New Sexual Misconduct Allegations Against Asia Argento Shouldn't Negate the #MeToo Movement
A new report from the New York Times claims Asia Argento, the Italian actress who was among one of the first women to accuse producer Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault, secretly agreed to pay a young male actor who accused her of sexual misconduct following her own admissions about Weinstein.
The Times reported that it obtained documents containing allegations that the actor, identified as Jimmy Bennett, was sexually assaulted by Argento in 2013 when he was 17. (The age of consent in California is 18.) The two had acted together in a 2004 movie, The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things, playing mother and son.
The paper reports that seeing Argento emerge publicly as a sexual assault victim brought back memories for Bennett, citing an intent to sue document in which his lawyer wrote, “His feelings about that day were brought to the forefront recently when Ms. Argento took the spotlight as one of the many victims of Harvey Weinstein.”
Argento was one of the first women to publicly accuse Weinstein of assault, and subsequently became one of the movement’s most vocal voices. She described an incident to the New Yorker where she said she was led to Weinstein’s hotel believing it to be a studio party, but instead found the movie mogul alone in the room. She says he asked her for a massage, which she reluctantly agreed to do. According to Argento, Weinstein “pulled her skirt up, forced her legs apart, and performed oral sex on her as she repeatedly told him to stop.”
Argento also gave a rousing speech at this year’s Cannes Film Festival where she described the event as “hunting grounds” for Weinstein. (While Weinstein has pleaded not guilty to six felony sexual assault counts in New York, including first-degree rape, none are related to Argento. He has denied all of her claims about their encounters.)
According to the intent to sue document cited by the Times, the two were “intermittently” in contact afterward starring in the 2004 film together. “Jimmy’s impression of this situation was that a mother-son relationship had blossomed from their experience on set together,” his lawyer wrote. According to Bennett’s account of what occurred in May of 2013, the young actor met up with Argento in her Ritz-Carlton hotel room in Marina del Rey, California with a family member.
The Times reports that the account states that Argento asked the family member to leave and that she then served Bennett alcohol and kissed him before performing oral sex and engaging in intercourse with him. Argento also reportedly took a number of photos with Bennett, some with the two semi-clothed, which were included in the intent to sue document.
According to the paper, Argento eventually agreed to pay Bennett $380,000.
Following the report, many Twitter users starting criticizing #MeToo, seemingly conflating the allegations against Argento with the movement at large.
https://twitter.com/DarrellWest1984/status/1031514397481553920
But others, including #MeToo leaders, are taking to Twitter to sort out their feelings amidst these new allegations. It’s a complex and nuanced discussion, to say the least.
https://twitter.com/RosieWaterland/status/1031497062636904449
https://twitter.com/BookishFeminist/status/1031362888932446210
These are incredibly serious allegations and should be treated as such. But what they should not do is take down or negate all the work that the #MeToo movement has done over the past year. It’s almost becoming cliche to say, but two things can be true at the same time. Argento’s alleged behavior does not mean that what happened to her and many other women at the hands of predatory men like Weinstein didn’t occur or that the issues surrounding women in the workplace are not still valid and important.
Argento and her team have yet to respond to the Times‘ repeated requests for comment.
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