What Harvey Weinstein Tells Us About Hollywood

The Democrats currently find themselves in a bit of a kerfuffle as one of their biggest donors faces accusations of sexual harassment.  Harvey Weinstein, the Oscar-winning movie producer and co-founder of the Weinstein Company who has donated millions of dollars to the Democratic Party over the years, now faces a series of sexual assault allegations as the result of a New York Times expose detailing how he paid off his accusers for decades.  The allegations against Weinstein go far beyond minor actions that get liberals bent out of shape including calling women “sweetheart” or complimenting them on their looks.  According to The Times, which probably agrees with 100 percent of Weinstein’s policy positions, Weinstein has asked women to watch him shower and forced several female employees to give him a massage in his hotel room while he lay there naked.  Weinstein’s accusers include well-known actresses such as Ashley Judd and Rose McGowan.  KTTV news anchor Lauren Sivan, who never even worked for or wanted to work for Weinstein, said that he cornered her in a New York City restaurant ten years ago and began masturbating in front of her.  Talk about ruining an appetite.  Weinstein called her TV station on Long Island the next day and told her “I had a great time last night”, apparently failing to realize Sivan’s disgust with his actions.  Maybe liberal activists should start handing out “consent forms” to Hollywood bigwigs instead of college students.             

 

Ronna Romney McDaniel, Chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, released a statement saying “During three-decades worth of sexual harassment allegations, Harvey Weinstein lined the pockets of Democrats to the tune of three quarters of a million dollars. If Democrats and the DNC truly stand up for women like they say they do, then returning this dirty money should be a no-brainer.”  A handful of Democrats who have previously accepted money from Weinstein, including Patrick Leahy, Richard Blumenthal and Elizabeth Warren, have already donated that money elsewhere. 

 

 

For all the talk of the swamp in Washington DC, Hollywood is a swamp in and of itself.  Both swamps demonstrate that power can lead to corruption.  Hollywood likes to present itself as a progressive paradise far more enlightened that the “misogynists” in the rest of the country.  Weinstein’s behavior demonstrates that Hollywood has little interest in treating women as equals but instead prefers to treat them as sex objects designed to please men.  As a man in a powerful position, Harvey Weinstein felt that he could do whatever he wanted to women; knowing that he had the power to make or break their careers.  And it worked, until now.    

 

Weinstein released a statement in response to The Times’ piece, saying “I appreciate the way I’ve behaved with colleagues in the past has caused a lot of pain, and I sincerely apologized for it.  Though I’m trying to do better, I know I have a long way to go.”  He tried to justify his behavior by saying “I came of age in the 60’s and 70’s when all the rules about behavior and workplaces were different.”  Even if the culture changes, right and wrong never do.  Weinstein hoped that he could find his way back into the left’s good graces by going after the NRA. He might not have as much of a platform to do so as he did before these allegations became public since The Weinstein Company fired Harvey on Sunday after nine members of the Company’s board of directors resigned.   He fantasized about having a joint retirement party with Wayne LaPierre, the head of the NRA; which the left holds in the same regard as the KKK.  He might not have many guests at that party since many A-list celebs have issued statements condemning Weinstein, including Jennifer Lawrence, George Clooney, Ben Affleck, and Meryl Streep; who once referred to Weinstein as “God.”

 

The New Yorker released a tape secretly recorded by the NYPD detailing a conversation between Weinstein and Italian model Ambra Gutierrez.  At the beginning of the tape, he asks her to have a drink while watching him shower.  Throughout the nearly two-minute long exchange, she repeatedly made it very clear how uncomfortable she was.  She asked him “Why yesterday you touched my breast?”  He responded by saying “Oh, please, I’m sorry, just come on in.  I’m used to that.”  Throughout the recording, he repeatedly asked her not to embarrass him at the hotel.              

 

Several other powerful men in Hollywood have faced similar allegations over the years.  Forty years ago, Director Roman Polanski allegedly raped a thirteen-year-old girl at Jack Nicholson’s house.  Many of Hollywood’s elites at the time came to Polanski’s defense.  He has largely avoided facing the consequences of his crime; as he fled to France, where he has citizenship, the day before his sentencing was to take place.  He faced no threat of extradition; since France does not extradite its citizens.  Polanski’s movie-making career continued on the other side of the Atlantic; he even won a best Director Oscar in 2003 for “The Pianist.” According to English actress Charlotte Lewis, Polanski’s “hobby” of sexually assaulting underage girls did not come to a stop after he fled the United States.  Lewis, who worked with Polanski on the 1986 film “Pirates”, accused the director of sexually assaulting her while she was still underage.  Polanski, now 84, still lives a life of luxury while his victim will probably continue to have flashbacks of the awful events that took place for the rest of her life.   

 

More recently, comedian Bill Cosby has faced numerous sexual assault allegations going back several years; including rape and drug facilitated sexual assault.  Cosby’s accusers included models Janice Dickinson and Beverly Johnson.  The trial against him ended in a mistrial earlier this year but the allegations have tarnished his reputation beyond repair.

 

The recent revelations to come out of Hollywood make one thing very clear: Katie Pavlich had it exactly right when she pointed out in her book Assault and Flattery: The Truth About the Left and Their War on Women  that the American left has been waging the “war on women”, not the right.  She talks about the Polanski scandal as well as the rape allegations against Woody Allen by his adopted daughter in a chapter of her book called “Hollywood Hates Women.”  The book does not mention the Bill Cosby scandal; since it came out before the allegations against Cosby made international headlines.     

 

The Harvey Weinstein scandal and all of the other Hollywood sex scandals should reinforce what most Americans already know about Hollywood: they play by a different set of rules than the rest of America.  They expect everyone else to surrender their guns while they live in gated communities and work in studios protected by armed security guards.  They expect everyone else to ride bicycles in order to help the environment while flying in gas-guzzling private jets.  We now know that Hollywood accuses everyone else in the country of engaging in a “war on women” while many women in Hollywood waited until long after they became multi-millionaires to shine a light on the chronic misogynistic behavior of one of the most powerful men in Tinseltown.  Hollywood has a lot of soul-searching to do before it has firm enough ground to stand on to lecture the rest of the country about how to treat women.