Weinstein’s just the first of many more
THE Ivy is one of London’s best restaurants. Just near all the West End theatres, it boasts great Art Deco surrounds and a long history as a haunt for celebrities.
I used to hang out there lots when I was papping in the Old Dart. Great place for picking up bits of information and tripping over unexpected actors, TV celebs, rock stars, anyone who’s anyone.
Have to say I was taken aback in there one day — which takes a lot — when this big, loud and abrasive figure came barrelling through the front door with a great entourage of fawning hangers-on.
He was massive, unshaven and looked like a bullfrog. He almost took out the doors. All these people were hero-worshipping him. The place went silent. Everyone almost seemed scared by his bullish presence.
You could tell he was a man you really didn’t mess with. He was arrogant, rude and bombastic, horribly American. He was Harvey Weinstein. And I can’t say I was surprised to hear he’s in all sorts of strife over allegations of rape and other abuses.
There’s nothing new about Hollywood’s biggest and most famous being up to their ears in all sorts of mischief — the kind of stuff that would get you and me locked behind bars and the keys thrown away.
I’ve been hearing stories that would make your hair curl about Hollywood’s biggest names — and all sorts of celebs — for years.
Rape, assault, murder, paedophilia, drugs, extortion, blackmail, theft, religious cranks, white-collar crime … the showbiz world is full of it. But the place is also full of the most expensive and best lawyers in the game. Always has been.
And so all sorts of crimes by massively high-profile figures are swept under the carpet long before they might ever get to court or into the media. All kept secret by either power, money, influence or fear.
The secrets I heard as Mr Paparazzi were mind-blowing and publishers were justifiably scared to publish them. Often the stories seemed inconceivable — the complete opposite to the carefully-sculpted public persona of many stars.
But when you kept hearing these stories from chauffeurs, makeup artists, assistants and people working in their inner circle, you started to realise where there’s smoke there must be fire.
Doctors to the stars doling out prescription drugs to addicts, I’ve seen it myself. Orgies and drug parties on private jets — that’s par for the course until it gets out of hand and it gets right out of hand sometimes.
And then there’s the really sick stuff. You can talk of the dark web but I reckon Hollywood’s much darker.
There are so many horrible and seriously damaging secrets.
Just look at the stories emerging now, Weinstein is clearly only scratching the surface. And every day there seems to be someone new in the spotlight: Kevin Spacey, Richard Dreyfuss, Louis CK and many others.
In the UK, we’ve seen Jimmy Saville and Rolf Harris exposed, people who have enjoyed the highest, most respected status you can get. In Australia, we have people like Don Burke now stuck a startled rabbit in the spotlight.
The way all these stories have been covered up for years and years is on par with the abuses by the Catholic Church. Legal threats, confidential payouts, harassment, job losses — it’s all been one giant case of move along, nothing to see here. But not any more. This Weinstein-led scandal is going to expose people you wouldn’t dream of. And there is surely a long, long line of well- known actors and celebs sweating right now about what’s going to come out.
The assaults, abuses of power and horror stories of harassment, threats and more that we’re now hearing are crimes that could see people jailed for lengthy terms.
These people have had this easy way life where they think it’s their right to abuse kids, rape women, use the casting couch. And what about TV and the music industry? It’s not just the movies.
I wonder how many showbiz executives — not just dodgy actors — are shivering in their rich homes like the scared, confused victims they preyed on?
There’s an old line they all seem to have forgotten: What goes around comes around.
There’s another one they might soon be learning about first-hand too: Payback’s a bitch.