8 ms·

I'll be bold and say it's the media industry has a problem. I remember family members having problems/reservations with Weinstein's behavior back in the 90's.

I'll be bold and say it's the media industry has a problem. I remember family members having problems/reservations with Weinstein's behavior back in the 90's. People like Corey Feltman have been speaking up for years. But nobody cares because we're getting good cinema and TV, right? A huge part of these industries are based on 'favors' and 'networking'. Toss in the theory that you have a higher-than-baseline level of narcissism in this talent pool and you lead to a recipe for abuse.

virtue3 6y ago
I mean... Judy Garland was... ugh. Here's a pretty tame snippet: "But it was her draconian weight-watch that made Judy the most abused child in the history of American cinema. Judy was put on diet pills from the age of 12. She was not slowed to eat anything that children enjoy. In the bio-pic on Judy we see how she was not allowed to have cake even on her own birthday. Mayer personally kept reminding Judy of how fat she was when in fact Judy was a skinny under-fed near-anorexic child who craved to enjoy a burger or sip on a cola. Pleasures that she was sternly and often abusively denied. If she broke the diet code she was threatened with immediate dismissal from the MGM roster."
- jacquesm 6y ago
  Check out children's beauty pageants if you want to see another example of this kind of horror.
  - bluGill 6y ago
    Or don't. None of them look like children anyway. There are a bunch of kids made up to look like adults. First time you see your kids do it it is funny, but you then lock away the makeup because it wouldn't be funny the second time just a waste of makeup.
- jiofih 6y ago
  > who craved to enjoy a burger or sip on a cola On the other hand, presenting a burger and cola as some kind of innate need for a child also seems off - enjoying a birthday cake, a lemonade or a lasagna are already damning enough...
- mgkimsal 6y ago
  > If she broke the diet code she was threatened with immediate dismissal from the MGM roster. And yet... given her level of fame even early on, I think she was far more valuable to keep on the books. But... I doubt she (or those around her) were able to think that strategically in the moment.
nostromo 6y ago
Roman Polanski won an Oscar after pleading guilty to drugging and raping a 13 year old girl. Look at all these vile people applauding this villain, who couldn't accept his Oscar because he fled the country. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXnNOBj26lk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXnNOBj26lk In some ways I think we may have over responded (Aziz Ansari is not Harvey Weinstein), but it was shocking what behavior people were excusing from the powerful even in recent decades.
- enriquto 6y ago
  > Look at all these vile people applauding this villain Acknowledging the artistic talent of a villain does not make you vile. Not at all. Imagine a clearer example. Imagine that somebody is on a life sentence convicted of a murder that they have commited. Do you think that this person has the right to write a book? Can this book be sent for participation at a literary contest? Can it win? Does the jury that gives the prize condone the killing perpetrated by the winner? Are they vile?
  - spoonjim 6y ago
    Yes, I would applaud such a scumbag and would hope my friends did not either.
  - mywittyname 6y ago
    I can see why this might be considered debatable, but I firmly agree with the parent comment here. People who do vile shit should not be celebrated at all. To me, it's a requirement: if you want to be considered a person of great accomplishment, then you should be an upstanding citizen. I also think that celebrating vile people is a reflection on the "jury" here as well. If I discover someone celebrates the works of Hitler, Stalin, Mengele, Saddam Hussein, etc, then they are definitely knocked down a few pegs in my book. I wouldn't go so far as to call them vile on that alone, but I definitely question their moral compass.
    - rayiner 6y ago
      Ghandi?
austincheney 6y ago
The example that comes to my mind is Roman Polanski. He fled the country while under investigation for child molestation. It was shocking how much other celebrities came defending him over the years. He is a child molester and fugitive. It’s just bizarre.
dang 6y ago
We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26166759 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26166759.
GuB-42 6y ago
Isn't it the case in most industries with few jobs but with a high demand. The media industry is in high demand. People want the fame associated with it and the money of stars. Making music is also enjoyable for a lot of people. For that you certainly need talent but there is more talent in this world than what is needed by the industry. The result is a lot of competition, and when there is so much competition people will do a lot of things to get in. Closer to the HN crowd is the video game industry, you hear more stories of abuse than in other sectors, probably because, well, making a video game sound more fun than managing a customer database for a wholesaler. Add to that that people in the media industry tend to be particularly attractive, and you have a greater chance for abuse to be sexual in nature.

virtue3 6y ago

I mean... Judy Garland was... ugh. Here's a pretty tame snippet: "But it was her draconian weight-watch that made Judy the most abused child in the history of American cinema. Judy was put on diet pills from the age of 12. She was not slowed to eat anything that children enjoy. In the bio-pic on Judy we see how she was not allowed to have cake even on her own birthday. Mayer personally kept reminding Judy of how fat she was when in fact Judy was a skinny under-fed near-anorexic child who craved to enjoy a burger or sip on a cola. Pleasures that she was sternly and often abusively denied. If she broke the diet code she was threatened with immediate dismissal from the MGM roster."

jacquesm 6y ago
Check out children's beauty pageants if you want to see another example of this kind of horror.
- bluGill 6y ago
  Or don't. None of them look like children anyway. There are a bunch of kids made up to look like adults. First time you see your kids do it it is funny, but you then lock away the makeup because it wouldn't be funny the second time just a waste of makeup.
jiofih 6y ago
> who craved to enjoy a burger or sip on a cola On the other hand, presenting a burger and cola as some kind of innate need for a child also seems off - enjoying a birthday cake, a lemonade or a lasagna are already damning enough...
mgkimsal 6y ago
> If she broke the diet code she was threatened with immediate dismissal from the MGM roster. And yet... given her level of fame even early on, I think she was far more valuable to keep on the books. But... I doubt she (or those around her) were able to think that strategically in the moment.

nostromo 6y ago

Roman Polanski won an Oscar after pleading guilty to drugging and raping a 13 year old girl. Look at all these vile people applauding this villain, who couldn't accept his Oscar because he fled the country. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXnNOBj26lk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXnNOBj26lk In some ways I think we may have over responded (Aziz Ansari is not Harvey Weinstein), but it was shocking what behavior people were excusing from the powerful even in recent decades.

enriquto 6y ago
> Look at all these vile people applauding this villain Acknowledging the artistic talent of a villain does not make you vile. Not at all. Imagine a clearer example. Imagine that somebody is on a life sentence convicted of a murder that they have commited. Do you think that this person has the right to write a book? Can this book be sent for participation at a literary contest? Can it win? Does the jury that gives the prize condone the killing perpetrated by the winner? Are they vile?
- spoonjim 6y ago
  Yes, I would applaud such a scumbag and would hope my friends did not either.
- mywittyname 6y ago
  I can see why this might be considered debatable, but I firmly agree with the parent comment here. People who do vile shit should not be celebrated at all. To me, it's a requirement: if you want to be considered a person of great accomplishment, then you should be an upstanding citizen. I also think that celebrating vile people is a reflection on the "jury" here as well. If I discover someone celebrates the works of Hitler, Stalin, Mengele, Saddam Hussein, etc, then they are definitely knocked down a few pegs in my book. I wouldn't go so far as to call them vile on that alone, but I definitely question their moral compass.
  - rayiner 6y ago
    Ghandi?

austincheney 6y ago

The example that comes to my mind is Roman Polanski. He fled the country while under investigation for child molestation. It was shocking how much other celebrities came defending him over the years. He is a child molester and fugitive. It’s just bizarre.

dang 6y ago

We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26166759 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26166759.

GuB-42 6y ago

Isn't it the case in most industries with few jobs but with a high demand. The media industry is in high demand. People want the fame associated with it and the money of stars. Making music is also enjoyable for a lot of people. For that you certainly need talent but there is more talent in this world than what is needed by the industry. The result is a lot of competition, and when there is so much competition people will do a lot of things to get in. Closer to the HN crowd is the video game industry, you hear more stories of abuse than in other sectors, probably because, well, making a video game sound more fun than managing a customer database for a wholesaler. Add to that that people in the media industry tend to be particularly attractive, and you have a greater chance for abuse to be sexual in nature.