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Nelly Has Reportedly Been Arrested on Charges of Sexual Assault


PHOTO: Scott Dudelson/Getty Images

Nelly was reportedly arrested on charges of sexual assault early Saturday morning, according to Auburn, Washington police, who confirmed the arrest to The Blast. According to the site, a woman called the police department around 3:48 A.M., saying that she had been raped by the hip-hop star on his tour bus. (Nelly, who is touring with Florida Georgia Line, had performed at the nearby White River amphitheater on Friday night.) Seattle-Tacoma Fox affiliate Q13 reports that Nelly went into Seattle after the concert and brought the woman back with him to the bus, which was parked near a Wal-Mart Supercenter.

According to People, police who arrived found “probable cause” to arrest Nelly on charges of second-degree sexual assault, reportedly taking him into custody just after 4:30 A.M.. He was booked into the SCORE jail in Des Moines, Washington and released about three and a half hours later.

“Nelly is the victim of a completely fabricated allegation,” Nelly’s lawyer told The Blast. “Our initial investigation clearly establishes this allegation is devoid of credibility and is motivated by greed and vindictiveness. I am confident, once this scurrilous accusation is thoroughly investigated, there will be no charges. Nelly is prepared to address and pursue all legal avenues to redress any damage caused by this clearly false allegation.”

According to People, Nelly pled guilty to a misdemeanor possession of pot and possession of drug paraphernalia when police reportedly found both in his vehicle while the singer was on tour in Tennessee in April 2015.

We’ll update you as we learn more about this unfolding investigation.

Related Stories:
–10 Attorneys General On Why Betsy DeVos’ Sexual Assault Policies Could be Devastating
–Paris Hilton Dismisses the Women Who Accused Donald Trump of Sexual Assault
–This Singer Stopped His Show to Call Out a Sexual Assault in the Crowd



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An Explosive Report Alleges Decades of Sexual Harassment by Hollywood Powerhouse Harvey Weinstein


According to a bombshell report from The New York Times, Harvey Weinstein—the Hollywood powerhouse and studio executive behind films like Pulp Fiction, Good Will Hunting, and Silver Linings Playbook—has faced numerous allegations of sexual harassment and unwanted physical contact from female employees, some dating back three decades.

Times reporters spoke to dozens of former and current employees of the Weinstein Company, a film studio founded by Weinstein and his brother, Bob, as well as people within the broader film industry and uncovered numerous accusations of inappropriate conduct. At least eight settlements have been reached since 1990, including a 1997 settlement with a then 23-year-old Rose McGowan. The Charmed actress reached a $100,000 settlement with Weinstein after an incident in a hotel room during the Sundance Film Festival; however, according to a legal document obtained by the Times, this monetary agreement was “not to be construed as an admission” but rather an effort to “avoid litigation and buy peace.”

Several women relayed similar stories of misconduct by Weinstein, often occurring when the executive would invite them for meetings at a hotel. The Times spoke with actress Ashley Judd, who said that Weinstein invited her to the Peninsula Beverly Hills hotel in the 1990s for what she assumed was a breakfast meeting. Instead, she was summoned to his room. Weinstein was wearing a bathrobe and asked if Judd could watch him shower or if he could give her a massage.

When Judd recounted the incident to the Times, she said she remembered wondering, How do I get out of the room as fast as possible without alienating Harvey Weinstein?

Another woman, former temporary employee Emily Nestor, also met with Weinstein at the Peninsula in 2014. According to the Times, she was told that if she “accepted his sexual advances, he would boost her career.”

The Times also obtained a 2015 memo written by former Weinstein Company employee Lauren O’Connor who was among the women who received a settlement from the film executive. O’Connor detailed allegations that spanned a two-year period, including an incident with another female employee who said that Weinstein appeared naked before her and forced her to give him a massage. As O’Connor wrote, the encounter left the woman “crying and very distraught.”

“There is a toxic environment for women at this company,” O’Connor wrote. “The balance of power is me: 0, Harvey Weinstein: 10.”

Though dozens of employees were aware of Weinstein’s alleged behavior, very few ever confronted him about it. Instead, Weinstein perpetuated what the Times called a “code of silence.” Employees could not criticize company executives in ways that could hurt both the company’s or a personal employee’s reputation. And women who did receive settlements—which typically spanned from $80,000 to $150,000—often signed confidentiality agreements.

But when O’Connor’s memo hit in 2015, executives and board members at the Weinstein Company—including Weinstein’s brother—were disturbed. But ultimately, O’Connor reached a settlement with Weinstein, withdrew her complaint, and left the company—all the while thanking Weinstein for the experience to be part of the film industry. After the settlement was reached, the board was informed that there was nothing to investigate.

In a statement given to the Times, Weinstein said, “I appreciate the way I’ve behaved with colleagues in the past has caused a lot of pain, and I sincerely apologize for it. Though I’m trying to do better, I know I have a long way to go.”

He revealed that he’s been working with therapists and is planning to take a leave of absence in order to “deal with this issue head-on.”

Attorney Lisa Bloom, who has been advising Weinstein and previously represented clients who brought sexual harassment charges against Bill O’Reilly, told the Times in a statement that Weinstein “denies many of the accusations as patently false.” Bloom has been counseling Weinstein on gender and power dynamics, and referred to him as an “old dinosaur learning new ways.”

Bloom further said that she’s “explained to him that due to the power difference between a major studio head like him and most others in the industry, whatever his motives, some of his words and behaviors can be perceived as inappropriate, even intimidating.”

However, according to a report from BuzzFeed News published Thursday afternoon, one of Weinstein’s other attorneys, Charles Harder, is preparing a lawsuit against the Times and will donate proceeds to women’s organizations. In a statement to BuzzFeed news, Harder said:

“The New York Times published today a story that is saturated with
false and defamatory statements about Harvey Weinstein. It relies on
mostly hearsay accounts and a faulty report, apparently stolen from an
employee personnel file, which has been debunked by 9 different
eyewitnesses. We sent the Times the facts and evidence, but they
ignored it and rushed to publish. We are preparing the lawsuit now.
All proceeds will be donated to women’s organizations.”

A representative from the Times told BuzzFeed News, “We are confident in the accuracy of our reporting. Mr. Weinstein was aware and able to respond to specific allegations in our story before publication. In fact, we published his response in full.”



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Betsy DeVos Just Officially Killed Obama's Campus Sexual Assault Guidelines


PHOTO: Win McNamee/Getty Images

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos incited an uproar early in September when she announced plans to do away with Obama-era guidelines on how campuses should investigate allegations of rape and sexual assault. Now, she’s officially followed through on her promise.

The Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights announced Friday that it’s withdrawing two key pieces of Title IX guidance. One is the 2011 Dear Colleagues Letter, a comprehensive directive how schools receiving federal funding should handle sexual violence on campus—everything from evidence-gathering protocol to how quickly cases should be investigated. The other is a 2014 document called Questions and Answers on Title IX and Sexual Violence, which clarified certain elements of the 2011 DCL.

“The 2011 and 2014 guidance documents may have been well-intentioned, but those documents have led to the deprivation of rights for many students—both accused students denied fair process and victims denied an adequate resolution of their complaints,” Candice Jackson, the Department of Education’s Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, wrote in a new Dear Colleagues Letter. “The guidance has not succeeded in providing clarity for educational institutions or in leading institutions to guarantee educational opportunities on the equal basis that Title IX requires. Instead, schools face a confusing and counterproductive set of regulatory mandates, and the objective of regulatory compliance has displaced Title IX’s goal of educational equity.”

In withdrawing the guidelines, Jackson said the Department of Education will “develop an approach to student sexual misconduct that responds to the concerns of stakeholders and that aligns with the purpose of Title IX to achieve fair access to educational benefits.”

We don’t yet know exactly what that new approach will look like, but Jackson said the department will solicit public comment in establishing its new policies—and “will not rely on the withdrawn documents in its enforcement of Title IX.”

The news was met with criticism from the left, some arguing that rescinding those Obama-era guidelines would make it even harder for sexual assault victims to come forward.

“Survivors of sexual assault have the right to feel safe and to be heard,” California Sen. Kamala Harris tweeted. “This decision is a disgrace.”

DeVos made it well known that she was considering changes to the Obama administration’s efforts to curb sexual assault on campus. In July, she held meetings with rape survivors and men’s rights activists who advocated for those accused of sexual misconduct; when she was finished, she hinted that changes would come soon.

“We need to do this right, we need to protect all students and we need to do it quickly,” she said at the time.



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Read Kathryn Hahn's Letter to Her Sexual Self


On I Love Dick, the boundary-pushing Amazon series, Kathryn Hahn plays Chris Kraus, a filmmaker consumed by her lust for a cowboy named Dick (Kevin Bacon). To indulge her desire, Chris writes a series of explicit letters, each of which begins the same way: “Dear Dick.” Hahn, 44, has made her career playing supporting characters (Bad Moms, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days), but as Chris, she is a one-woman sexual revolution. Here the Emmy-nominated actress (who also starred in Transparent) pens a love letter to herself.

Dear Kathryn,

One day you will become an adult. A sexual adult. A fearless performer. And an unabashed lover of your own body. But it won’t happen overnight.

You will grow up the only daughter in a family of beautiful and dysfunctional boys. You will attend an all-girls Catholic school and wear a little bride’s dress to marry Jesus at your First Communion. You will find your husband, Jesus, to be very attractive. In the third grade, when you and your friends are walking home from school, a grown man will flash you. You’ll all laugh as it’s happening, but then burst into hysterical tears. When you go to your friend’s house and play “marriage,” you’ll always play the husband. That way you get to be the one with the dick.

At 13 you will draw a picture of yourself in pencil in your diary. (You will keep a diary because you will have a need to put your thoughts down, to express your innermost everything.) You will point out all the physical negatives: your pointy boobs, zits, huge nose, stringy hair. So much of your shame will come from your physical self—and your relationships with other girls. You will have friends who betray you at every turn, and that betrayal will feel so real and deep and physical. When you get your period, one friend will be so jealous that she will convince you (and a bunch of other people) that you got it only because you fell on the bar of a boy’s bike.

In high school you will learn how to compartmentalize your sexuality, how to put a lid on it. Though you won’t actually touch anyone else until the summer after senior year, you’ll be a chronic masturbator. It will be a deep, weird secret that is also awesome and private and yours.

The first time you will feel sexy will be in college. You will wear a black leotard, a tartan kilt, Doc Martens boots, and a headband, and people will start looking at you differently. And you will admit to yourself: This doesn’t feel bad. Still, you will spend so much time feeling messy. You will spend so much time comparing yourself with others and trying to be articulate, knowing that you’re smarter than the words coming out of your mouth, that you are smarter than the guy you’re obsessed with. Before you meet your husband, you will be with someone incredibly powerful. He will be an asshole, and you won’t share the same politics. You will think to yourself, God, I can’t stand him. You will want his attention and validation—badly. You will think to yourself, I wish I could wear that f-cker’s power.

You will become an actor. In your work you will be much braver than you are in your day-to-day life. The mind-body connection will become clearer to you, and you will use it to get into the guts of each character. You will share scenes with people who are un­­inhibited. You will find joy in knowing that the people behind the camera are looking at you with such empathy and such faith. You will learn to love that feeling of jumping off a cliff into your bravest self. You will use your personal experiences to bring heat to your performances. And you will hunger for that outlet.

You will grow to be so grateful for—and so in love with—your body. Having children will help with that, because it will show you what you are capable of. You will thank your belly for growing them and your breasts for feeding them. You will want to find the girl who drew that picture in her diary and hug her so tightly. You will look back and be so mad you said yes to that bleach job for that gig, so glad you never got a nose job.

At 44, you will realize something astounding: Life just gets sexier and sexier. Your sexual self will become this enormous, loud thing that you no longer take for granted, no ­longer deny. You will refuse to put a lid on it. You will listen to it. My God, you will hear it roar.

Love,
Kathryn

Kathryn Hahn stars in I Love Dick and A Bad Moms Christmas, out in November.



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Title IX: What to Know About the Campus Sexual Assault Guidelines Betsy DeVos Is Rolling Back


Remember the Obama administration’s efforts to curb rape and sexual assault on college campuses? Thanks to the Trump administration, that progress is now in jeopardy.

Speaking at George Mason University on Thursday about enforcement of the Title IX law, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos announced her plans to do away with Obama-era guidelines on how schools should investigate sexual assault.

“Instead of working with schools on behalf of students, the prior administration weaponized the Office for Civil Rights to work against schools and against students,” she said.

Here’s what to know about Title IX and the uncertain future of campus sexual assault investigations.

What is Title IX?

Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 is a federal law banning sex-based discrimination at any school that receives federal funding.

Here’s what it says: “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.”

In other words, the law upholds gender equality on campuses nationwide.

What does it have to do with sexual assault?

Thanks to various Supreme Court rulings and guidance from the Department of Education, Title IX’s ban on sex-based discrimination applies to sexual harassment, sexual assault, and rape on campus. A school receiving federal funding can face legal trouble if it knowingly ignores reports of sexual violence in its programs or activities.

The Obama administration was serious about cracking down on campus sexual assault, and in 2011, the Department of Education issued a key piece of Title IX guidance called the Dear Colleague Letter. The DCL wasn’t a law, but a directive on how schools should handle sexual violence issues. Here’s an overview of everything the DCL covered.

With Trump in office, those Obama-era guidelines have been in jeopardy.

It’s sad, but true—and sexual assault survivors and their advocates have been worried.

DeVos has been considering changes to her office’s policies on campus sexual assault, meeting in July with rape survivors and men’s rights activists who argued Obama’s guidelines unfairly favored accusers. At the time, she made it pretty clear that she was planning to take action.

“We need to do this right, we need to protect all students and we need to do it quickly,” she said.

On Thursday, that action finally came down.

In her speech at George Mason University, DeVos announced her plans to end Obama-era guidelines on how schools should handle sexual assault investigations.

“The era of ‘rule by letter’ is over,” she said, adding that the 2011 directive was a “disservice to everyone involved.”

As for putting together a replacement for the current rules, DeVos said the Department of Education will solicit public comment and feedback from universities.



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This Singer Stopped His Show to Call Out a Sexual Assault in the Crowd


PHOTO: Getty Images / Brigitte Engl

Music festivals are often the highlight of summer plans, but recently, there’s been increased attention on incidents of sexual assault that, sadly, often happen on site. The Bravalla Festival, a popular music festival in Sweden, has already been cancelled for 2018 after 27 sexual assaults were reported at this summer’s event. Meanwhile, other organizers are looking to create spaces just for women on the festival grounds—or “man-free” festivals altogether. Frankly, it’s terrible that things have gotten to that point—after all, the problem is with the assaulters, not the women.

But at a festival in the Netherlands on Friday night, one singer, Sam Carter, made the issue of sexual assault a visible and public one when he called out a “disgusting” sexual assault he’d witnessed in the crowd of his show with some choice words that made it clear that he wanted his show to be a safe space for all.

The Architects were performing at the Lowlands music festival when Carter spotted a man “grab at” the breast of a woman who was crowdsurfing. After the song ended, he paused to address the incident and let the crowd know that there was nothing OK about it.

“I’ve been going over in my f–king mind about whether I should say something or not about what I saw in that last song, and do you know what, I’m gonna f–king say it,” Carter told the crowd. “I saw a girl, a woman, crowdsurfing over here, and I’m not going to f–king point the piece of sh-t out who did it, but I saw you f–king grab at her boob. It is f—king disgusting, and there is no f—king place for that sh-t.”

The crowd seemed to be in agreement; they clapped and whistled their support before the singer continued. “It is not your f—king body,” he said, getting louder. “It is not your f—king body and you do not f—king grab at someone! Not at my f—king show!”

“If you feel like doing that again, walk out there and f–k off and don’t come back,” he said, indirectly addressing the culprit before adding: “Let’s keep this going, let’s keep this a f–king safe place for everybody, and let’s have a f–king good time.”

A video of Carter’s impassioned speech quickly went viral after it was shared on Twitter by the Dutch public radio channel NPO 3FM, and it got a huge response—particularly from those who took to the platform to express gratitude that Carter spoke out. (It’s probably clear from the quotes, but you might not want to crank the audio up over the office speakers.)

Many expressed their gratitude to Carter for speaking out:

It’s beyond awful that in 2017, men still feel like they’re entitled to women’s bodies—but hats off to Carter for stepping up and calling out the assault he saw. Here’s hoping that more organizers and people like him will continue fighting to make music festivals a safer environment for everyone.

Related Stories:
—The Sexual Assault Epidemic Is Ruining Music Festivals for Me
—Swedish Women Plan ‘Man-Free’ Music Festival to Prevent Sexual Assault



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