After bombshell Weinstein revelations, many ask, ‘Why now’?
NEW YORK » Why now?
That was the first question many were asking this weekend after explosive revelations came to light about Harvey Weinstein, one of Hollywood’s most powerful men, and decades of alleged sexual harassment on his part.
First, it was a question about Hollywood, where tales about Weinstein and his behavior with women had circulated for years, yet news outlets had been unable to nail down the story. But it also fed into a broader question, one that touched on the recent fates of Bill Cosby, the late Roger Ailes, and Bill O’Reilly — all rich and hugely powerful men brought down, in one way or another, by lingering accusations that finally burst into the open. What factors had enabled all those stories to emerge?
In the view of former Fox News anchor Gretchen Carlson, whose accusations led to the downfall last year of former Fox CEO Ailes, the key dynamic was women giving each other courage — spurring each other to tell their stories despite the risk of retaliation.
“When one woman decides to finally say ‘enough already,’ the courage can be contagious,” Carlson said in an email message Friday, a day after the bombshell New York Times report on Weinstein. “And that’s what we are seeing now. Women are saying they aren’t going to take it anymore. They will have their voices heard.”
In an expose that rocked Hollywood, the Times reported that Weinstein had reached at least eight legal settlements with women over alleged harassment. In one of its most stunning allegations, actress Ashley Judd told the paper she was summoned years ago to what she thought was a business breakfast meeting with the Oscar-winning producer at his hotel, where he appeared in a bathrobe and asked if he could give her a massage — or she could watch him shower.
Weinstein, 65, apologized in a rambling statement that didn’t address any specific incident, and said he was taking a leave of absence. The Weinstein Co.’s remaining board of directors said Friday that his leave would be indefinite, and his future employment is dependent on his actions and the results of an independent investigation.
Many thought it could be the beginning of the end for a man whose influence had been so great, Meryl Streep even referred to him as “God” in an Oscar speech.
And virtually everyone was stunned. “I think people just can’t believe their eyes, that a story so many people have whispered about for so long has finally made it to publication,” said longtime Hollywood chronicler Janice Min, former editor of the Hollywood Reporter and Us Weekly. Many in Hollywood were likely “crying tears of joy,” she added, and that included both women and men: “Schadenfreude is gender-neutral.”
For Min, who said she had been trying unsuccessfully to nail down the Weinstein story during her entire 7-year tenure at The Hollywood Reporter, several factors were at play in the recent cascade of allegations about Weinstein, and about Cosby, Ailes and O’Reilly before him. Perhaps most obviously, she said, was the idea of safety in numbers. “One woman’s story begets another,” she said. “It changes this whole culture of silence.”