A world post-Weinstein scandal

Cases still coming in from victims who have been abused and harassed

The story first broke on Oct. 5 because of a New York Times story written by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, detailing movie producer Harvey Weinstein’s decades of sexual harassment that has been kept under wraps.

The accounts have spilled out over the last month, as more and more victims have come forward to recount the sexual harassment that Weinstein has been allegedly guilty of over so many years. After he was accused, the floodgates opened up in Hollywood, with plenty of other victims coming forward, finally feeling able to give voice to the wrongs brought against them by actors and artists that seemed untouchable in the past.

Huge names have begun to tumble into a nasty cauldron of accusations, as Kevin Spacey was the next massive name to become linked to graphic accounts of sexual assault and harassment. After losing deals with his Netflix show and movies, reports surfaced about the toxic environment that had become the sets with Spacey.

While others became tied to various scandals, the next big domino to fall was comedian Louis C.K., who was accused of at least five sexual harassment incidents. The comedian amplified the fact that he was a father of two daughters to such a key that both his stand-ups and Netflix show are both now tied to sexual harassment. He, too, lost shows and stand-up specials in the wake of the accusations. Now both C.K. and Spacey are looking down the barrel of maybe the end of their careers and leaving the rest of us wonder: where does this end?

It has become less about the shock of the names involved and more a waiting game to see who comes forward next to expose another staple of entertainment. Dulled is the wrong word when describing the cultural attitude towards these horrible accounts. However, with the amount of damage done by these offenders mounting by the day, the curtain is beginning to peel back on what was widely understood to be a rowdy Hollywood scene, which has now turned into a dark place of rampant, unchecked harassment. As victims, sadly, are only just now given a voice, it now seems that everyone could be on the guilty table.

Now it has given us the view and an incredibly difficult task. How do we reconcile with what we are discovering is a far more vile industry at its core than we could have guessed. And what is to be done with what is left behind? How am I to now watch a show like “House Of Cards,” a movie like “Baby Driver,” or a C.K. stand-up without finding disgust or compromising morals? What is to be done with large bodies of work produced by Weinstein?

I do not have the answers for these incredibly disconcerting questions, nor do I know quite what to think of the industry that is becoming far more than just a “few bad Apples.” What I do know is that I will be less surprised by who is accused going forward, as this is looking to be the culture of the business or at least was, and more by how this was covered up on such a mass scale for so long.