USA TODAY International Edition
#METOO COMEBACK?
Some men accused of sexual misconduct are back in the spotlight
On Sunday night, Louis C.K. gave his first stand-up performance in nearly 10 months, since he acknowledged sexual misconduct against five female comedians. Comedy Cellar club owner Noam Dworman told The New York Times that his set consisted of “typical Louis C.K. stuff” and that it “sounded like he was trying to work out some new material, almost like any time of the last 10 years he would come in at the beginning of a new act.” ❚ And five months after CBS anchor Charlie Rose was fired in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations by multiple women, reports surfaced in New York that he had a plan for a redemption vehicle: a new interview show in which he would talk to other powerful men like himself brought down by #MeToo allegations.
It never happened. But the report in The New York Post that Rose, 76,
thought he (or someone) could make it happen illustrates the current, mixedup landscape as we approach the #MeToo movement’s one-year anniversary, sparked by a pair of exposes from The New York Times and The New Yorker in October 2017 detailing decades of alleged abuse by movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.
Since then, more than 100 men in entertainment and media have been accused of misconduct on a scale that begins with sophomoric behavior and progresses through harassment and reprisal all the way to coercion and rape. Scores of accusers – most of them women, but not all – have come forward to share their stories of abuse.
The conventional wisdom holds that, once a man is accused, it’s all over; there’s no comeback.
And while Weinstein, Rose and several high-profile men such as “Today” anchor Matt Lauer, Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey, former U.S. senator Al Franken and Louis C.K. have lost their jobs, careers and reputations, to
date only Weinstein has been charged with a crime. No matter what happens to him in a New York criminal courtroom, he will never work in Hollywood again.
Meanwhile, a surprising number of other accused figures are on the comeback trail – or never really left in the first place. They’ve taken different approaches to dealing with their PR crises, but they refuse to slink off in shame:
Some decided to apologize and go away for a spell, hoping that acknowledging their behavior and regrets would be enough to receive forgiveness.
Oscar-winning actor Casey Affleck, 43,accused of sexual harassment while directing 2010’s “I’m Still Here,” paid off his accusers nearly a decade ago. But in the wake of #MeToo, he was pressured to bow out of presenting the best-actress Oscar this year.
Now he’s back, promoting his new movie “The Old Man & The Gun” and apologizing publicly for his “unprofessional” behavior a decade ago.
A handful of accused men pushed back from the moment they were accused, strongly denying they did anything wrong. Music mogul Russell Simmons, PBS host Tavis Smiley, “Star Trek” icon George Takei, “Rocky” star Sylvester Stallone and Oscar-winning actor Geoffrey Rush fall in this category.
In December 2017, Smiley, 53, loudly declared his innocence and attacked PBS after his talk show was dropped following allegations of inappropriate relationships with subordinates.
Less than a month later he announced plans for a new talk show touting inspirational stories.
Some of those accused declared themselves innocent because police or prosecutors declined to act on the accusations against them, or internal company investigations cleared them. British actor Ed Westwick, ex-“Happy Days” star Scott Baio, entertainment host/mogul Ryan Seacrest, “Talking Dead” host Chris Hardwick, journalist Ryan Lizza and “Transparent” star Jeffrey Tambor fall in this category.
Tambor, 74, who won two Emmys for playing a transgender woman on Amazon’s “Transparent,” was fired from the show in February 2018 after Amazon conducted an internal investigation of sexual misconduct accusations against him by two trans women.
Tambor repeatedly denied the accusations and expressed bitter disappointment with Amazon and the “Transparent” leadership. And three months later, he was back in the spotlight on a promotional tour for Season 5 of Netflix’s “Arrested Development.”
Some of the accused were publicly defended by colleagues. When Seacrest was accused by an ex-stylist of sexual harassment, an internal E! cleared him and Kelly Ripa, his co-host on “Live With Kelly and Ryan,” declared on the show that it was a “privilege” to work with him.
Seacrest, 43, kept his place on their show, as host of the E! network’s Oscars red carpet coverage, as host of his syndicated radio show and as host of “American Idol” on ABC.