I do know that this reckoning that so many organizations have been going through is important, it’s long overdue and it must result in workplaces where all women — all people — feel safe and respected.
Savannah Guthrie,
When it comes to fandom, it’s reckoning time for Matt Lauer, Garrison Keillor and scores of other men accused of sexual wrongdoing. Hero celebrities have fallen before — Bill Cosby’s career ended after assault allegations in 2014 — but never in the rapid succession that has rocked so many worlds since revelations about Harvey Weinstein exploded in October. Accusers of politicians, actors, comedians, singers, producers, directors, other media powerhouses and assorted business moguls have taken the power and fans of the disgraced have largely stood with the wronged.
But for some, giving up heroes isn’t easy.
Savannah Guthrie broke the news on NBC’s Today show about Lauer’s firing over “inappropriate sexual behaviour” with a colleague.
“How do you reconcile your love for someone with the revelation that they have behaved badly, and I don’t know the answer to that,” she said. “But I do know that this reckoning that so many organizations have been going through is important, it’s long overdue and it must result in workplaces where all women — all people — feel safe and respected.”
Paul Booth, an associate professor of media and cinema studies in the College of Communication at DePaul University in Chicago, said some fans derive a piece of their identity from those they admire.
“Certainly to a lot of fans, fandom feels like something that you almost don’t have control over, that what you’re a fan of is part of who you are as a person,” he said.
Many fans are in mourning. But in the Arizona border town of Douglas, 37-year-old Nubia Romo isn’t ready to dump Lauer.
“Oh my goodness, I’ve woken up to the Today show for years. It’s so, so, so sad. My mother is really sad, too, but we don’t have his side of the story,” said Romo.
Booth’s academic focus includes fan mentality, along with the social media hive mind. While Romo said she was shocked that Lauer would be accused, hardcore fans, including those of Lauer but also of Louis C.K. and Kevin Spacey, may have had an inkling of rumoured transgressions beforehand, choosing in the past to let the negative slide until allegations were pushed into full view, he said.
“For many fans, these are not necessarily new stories,” Booth said. “One of the things about being a fan is that you learn the minutiae of a star. Although some of these stories are just coming out in the mainstream media, they have been circulating in fan circles for a while. Rumours about Kevin Spacey have been out and about in fan conversations for many years. Certainly Louis C.K.’s misconduct and harassment has been jokingly referred to by a lot of fans.”
Letting go of longtime heroes can be a process, said Booth. Other pop culture experts and women’s rights activists agree.
“I think all of us are going to struggle with people who we looked up to and have done really good things,” said Linda Sarsour, co-chair of this year’s Women’s March in Washington.
“I can think of people like Al Franken and John Conyers and I’m so hurt and disappointed, but we’re going to have to reckon with the issue and how it’s impacted the victims and not our personal heroes.”
Fans expressed a range of emotions.
Susan Scharf, a 69-year-old retired teacher in suburban New York, said she’s a longtime Lauer fan and was “very, very shocked and disappointed,” echoing what others also have pondered: “I thought he was a nice guy. As a woman, I can’t support him now.”
In Royal Oak, Mich., Lauer fan Amy Hurley, a 45-year-old administrative assistant for General Motors, put it more succinctly: “Is every man a hypocrite?”
Outrage, sadness, frustration, shock and the craving to gather and share are common denominators among fans.
On Twitter, one angsty Louis C.K. diehard in Egypt, posted: “I remember that scene from The Affair where a character says, ‘If you think, on balance, that the good I do outweighs the bad, I’m a good person. If you think the bad outweighs the good, the opposite is true.’ And I believe that the good C.K. does outweighs the bad.”
Sarah Silverman, C.K.’s friend of 25 years, broke her silence in an emotional monologue before an episode of her Hulu talk show, I Love You, America.
“Some of our heroes will be taken down, and we will discover bad things about people we like, or in some cases, people we love,” she said.