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Vice Media Under Fire for Rampant Sexual Misconduct Allegations, the 'New York Times' Reports


Several months after allegations against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein began a wave of change regarding how sexual harassment allegations are handled at work, Vice Media has become the subject of a new New York Times investigation. The report, published December 23, shone light on four sexual harassment or defamation settlements and published more than two dozen further allegations by current and former employees who say they’ve witnessed or experienced sexual misconduct at the hands of Vice employees and executives.

According to the Times, the publication’s president, Andrew Creighton, allegedly fired an employee for rejecting his advances, for which he reportedly paid a $135,000 settlement in 2016. The Times also reports that Vice reached a settlement after former head of Vice News Jason Mojica allegedly punished a female employee after they got involved sexually. He was fired in November. In January 2016, the company settled with a woman who alleged that Vice producer Rhys James asked her if she had sex with black men and what color her nipples were; James was put on leave last month. Lastly, Vice reportedly settled in 2003 with a writer who said the publication falsely wrote that she agreed to sleep with a rapper she interviewed. In addition, a woman interviewed by the Times described a coworker putting her hand on his crotch outside of work. Still another alleged she was the target of unwanted kissing.

“We have failed as a company to create a safe and inclusive workplace where everyone, especially women, can feel respected and thrive,” Vice co-founders Shane Smith and Suroosh Alvi said in a statement to Vice staff. “Cultural elements from our past, dysfunction, and mismanagement were allowed to flourish unchecked. That includes a detrimental ‘boy’s club’ culture that fostered inappropriate behavior that permeated throughout the company.”

In response to the allegations, Vice fired three employees, brought on a new human resources leader, created a Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Board that includes Gloria Steinem, and issued a prohibition on supervisors dating people working under them.

“The misogyny might look different than you would have expected it to in the 1950s, but it was still there, it was still ingrained,” Kayla Ruble, a journalist who worked for Vice from 2014 to 2016, told The New York Times. “This is a wakeup call.”

Related: Powerful People in Entertainment Who Have Been Accused of Sexual Harassment or Assault



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'One Tree Hill' Cast and Crew Members Detail Allegations of Sexual Misconduct by Showrunner Mark Schwahn


Less than a week after One Tree Hill‘s cast and crew wrote a powerful letter accusing showrunner Mark Schwahn of sexual harassment, one of the show’s lead actresses has expanded on the allegations against him. Hilarie Burton, who played lead character Peyton Sawyer, detailed her allegations against Schwahn in an interview published Friday by Variety.

She alleged to Variety that Schwahn kissed her twice against her will and once slid his hand into the back of her pants while his wife was present. Burton also elaborated on Schwahn’s behavior on set: She says that Schwahn began grooming her by letting her attend production meetings and “pushing her character to the forefront.” Meanwhile, she says that she fought him about her character becoming unnecessarily sexualized, and that he would pit the women of the show against each other, pushing them into Burton’s orbit by encouraging offset friendships and then lying about physical relationships he said he was having with the show’s actresses, particularly with Danneel Ackles.

Burton alleges that in one of the instances of Schwahn forcing himself on her, he began making out with her in a limo from Raleigh to Wilmington after a show-related trip they’d taken together—while Schwahn was on the phone with the CW’s president, Dawn Ostroff, persuading her to let One Tree Hill stay on the air for a fifth season.

“I’m leaning in listening, and when it’s Dawn Ostroff’s turn to talk, he just leans over and starts kissing me,” Burton told Variety. “I push him off, but I can’t say anything, because he’s on the phone fighting for our show to stay on the air. I’m just in this position where I’m thinking, ‘You’ve got to take it, Hil. Just laugh it off. You’ll get to Wilmington in 45 minutes.'” After they got back to the set, Schwahn allegedly told Ackles (and, later, another actress) he and Burton had made out; Ackles promptly called Burton, who detailed what happened.

She detailed other allegations of misconduct as well, like an invitation to a swinger-type meet-up (he got “pretty angry” when she stood him up), and him kissing her for a second time in front of “everybody” when the cast and crew met up a bar. Ackles and Burton both recounted a time when, after unsuccessfully trying to get into Ackles’ hotel room, he allegedly went to Burton’s, complaining Ackles wouldn’t open her door to him.

Burton confronted him about his alleged behavior when they were shooting season four’s finale. She says Schwahn began rubbing her shoulders and back, and that’s when she went off. “You gotta stop,” Burton told Variety she said. “Mark, I’m telling you, as your friend, your wife is going to hear about this shit. You’re going to lose your job. You can’t touch the girls anymore.”

What happened next sounds terrifying: He grew angry because she’d confronted him in front of others. He later had her come to his office and “screamed at her for half an hour.” “I know exactly what this man’s hands look like, and they are my fucking nightmare,” she told Variety. “I think of hands when I think of him, because they were relentless.”

Burton left the show when her contract ran out a the end of season six, despite an offer of a raise from Warner Bros. She said she didn’t want to be viewed as “a problem” by the studio and wanted to work for them again—hence why she didn’t speak up at the time. She says that ultimately working with Schwahn has been detrimental to her career: It indirectly caused her to be dropped by her agent and led to missed acting opportunities,

Other allegations were made by different cast and crew members to Variety. An unnamed actress said that he touched her inappropriately when she approached him with a professional question and that, later, when she approached him about touching other female cast members, he also got angry and “threatened her job.”

A writer on the show that spoke to Variety, Michelle Furtney-Goodman, recalled an incident that involved Schwahn allegedly pulling her head between her knees, saying that “the back of my head was so flat and that I was the perfect woman, because I could give a guy a blowjob and he could rest his drink on the back of my head,” she told Variety. She alleges he set a soda can on her head to illustrate his point—all in front of the show’s other writers. She felt obligated to compose herself and go back to work: “I was scared that if I said anything [to Warner Bros.], I would never work in this town again,” she said.

A former male writer on the show, James Stoteraux, wasn’t immune to Schwahn’s toxic workplace culture, either. He says the showrunner gave him a T-shirt for Christmas that said, “I’m not a gynecologist, but I’ll take a look.” He said he was “relieved” to leave the “toxic, demoralizing workplace” after writing for the second and third seasons of the show.

Schwahn is currently suspended from his position as showrunner for another CW show, The Royals.

Related Stories:
–The ‘One Tree Hill’ Cast and Crew Accuse Showrunner of Sexual Harassment in Powerful Letter
–11 Little Things From One Tree Hill You Never Noticed Were Truly Terrible for Women
–Hilarie Burton Reveals the Emotional Reason Why She and Sophia Bush Will Always Be Friends



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Michelle Obama Says Men Can't Be Bystanders When It Comes to Sexual Misconduct


We can always trust former First Lady Michelle Obama to speak up about important issues facing women—and to share some sound wisdom while doing so. She’s spoken out about the ways parents can better raise children so that when the kids reach adulthood, the men don’t feel so problematically entitled and the women feel more empowered. She’s enlightened us about the racism she faced during husband Barack Obama’s eight years as president. She has even pointed out the ridiculous double standard between her fashion choices and her Barack’s, pointing out that what she wore got scrutinized while her husband could wear the same tux to every single event.

This week, she spoke out about the issue that’s been in the news every single day lately: sexual misconduct. Michelle gave a speech in Hartford, Connecticut on Thursday where she addressed the slew of allegations that have made their way into the news recently. “I can’t tell you how sick it makes me, the more I see the uncovering of the truth that all us women know has been out there, that there is an ugliness there,” she told the crowd.

She went on to explain that in order for women to gain the strength to speak up for themselves, it’s going to take a lot of work. But it’s not all on women, either—men need to act as our allies: “I’m talking to the men out there, who cannot be innocent bystanders and complacent … watching this happen,” she said.

Michelle spoke of state of anxiety women constantly live in, too. “We live in a world … where young girls are literally in danger of some kind of mess, whether it’s what a man says to us, or how he looks at us, or an opportunity that is taken from us, or somebody who’s got our foot on our necks,” she said. “It is such a sad, common existence for women and girls in this country.”

As eloquently as you’d expect, Michelle also addressed the little ways that we can help make the word a better, more fair place for everyone. As it turns out, her golden rules aren’t terribly hard to follow: “Focus on what you can control. Be a good person every day. Vote. Read. Treat one another kindly. Follow the law. Don’t tweet nasty stuff.”

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Louis C.K. Admits Sexual Misconduct Accusations Are True


In the wake of a NY Times story, published yesterday, documenting claims from five women that writer, director, and comedian Louis C.K. made improper sexual advances toward them—including masturbating in front of them without their consent—the comedian has responded.

We expected some sort of statement would be forthcoming given not only the Times story, but the industry response which included C.K.’s latest film, “I Love You, Daddy” losing its distributor and his removal from HBO’s “A Night of Too Many Stars.” What’s surprising is that the comedian admits that “these stories are true.”

Per The Hollywood Reporter, he goes on to (try to) explain his actions: “At the time, I said to myself that what I did was okay because I never showed a woman my dick without asking first, which is also true. But what I learned later in life, too late, is that when you have power over another person, asking them to look at your dick isn’t a question. It’s a predicament for them. The power I had over these women is that they admired me. And I wielded that power irresponsibly.”

He addresses the women by their names and says that he is “remorseful for his actions” but that he’s also tried to “run from them.” The comedian admits to using his status as a revered figure in comedy to his advantage which “which disabled them [the women] from sharing their story and brought hardship to them when they tried because people who look up to me didn’t want to hear it.” C.K. goes on to apologize to colleagues, his management, and his family and says he will be taking a step back to listen, after a career of saying anything he wants.

You can read C.K.’s statement in its entirety below:

I want to address the stories told to the New York Times by five women
named Abby, Rebecca, Dana, Julia who felt able to name themselves and
one who did not.

These stories are true. At the time, I said to myself that what I did
was okay because I never showed a woman my dick without asking first,
which is also true. But what I learned later in life, too late, is
that when you have power over another person, asking them to look at
your dick isn’t a question. It’s a predicament for them. The power I
had over these women is that they admired me. And I wielded that power
irresponsibly.

I have been remorseful of my actions. And I’ve tried to learn from
them. And run from them. Now I’m aware of the extent of the impact of
my actions. I learned yesterday the extent to which I left these women
who admired me feeling badly about themselves and cautious around
other men who would never have put them in that position. I also took
advantage of the fact that I was widely admired in my and their
community, which disabled them from sharing their story and brought
hardship to them when they tried because people who look up to me
didn’t want to hear it. I didn’t think that I was doing any of that
because my position allowed me not to think about it. There is nothing
about this that I forgive myself for. And I have to reconcile it with
who I am. Which is nothing compared to the task I left them with.

I wish I had reacted to their admiration of me by being a good example
to them as a man and given them some guidance as a comedian, including
because I admired their work.

The hardest regret to live with is what you’ve done to hurt someone
else. And I can hardly wrap my head around the scope of hurt I brought
on them. I’d be remiss to exclude the hurt that I’ve brought on people
who I work with and have worked with who’s professional and personal
lives have been impacted by all of this, including projects currently
in production: the cast and crew of Better Things, Baskets, The Cops,
One Mississippi, and I Love You Daddy. I deeply regret that this has
brought negative attention to my manager Dave Becky who only tried to
mediate a situation that I caused. I’ve brought anguish and hardship
to the people at FX who have given me so much The Orchard who took a
chance on my movie. and every other entity that has bet on me through
the years. I’ve brought pain to my family, my friends, my children and
their mother.

I have spent my long and lucky career talking and saying anything I
want. I will now step back and take a long time to listen.



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Brett Ratner Accused of Sexual Misconduct and Harassment


And so it continues. On Wednesday, the Los Angeles Times published a lengthy piece in which six women, including actresses Olivia Munn and Natasha Henstridge, open up about alleged incidents of misconduct and harassment they say occurred at the hands of director Brett Ratner.

Ratner got his start as a music video director but is best known for films like Rush Hour (and its sequels) and X-Men: The Last Stand. It is during his video days in New York that Henstridge, then a 19-year-old model, claims Ratner forced her to perform oral sex on him in his apartment where she had been hanging out with friends. Via his attorney, he disputes the claim.

Munn says that when she was an aspiring actress visiting the set of Ratner’s film After the Sunset, the director masturbated in front of her in his trailer. She wrote about the incident (hiding details and names) in her 2010 book, Suck It Wonder Woman! The Misadventures of a Hollywood Geek and Ratner would later go on to claim they “banged”, eventually retracting that story in an interview on Howard Stern. Munn also alleges that Ratner once told her at a party that he masturbated to a magazine cover she appeared on. While he “vehemently disputes” her allegations, Munn says that she’s made conscious efforts to not work with Ratner telling the Times: “It feels as if I keep going up against the same bully at school who just won’t quit. You just hope that enough people believe the truth and for enough time to pass so that you can’t be connected to him anymore.”

While Ratner has been romantically linked in the past to actress Rebecca Gayheart and athlete Serena Williams, this isn’t the first time inappropriate behavior has gotten him into trouble. He was brought on to produce the Oscars in 2012, but was removed from that role after making a comment that “rehearsal is for fags.” Even those not super connected to Hollywood may be aware of the director’s party boy image. He told Variety that directors James Toback (currently facing similar harassment accusations) and Roman Polanksi are his close friends which is…interesting, to say the least.

It’s still unclear what effect these accusations will have on Ratner’s career. But what has become evident in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal is that women in Hollywood are no longer willing to remain quiet and we hope that their voices will empower others to do the same, prompting a real cultural change in the treatment of women everywhere.

As Munn said, “How broken do women have to be before people listen?”



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