or to anyone else) who somehow makes it his job to bring more sexist, offensive and abusive comments + behavior to the table than any other man present.
It’s hard to imagine what goes on in that kind of psyche… what he tells himself he’s proving; what he thinks he gives off to others; whether he’s aware of what is driving his behavior.
When I’ve seen and experienced this kind of hyper-hetero-horndog crap, I always feel compassion (truly)… combined with fear, and my own burning anger.
I often wonder how much more could be built, done and created if we simply didn’t have to spend our time and energy in the workplace expected to ‘handle’ or ‘just deal with’ this mess.
Wow, I always thought of him as this wholesome, family guy who posts lots of pictures of his family on his Instagram. All of these reports just make me disappointed in everybody.
That’s why he posts all the pictures… it’s his cover and personal PR to hide what he’s really like and provide a cushion if he ever gets caught. I’m now suspicious of anyone playing their life out online. I haven’t been on Facebook for years and was only there briefly but this is the world now. People use social media to sell themselves quietly or otherwise. Happy photos mean nothing.
It’s like one big domino topple.
I’m very satisfied.
No as satisfied as if i’d seen people calling for Agents and Agencies to reform appropriate business standards, but i mean. Its something.
I have a feeling there is another big story coming. I don’t know if it’s because of Feldman’s renewed drive to push the Corey’s story out there, or something else. Its a feeling in the air, almost.
Do you remember how it roller out in the UK, post Saville?
Did people immediately starting requesting reform from the major players? Or did it start small before building?
A huge long overdue domino topple.
@detritus: another big story coming? how about -several- other stories coming. This is like a massive, pent-up, over-boiling purge of repressed rage and hurt from so many, everyplace. In other industries, not just show business although it seems Hollywood suppressed their massive problems on a wide scale.
Like Rose McGowan said, Hollywood is a mirror reflecting the rest of us. Makes sense in a way then that they get swatted with the big bat first. And I hope the hits keep coming. Painful as it is to read about all of this its necessary to get the needed changes made.
Can I say I haven’t personally known men who seemed to be very decent people, do decent things, condemn sexual harassment and overall appear to be educated, polite human beings demonstrating solid grasp of social norms and boudaries who nonetheless have proceeded to sexually harass me? No, no, I can’t. So yeah, not surprised and glad this came to light.
I know that there are a lot of good men out there who would never do these things – but I’m still done with men. I am so sick of all of this disgusting patriarchal misogynistic bullshit that I just about can’t take it anymore. Between Trump and Pence and the 6-week abortion ban and Weinstein and Toback and this dude I want to just kick out all of the men, forever.
except….when these all encompassing “do away with men” statements come out, I think of myself and all the mums with boys who are now adult sons (ie: men) and how much it hurts to hear folks lumping our sons in with the piles of despicable actions done by men in powerful positions. Most are simply every day guys, working hard, supporting their families, and doing the best they can with what they have. Please, please can we stop with this “all men are jerks” because the TRUTH is that all people can be jerks at some time or other. No person is immune to being a jerk whether you are a man, a woman or identify as other, so please don’t with the “I’m done with men” “Men are jerks” etc. My son is just as horrified and hurt by these revelations as everyone else.
Mark Halperin’s mother probably would have defended him a week ago. I don’t mean this in an evil way, but you have no idea if your sons’ are or aren’t part of the problem.
Thank you for standing up for men, the true victims all around the world!
I would never say all men are jerks because jerks is way too harmless and implies someone being a little mean. Men are way more disgusting and dangerous than that. Yes all men. Its inherent and we’d be better of without all of them.
She clearly said she knows all men aren’t awful, but I think a lot of us are feeling pretty disgusted with them all right now after all these revelations and our own lifetimes of dealing with men’s shit. A little healthy venting seems a-ok to me.
we have spent decades and decades, fuck hundreds of years letting men off the hook, believing them, and supporting them, and now that the tide is finally turning and society is LISTENING to women, you’re “not all men”-ing us? On a site where so many women have shared their sexual assault stories?
If it doesn’t apply to your son, don’t make it about your son. Period.
No mother thinks their son is out doing this kind of thing.
And Ken Baker was also on E! talking about how horrified he was about the allegations against Harvey Weinstein last week!
No. Don’t do that. I did that for 30+ years, more… a lifetime. It perpetuates the problem. I’m not sure what the answer is but I now just hold everyone to a standard of facts, truth, boundaries and if they’re having trouble tell them to see a doctor or get a therapist. Can’t afford to make excuses anymore. Nobody gave all of us women a pass or support when we had public breakdowns or had to leave jobs and homes …. people abandoned women for all eternity when we were the aggrieved and abused.
No more protecting men “because he’s sensitive” etc. Never again.
My gaydar is waaaaaaay off. When is the dam gonna break for bryan singer, david geffen ? What about the pedos Feldman is talking about?
It may not be your gaydar. I thought he was gay, and going by the comments here, we’re not the only ones who thought that.
@casting girl
Honestly, if all the dominoes fall but Geffen and Singer are still standing, untouched…then I’ve lost hope.
I had to cancel my boo Rami Malek because he’s besties w/Casey Affleck and working w/Bryan Singer right now on the Queen biopic.
Thinking the same thing!
So far haven’t heard of any harassment from men so obviously not gay or bisexual. Bisexuality exists guys.
Tangentially (and an article suggestion for the CBs): in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein testimonies, a top guy at Screen Junkies, who produce the Honest Trailers, has been accused and dismissed for similar activities to what Ken Baker is alleged to have done (the two women at Screen Junkies / Defy Media HR there knew about the allegations for two months, dragged their feet on the investigation, and he was finally fired only after the accusers went public this month). He=disgusting, corporations=complicit.
http://variety.com/2017/digital/news/honest-trailers-creator-andy-signore-fired-for-egregious-and-intolerable-sexual-behavior-1202583996/
Here is the Twitter of the woman who exposed him:
https://twitter.com/April13Dawn/status/916321623279493120
In addition to the sexual harassment, he also didn’t pay women for their work, didn’t credit them by name on work they contributed to and put his name on that work instead. So disappointing, when one of the great things about Honest Trailers is how they point out under-representation and minimization of women in movies.
Have never liked this guy! Seems my judgement was right on this one.
Kevin Spacey and Louis CK might be the next guys in trouble
Dear god.. what is it with all these gross men? What’s happening is so disturbing but on the other hand I hope all women would out these perverts to the world, the dirt which was buried for so long needs to come out and these men need to take responsability.
I legit thought this guy was gay