Sundance Film Festival, which Harvey Weinstein allegedly made his predatory playground for years, screened two shocking documentaries of the post-#MeToo era, one about the disgraced producer and another exposing two new allegations of sexual abuse from Michael Jackson.
“During a 10-minute intermission, audience members appeared slightly dazed,” a Rolling Stone editor wrote of “Leaving Neverland.”
“By the end of the screening, the crowd looked completely shellshocked.”
We should be coming up for air after more than a year of a watershed moment, a reckoning with the entertainment industry’s complicity in the systemic abuse of thousands. But despite all of the pearl-clutching over Weinstein and Jackson, it’s clear that Hollywood’s still rotten to its core.
Alex French and Maximillian Potter spent a year reporting on director Bryan Singer, who has been dogged by lawsuits and allegations claiming sexual abuse for decades. When Esquire went to publish their expose of Singer’s alleged rape and alleged pedophilia, parent company Hearst Communications shut it down. The Atlantic ultimately published it, with editor Jeffrey Goldberg claiming that the pair brought the story already meeting the magazine’s editorial standards.
It raises the question: Who is protecting Bryan Singer?
Hearst splits its ownership of A&E Networks and ESPN with The Walt Disney Company, a relationship that’s reaped massive financial benefits for the mass media company. Hearst’s most lucrative sectors are those enmeshed with Disney, and Hearst CEO Steven Swartz has publicly lauded Disney boss Bob Iger, in no small part to cheer on Disney’s expansions, which have benefited the two. Singer and the film “Red Sonja,” which has vowed to keep the director on board even after the Atlantic story dropped, are being represented by PR agent Howard Bragman, a consultant for ABC News, which is of course owned by Disney.
So it’s possible that Disney’s simply in the tank for Singer. But the less conspiratorial possibility is more frightening.
For one thing, the producer of “Red Sonja,” Avi Lerner, has been accused of sexual harassment in the past and tried to shut down Terry Crews’ career after the actor sued his alleged assailant, Adam Venit.
And of course the guilty defend their own. Singer spent years reigning over Hollywood, yet there’s not even a tersely-worded statement from the town’s top bosses. Actress Amber Heard tweeted out the Atlantic story, lambasting a “culture that protects the abusive.” She would know. Hollywood sided with her allegedly violent and abusive ex-husband Johnny Depp when she finally left him. TMZ literally cited “ear-witnesses” in their attempt to discredit her allegations of abuse, and Depp’s career has remained intact even as he’s visibly having a meltdown.
Anthony Rapp, who was allegedly assaulted by Kevin Spacey, also condemned Singer. I’m hard-pressed to find another A-lister who’s come out in full force.
Maybe Disney is protecting Singer. It’s possible. But more likely is the ugly truth that Hollywood never changed.
