Sexual Harassment

[BoSoxGal]

Basal cell can be very invasively malignant - my gram lost much of her nose to it and had to have radiation therapy following surgery. Also, while rare, basal cell can also metastasize to other parts of the body such as lymph nodes, lungs, bones and elsewhere on the skin. It IS the least of the skin cancers, but not to be trifled with just the same.

[Lord Jim]

Has anyone else read the news about Kevin Spacey's decades-long pattern of sexual harassment?

I was going to post about this earlier. So typical of the pattern; a powerful person acting with impunity for a long period of time with a host of enablers and people looking the other way. It looks like his career is toast:

The sexual assault allegations against Kevin Spacey span decades. Here’s what we know.

The two-time Oscar winner has been dropped by his agent and publicist, and Netflix has effectively fired him from the final season of House of Cards.

As sexual harassment and assault allegations against a number of powerful men continue to ricochet around Hollywood (as well as other industries), perhaps the most familiar name on the list of men accused of sexual assault is that of Kevin Spacey, a two-time Oscar winner, decorated Broadway and theater vet, and the (now former) star of Netflix’s House of Cards.

Since October 29, when BuzzFeed published allegations made by actor Anthony Rapp that Spacey made a sexual advance toward Rapp when Rapp was 14, at least eight more men have come forward with their own allegations against Spacey, with accounts ranging from harassment to attempted rape.

The allegations have brought about a flood of damage control from Hollywood companies seeking to distance themselves from the actor. Netflix, Spacey’s agent, his publicist, and the industry at large have all backed away from him.

Here’s what we know so far about the allegations that have surfaced against Spacey, and the fallout that’s ensued.

Anthony Rapp accused Spacey of assaulting him when Rapp was 14. Spacey deflected by coming out as gay.

Rapp is a veteran Broadway actor best known for originating the role of Mark in Rent; he’s currently playing Star Trek’s first openly gay character on the CBS All Access series Star Trek: Discovery. He told BuzzFeed that Spacey befriended him in 1986, when Rapp was 14 years old and performing in the Broadway play Precious Sons. According to Rapp, Spacey made “a sexual advance” toward him while he was attending a party at Spacey’s home.

After his claims went public on October 29, Rapp stated on Twitter that he was coming forward in solidarity with the dozens of women who’ve made allegations against Harvey Weinstein, as well as other assault survivors, “standing on the shoulders of the many courageous women and men who have been speaking out to shine a light and hopefully make a difference.”

Spacey responded to Rapp’s allegations by issuing a statement on Twitter in which he said he owed Rapp “the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior.”["inappropriate drunken behavior"? sexually assaulting a 14 year old is a helluva a lot more than that. ]Spacey then added, “This story has encouraged me to address other things about my life. I know that there are stories out there about me and that some have been fueled by the fact I have been so protective of my privacy. ... I choose now to live as a gay man. I want to deal with this honestly and openly and that starts with examining my own behavior.”

The statement marked the first time Spacey had ever officially publicly confirmed his sexuality, which is usually something to celebrate. But many people interpreted his statement and his choice to come out in response to Rapp’s allegations as an attempt to distract from the seriousness of the charge that he had preyed on an underage target. Backlash was swift, as Spacey’s move was widely rejected and criticized, with some observers decrying the way it helped fuel a damaging myth that conflates queer male identity with pedophilia.

And in the days that followed, several other accusers came forward to make their own allegations against Spacey, challenging his implication that his behavior was an isolated incident of irresponsible drunkenness.
Several more accusers have come forward against Spacey with allegations that span decades. Here’s a rundown.

Since Rapp came forward, numerous other allegations against Spacey have surfaced. Including Rapp, at least eight men have made specific claims against the actor. Many of Spacey’s accusers describe a pattern of alleged behavior from him that, like Weinstein, involved using the lure of his success and the opportunity of career mentorship to put himself into a position where he could then prey on young men.

Here are the allegations we know so far.

1983–1984: anonymous 14-year-old boy

An anonymous man told New York magazine that in 1983, when he was 14 and Spacey was 24, he began a sexual relationship with Spacey that allegedly culminated in Spacey attempting to rape him.

The anonymous actor stated that his relationship with Spacey lasted about a year, during which time he became aware that “25-year-olds don’t have sex with 14- and 15-year-olds, that that’s wrong, that I was not the guilty party and I could leave.” He told New York that the relationship ended when he was 15, after Spacey allegedly attempted to rape him.

“Mr. Spacey absolutely denies the allegations,” a representative for Spacey told the magazine.

1985: anonymous 17-year-old boy

The BBC reported on November 1 that Spacey allegedly approached an anonymous 17-year-old boy in 1985, befriending the teen and then ultimately inviting him to visit his home, where Spacey progressed from being “charming and brotherly” to sexually inappropriate. After rejecting Spacey’s initial advances, the accuser says he woke up to find “Spacey's head on his stomach and his arms wrapped around him.” The anonymous source described Spacey to the BBC as “either very stupid or predatory or ... both,” and noted that Spacey had not been drunk during their encounter.

"It seems he was grooming me," the anonymous source told the BBC.

1988: Justin Dawes

A man named Justin Dawes told Buzzfeed that he met a 29-year-old Spacey through a Connecticut theater when he was 16 years old and a junior in high school. Spacey allegedly invited Dawes and a friend to hang out at his apartment, where he served them cocktails and played gay porn. According to Buzzfeed, even though nothing else happened, “at the time, the 16-year-old felt like he ‘should've realized’ that Spacey wanted him to come over for reasons related to sex.”

“He knew that I was in high school,” Dawes told Buzzfeed. “It was pretty clear.”

1995: Mark Ebenhoch

Mark Ebenhoch told Buzzfeed that he had been working as a military adviser on the set of Outbreak, in which Spacey played a supporting role, when one of Spacey’s on-set assistants propositioned him on Spacey’s behalf.

“They asked flat out to engage in a sexual act,” Ebenhoch alleged. “It was enough to stun me. It blew me away.” Ebenhoch told Buzzfeed that he rejected the invitation and avoided Spacey for the duration of the production.

2003: director Tony Montana

Director Tony Montana was the second person to publicly come forward with an allegation against Spacey. On October 31, he told gossip website Radar Online that Spacey physically assaulted him in 2003, when Montana was in his 30s. Montana alleges that Spacey approached him in a bar, groped him, and said, “this designates ownership” as he did so. “I had PTSD for six months after” the incident, Montana said.

Dates unspecified: actor Robert Cavazos

Mexican actor Robert Cavazos discussed past encounters with Spacey in a Facebook post (written in Spanish) on November 1. Cavazos says he met Spacey through the Old Vic Theatre in London, where Spacey was the artistic director from 2004 to 2015. Cavazos alleges that Spacey touched him inappropriately numerous times, and said that Spacey would frequently grope men while hanging out at the Old Vic’s bar.

“It appears that all that was needed was a male under the age of 30 for Mr. Spacey to feel free to touch us,” Cavazos wrote. “It was so common that it turned into a local joke (in very bad taste)."

Date unspecified: anonymous journalist

An anonymous journalist gave a detailed account to Buzzfeed of an incident that occurred in London during the early 2000s, when the journalist was in his early 20s. The journalist was assigned to interview Spacey at his office at the Old Vic; after the interview, Spacey allegedly invited the journalist to hang out with him and some friends at a club, where he allegedly groped the journalist “aggressively” despite repeated attempts to get him to stop. When the journalist told Spacey he was in a committed relationship with a woman, it seemed to make no difference; when he tried to leave, Spacey implored him to stay. "He had somehow convinced himself that this was a sexual liaison that we both wanted,” [that is a really typical pattern with so many of these predators; somehow convincing themselves that their victim "wanted it"]the journalist told Buzzfeed.

Finally, the journalist alleged, Spacey tried to prevent him from leaving.

"[Spacey] was screaming in my face outside of the main bar area, red-faced, spit flying out of his mouth, screaming at me with fury because I didn't want to fuck him. He was actually saying that I did want to and I was a coward. That was his tactic. It was unbelievable."

The journalist said he reported the incident to his editor, who confirmed as much to Buzzfeed, and the story ultimately ran without a byline. The journalist told Buzzfeed that a major concern that prevented him from going public with the incident was his fear of outing Spacey as gay. “Being closeted has for him enabled him to use this privacy claim as a shield against anybody looking closely at his actual behavior,” he said.


2008: actor Harry Dreyfuss

In a piece he wrote for Buzzfeed, actor Harry Dreyfuss alleged that Spacey groped him when he was 18 years old, recalling an incident that took place while he was helping his father, the actor Richard Dreyfuss, rehearse for a play at Spacey’s London apartment.

In a very detailed account, Dreyfuss describes how Spacey touched him inappropriately throughout the rehearsal, and describes his own failed attempts to stop Spacey from fondling him without disrupting the rehearsal or alerting his father. Thinking back to what was going through his head at the time, Dreyfuss writes:

Looking into his eyes, I gave the most meager shake of my head that I could manage. I was trying to warn him without alerting my dad, who still had his eyes glued to the page. I thought I was protecting everyone. I was protecting my dad’s career. I was protecting Kevin, who my dad surely would have tried to punch. I was protecting myself, because I thought one day I’d want to work with this man. Kevin had no reaction and kept his hand there. My eyes went back to the script and I kept reading.

“In retrospect, what disgusts me about Kevin was how safe he did feel,” Dreyfuss concluded. “He knew he could fondle me in a room with my father and that I wouldn’t say a word.”

2008: anonymous 23-year-old man

According to Variety, Scotland Yard is investigating a claim that a man who is believed to be Spacey assaulted a 23-year-old bartender in London in 2008. “On 1 November, City of London police referred an allegation of sexual assault to the Metropolitan police service,” a Scotland Yard spokesperson said in a press statement released November 3. “It is alleged a man assaulted another man in 2008 in Lambeth. Officers from the child abuse and sexual offences command are investigating.”

Though Scotland Yard has not named Spacey as the alleged perpetrator, Variety notes that the incident being investigated took place in the South London neighborhood of Lambeth, where Spacey maintains a home. The details, which were first reported by the British tabloid the Sun, allegedly involve the victim approaching Spacey to ask for help with his career, passing out after smoking weed at Spacey’s apartment, and waking up to find Spacey performing oral sex on him. The man, who is now 32, is said to have reported the incident to police this week, after other allegations against Spacey became public.
2010: Daniel Beal

A British bartender named Daniel Beal told the Sun that Spacey flashed his genitals at him in 2010, while Beal was working at a bar in West Sussex. Beal, then 19, photographed himself at the time wearing an expensive watch, which was allegedly given to him by Spacey shortly after the incident, apparently to buy his silence.

2013: anonymous actor at the Old Vic

Buzzfeed reports that an anonymous actor recently contacted the Old Vic to report that Spacey “repeatedly sexually assaulted him in a public place in 2013.” No further detail has been reported, but the actor told Buzzfeed that Spacey treated the theater “like a playground.”

2012 to 2017: multiple anonymous cast and crew members on the set of Netflix’s House of Cards

On November 2, CNN reported that multiple cast and crew members working on the House of Cards set allege that Spacey engaged in harassment and created a toxic environment during the production. A total of eight sources told CNN that Spacey’s behavior was “predatory,” or that he harassed or initiated nonconsensual physical contact with production crew or had targeted young men. One anonymous crew member said Spacey routinely touched him inappropriately throughout the six seasons he worked on set, and that he did not "feel comfortable" asking Spacey to stop.

Additionally, a former House of Cards production assistant who reported Spacey’s behavior to a supervisor told CNN that a supervisor resolved the problem by attempting to make sure Spacey and the assistant were segregated while on set. Months after the implementation of this practice, Spacey allegedly sexually assaulted the production assistant while they were driving in a car together. The crew member did not report the assault.

The consequences Spacey is facing so far have been wide-ranging and immediate

Since Rapp’s allegations against Spacey became public, Spacey has suffered the following career setbacks:

Netflix suspended production of House of Cards, and Variety reported on November 3 that House of Cards producers were considering killing off Spacey’s character, Frank Underwood, for the show’s final season. Netflix later released a statement declaring, “Netflix will not be involved with any further production of House of Cards that includes Kevin Spacey. We will continue to work with MRC during this hiatus time to evaluate our path forward as it relates to the show.” Netflix has additionally scrapped the release of Gore, a planned 2018 Netflix movie with Spacey in the lead.

The International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, which produces the annual International Emmy Awards (a global edition of the Emmys), rescinded its previously announced plans to honor Spacey with an International Emmy Founders Award, an honor given to “an individual who crosses cultural boundaries to touch humanity.”

Ridley Scott’s All the Money in the World, in which Spacey plays J. Paul Getty, is still scheduled for a 2017 holiday release, but production studio Tri-Star has scrapped what was to have been an aggressive marketing and awards season campaign built around Spacey’s performance.

The online learning program MasterClass removed from its catalog a five-hour online acting course created by Spacey.

Spacey’s representation at Hollywood’s prestigious Creative Artists Agency, as well as his publicist, Staci Wolfe, have reportedly dropped him from their client lists. This news came a week after CAA dropped Game Change author and political journalist Mark Halperin from its client list following sexual assault allegations against him.

Spacey’s representatives said in a brief statement released to the Hollywood Reporter on November 1 that Spacey “is taking the time necessary to seek evaluation and treatment.”

https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/11/3/1 ... e-of-cards

Of all of the people who have been outed as sexual predators in the post-Weinstein series of public revelations this is one of the two I have found most disheartening. (The other was Mark Halperin)

I've always liked Spacey as an actor, and he has really seemed to be a very likable and down to earth kind of guy. (Emphasis on the word "seemed" )

[BoSoxGal]

Those allegations are sickening, truly.

I am equally disheartened - Spacey is an excellent actor, one of the very best of his generation. Just more heartbreaking evidence that you never know what monsters lie beneath the mask.

I’m guessing for obvious reasons that the usual naysayers here won’t be leaping to Spacey’s defense; just wanted to assert clearly that I believe his victims just as much as I believe the Weinstein accusers and those who have been groped, hugged, subjected to lewd talk or repeatedly propositioned against their will - and retaliated against in return for spurned advances - whether it be in the U.K. parliament, U.S. Congress, or any workplace or other setting on the freaking planet.

There is an epidemic of dysfunctional masculinity that presupposes all women are objects to be used; our world will never be a better place until this changes, because as we say in the DV movement, peace on earth begins at home - this means at the core that peace is rooted in respectful relations between all human individuals.

[rubato]

Still more to come, I suspect. It is disappointing when such a great artist turns out to have done some awful things, like Roman Polanski. We're in for a long process of draining out the pus from society.

[RayThom]

Yeah, I, too, liked Spacey's style of acting. Often sinister and dark characters with a likeability factor. I always wondered when he was going to be exposed for what he was -- somewhat ruthless and cold. He was a worm on and off screen, obviously.

I recall a story about Spacey related to me during my theatre work in the '80s. During his "Wiseguy" days he and Ray Starkey were having some sort of drug fueled lovers triangle which ended badly for Starkey with a subsequent
divorce and drug bust. Spacey was never mentioned as his gay co-respondent.

Obviously Spacey kept up with his nefarious life style. He moved to England for about a decade and was well known by local police and Scotland Yard for his "heavy-handed homosexuality." Getting exposed for what he was was just a matter of time.

When your money no longer spends all you have left is power. And that breeds problems like the Weinsteins, Spacey, O'Reilly, Pivens, Ratner -- and many more. The celebrity elite do not give up their ghost easily. The prevailing mood say these guys are not going to fair well in court. This should make for good dish on all the gossip and news programs for months to come.

[Guinevere]

I have never been a fan, but I had no inkling this was going on. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

[ex-khobar Andy]

There is an opinion piece in today's NYT by Diana Nyad, the swimmer. Now 68, she recounts how she was repeatedly assaulted (I think raped, although she does not use that word) by her coach from the age of 14. She does not name him in the piece.

His name was Jack Nelson and you can read his obituary here.

[BoSoxGal]

Tips on How Not to Be ‘That Guy’

[Burning Petard]

I am not holding my breath, but when is the other shoe gonna drop. You know, the other big star entertainment group--sport.

It was just interesting trivia when Chamberlain made his boast about his sex activity.

snailgate

[BoSoxGal]

Kudos to Louis C.K. for taking full responsibility without excuse after allegations were lodged against him.

I’m sadly not surprised by the revelations that seemingly good guys are sexual harassers and predators - out here in real life every woman knows at least one ‘good guy’ harasser or predator and likely many more. I hope women (and men) who have been victimized continue to speak out, and that we finally get serious about changing attitudes and holding perpetrators accountable.

[Lord Jim]

Spacey apparently cynically used the reluctance of people to "out" him as gay when he hadn't come out to further his ability to act as a serial sexual assaulter...

Which makes hims doubly contemptible...

What makes him triply contemptible is that he has now cynically used the revelations of his predatory behavior to come out as gay, as though being gay was somehow an excuse for his behavior...(When the fact of course is, that the overwhelming majority of gay men have never engaged in the sort of criminal conduct Spacey has)

Frank Underwood would be proud...

[ex-khobar Andy]

I am not holding my breath, but when is the other shoe gonna drop. You know, the other big star entertainment group--sport.

It was just interesting trivia when Chamberlain made his boast about his sex activity.

snailgate

Hope Solo has accused Sepp Blatter of grabbing her buttocks at an award ceremony. I have to admit that I had given Blatter credit for a little more brainpower than this. If I were going to grab some woman's body (never have, never will) in that way, I don't think I would choose someone who is possibly the world's greatest goalkeeper and who could undoubtedly lay me out with the back of her hand in a fraction of a second.

And there have been several statements from US gymnasts about more than one team coach and doctor. Penn State was a couple of years ago; and Dennis Hastert is out of jail now. Nadia Comaneci suffered at several points in her career.

I think any sector where individuals wield huge power over (especially) younger hopefuls, whether it is business, sports, or entertainment, abuse will be found - sexual and otherwise. Politics too, I am certain.

[rubato]

Hope Solo is a pistol. I would not want to be on her bad side.


yrs,
rubato

[BoSoxGal]

A woman has come forward to claim George HW Bush touched her inappropriately when she was 16.

Roslyn Corrigan told Time that she posed for a photo with the former president in 2003 at a gathering of CIA officers north of Houston. She was 16 at the time and attended the event with her mother and father, who was an intelligence analyst.

Corrigan says as the photo was being taken, Bush dropped his hand to her buttocks and squeezed.

Time spoke with seven people who said they had been told by Corrigan about the encounter in the years afterward.

A spokesman for the former president, Jim McGrath, said Bush has apologized “to anyone he may have offended during a photo op”.

Corrigan is at least the fifth woman to claim Bush groped her.

In previous cases, McGrath has mentioned the fact that using a wheelchair, as Bush has for about the past five years, “his arm falls on the lower waist of people with whom he takes pictures”.

But Bush was not in a wheelchair in 2003, when the new incident allegedly took place.

[BoSoxGal]

I haven’t read Mad in years and years, but it looks like I might want to start again.

[liberty]

On my other site, I got this unsolicited PM form an identified far left” liberal” junior member. I replied with a polite no thank you, not for me and forwarded it to the administrator before deleting. I admit, it is not universal liberal thinking, but does it make you proud he is a liberal? Can anyone justify this kind of thinking? I copied only the first paragraph it gets increasingly worse further down you go:

“The game in Babe Safari was plentiful, but the competition was greedy. I was one of fifteen hunters allowed to take hunt in the Babe Safari, which only opens to hunting once every six months. As a hunter we could rape and kill as many of the hotties roaming the forest as we could find for six hours, and the one with the most kills would be placed in the Hall of Fame. So when the gates flung open I grabbed my guns, a backpack full of ammunition, and my gear, before I ran into the forest beyond, where hundreds of beautiful young women were waiting”.

[rubato]

This will come as a surprise no doubt. But conservatives often pose as liberals in order to express outrageous things they would like to accuse liberals of but for which there is no proof. Your willingness to accept garbage accusations as 'proof' is amazing.

This is a zero as proof. And like the idle wind I respect it not.


yrs,
rubato

[BoSoxGal]

US senator and former comedian Al Franken has issued an apology after being accused of kissing and groping a woman without her consent.

Leeann Tweeden, a Los Angeles-based news anchor, came forward with the allegations in an op-ed published by KABC radio on Thursday that detailed an encounter with Franken during a tour of the Middle East to entertain US troops in 2006.

Tweeden alleges that Franken, then a comedian and formerly of Saturday Night Live, forcibly kissed her while rehearsing for a skit and later groped her while she was asleep. She also shared a photo that appears to show Franken placing his hands over her breasts while posing for the camera.

Congressional leaders swiftly called for a Senate ethics committee investigation into Franken’s conduct. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders also told reporters Thursday a formal inquiry would be an “appropriate action”.

The Democratic senator swiftly issued an apology to Tweeden, claiming to remember the rehearsal differently.

“I certainly don’t remember the rehearsal for the skit in the same way, but I send my sincerest apologies to Leeann,” Franken said in a statement provided to the Guardian. “As to the photo, it was clearly intended to be funny but wasn’t. I shouldn’t have done it.”

Within hours, Franken released a more detailed written statement in which he endorsed an ethics investigation into Tweeden’s allegation while vowing he would “gladly cooperate”.

Full apology:

The first thing I want to do is apologize: to Leeann, to everyone else who was part of that tour, to everyone who has worked for me, to everyone I represent, and to everyone who counts on me to be an ally and supporter and champion of women. There's more I want to say, but the first and most important thing—and if it's the only thing you care to hear, that's fine—is: I'm sorry.

I respect women. I don't respect men who don't. And the fact that my own actions have given people a good reason to doubt that makes me feel ashamed.

But I want to say something else, too. Over the last few months, all of us—including and especially men who respect women—have been forced to take a good, hard look at our own actions and think (perhaps, shamefully, for the first time) about how those actions have affected women.

For instance, that picture. I don't know what was in my head when I took that picture, and it doesn't matter. There's no excuse. I look at it now and I feel disgusted with myself. It isn't funny. It's completely inappropriate. It's obvious how Leeann would feel violated by that picture. And, what's more, I can see how millions of other women would feel violated by it—women who have had similar experiences in their own lives, women who fear having those experiences, women who look up to me, women who have counted on me.

Coming from the world of comedy, I've told and written a lot of jokes that I once thought were funny but later came to realize were just plain offensive. But the intentions behind my actions aren't the point at all. It's the impact these jokes had on others that matters. And I'm sorry it's taken me so long to come to terms with that.

While I don't remember the rehearsal for the skit as Leeann does, I understand why we need to listen to and believe women’s experiences.

I am asking that an ethics investigation be undertaken, and I will gladly cooperate.

And the truth is, what people think of me in light of this is far less important than what people think of women who continue to come forward to tell their stories. They deserve to be heard, and believed. And they deserve to know that I am their ally and supporter. I have let them down and am committed to making it up to them.

Here’s the picture:



I think the ‘humor’ is sophomoric and highly offensive, but in all honesty, it doesn’t appear to me that his fingers are even actually touching her in that shot.

As to he forced kiss - that’s really gross and completely unacceptable. His apology is the best yet from any of the accused, but it troubles me that something like that happened and he doesn’t even remember it.

[rubato]

I was sorry to hear about Al Franken this morning but encouraged that he did the right thing, admitted it, admitted it was wrong, and apologized.

It makes me think that for this 'movement' to be successful we will have to have a route back which can absolve people and admit them into polite society. Not for all crimes, perhaps Cosby and O'Reilly should never be forgiven, but certainly for those who demonstrate a sense of morality like Louis CK and Franken. I was sorry to see the immediate calls for Franken to resign so soon after the initial story. The intelligence and maturity he has shown are needed right now.


yrs,
rubato

[Joe Guy]

From Al Franken:

And the truth is, what people think of me in light of this is far less important than what people think of women who continue to come forward to tell their stories. They deserve to be heard, and believed. And they deserve to know that I am their ally and supporter. I have let them down and am committed to making it up to them.

To which he should have added: