The accusers of sexual misconduct
in Hollywood are named AP’s Entertainers of the Year.
Arguably the biggest thing that came from Hollywood this year wasn’t a movie or a TV show. It had heroines and villains, but no script. And it went viral despite having no big publicity machinery behind it.
The women who initially spoke out against sexual misconduct in Hollywood this fall — inspiring millions to tell their stories of harassment and abuse — have been named The Associated Press Entertainers of the Year, voted by members of the news cooperative and AP entertainment reporters. The wave of sexual misconduct allegations that stretched across the country toppling prominent TV figures, chefs, journalists, entertainers and politicians was also named the top news story of 2017 in an AP poll.
The reckoning began in early October when a bombshell New York Times article revealed decades of alleged sexual harassment against women — employees and actresses, including actress Ashley Judd — by movie mogul Harvey Weinstein. Within days, a #MeToo movement was born and the allegations have been felt at the “Today” show with the ouster of Matt Lauer and on the film “All the Money in the World” from which Kevin Spacey was erased. Louis C.K. was abandoned by Netflix, FX and HBO. The accusations have reverberated into the kitchen of chef Mario Batali and at PBS, where Tavis Smiley and Charlie Rose were dropped. It reached into New York’s Metropolitan Opera, where conductor James Levine was suspended, and the Def Jam empire, where Russell Simmons stepped down. The allegations also knocked a senator from Congress, with Al Franken resigning.
Others who received votes this year for Entertainer of the Year were Jimmy Kimmel, Gal Gadot, Kendrick Lamar and Luis Fonsi among others.