Rape, sexual assault and harassment in the entertainment industry

[Dystopiary]

Jay Blades off the Repair Shop has been charged with coercive and controlling behaviour.

Jay Blades: The Repair Shop presenter charged with controlling and coercive behaviour against estranged wife

 

[Sweet FA]

'sexual misconduct' fucksake.

 

[baldrick]

Neil Gaiman.

Neil Gaiman screen adaptations halted after allegations of sexual misconduct

Netflix’s Dead Boy Detectives has been cancelled and productions by Amazon and Disney have been put on hold amid reports about the Coraline author

www.theguardian.com

I was momentarily going to say 'that's a shame, I liked him' or similar. No, it's a shame because of what he's (alleged to have) done.

He hasn't acknowledged or made any sort of statement since it all came to light 2 months ago and there's been more corroboration since.

It's slowly started to leak into mainstream press. I'm thinking his tactic of keeping quiet and hoping it blows over is proving to be a poor one, fortunately.

 

[Orang Utan]

Looks like Sean Combs has finally run out of road after buying his way out of trouble over the years:

Sean 'Diddy' Combs arrested in New York City - BBC News

The rapper's attorney, Marc Agnifilo, said they were "disappointed" by the arrest and his client was an "innocent man".

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[emanymton]

He hasn't acknowledged or made any sort of statement since it all came to light 2 months ago and there's been more corroboration since.

It's slowly started to leak into mainstream press. I'm thinking his tactic of keeping quiet and hoping it blows over is proving to be a poor one, fortunately.

This is another case where even the best possible interpretation of events is disgusting, even if not strictly illegal.

 

[baldrick]

This is another case where even the best possible interpretation of events is disgusting, even if not strictly illegal.

Really grim.

And puts his journey to Scotland from NZ during lockdown in a new light. He got dragged for that but in retrospect the timing is... interesting

 

[Orang Utan]

Wim Hof, a man who fraudulently makes money from celebrities and other gullible fools by teaching them how to hyperventilate, and is therefore entertainment-industry-adjacent, is a domestic abuser:

The outside world knows Wim Hof as the eccentric Iceman. His family suffered domestic violence

While Wim Hof was becoming one of the most famous health gurus in the world, his family at the time had to endure his physical and mental aggressiveness. Now that a movie about his life is in the making, his ex, their son, and her other children speak out.

www.volkskrant.nl

Which is no surprise to anyone who heard tales of his weird and creepy exploits on the Behind The Bastards podcast.

 

[Sweet FA]

Behind The Bastards podcast.

Is that any good? (I mean generally)

 

[Orang Utan]

Is that any good? (I mean generally)

Sometimes it’s very good, but it depends on who they’re focussing on - they can sometimes be a little too light-hearted when discussing what some proper bastards have got up to.

 

[baldrick]

Had no idea about any of that Orang Utan thanks for sharing.

 

[Lurdan]

Biopic over “Iceman” Wim Hof put on hold over domestic violence allegations - NL Times

A feature film about the life of “Iceman” Wim Hof has been put on hold after his ex, their son, and her two children from a previous marriage came forward to say that Hof physically and verbally abused them for around 13 years. British production company Genesius Pictures confirmed to the Volkskrant on Monday that production of the biopic was temporarily halted due to “the seriousness of the accusations.”

Wim Hof in 2019

When spreading LOVE, the man becomes the protector of emotions, softness, while being present with everyone – that’s what it means to be a real man! xX Wim

Pass the sick bag.

 

[frogwoman]

Sometimes it’s very good, but it depends on who they’re focussing on - they can sometimes be a little too light-hearted when discussing what some proper bastards have got up to.

I think the daily 'It could happen here' podcast is better.

BTB has done some great episodes, it's interesting and can be funny but there are too many ads and the humour can be an acquired taste

 

[bluescreen]

To lower the tone: Munya Chawawa has done a brilliant pisstake of the sainted Brand's trajectory on Xitter.
Broken link:
/munyachawawa/status/1841786182486663358

 

[Elpenor]

Another BBC case - Greg Wallis

Gregg Wallace: Masterchef host denies inappropriate sexual comments

Wallace says an incident was investigated, and the outcome was "I hadn't said anything sexual".

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[cesare]

Another BBC case - Greg Wallis

Gregg Wallace: Masterchef host denies inappropriate sexual comments

Wallace says an incident was investigated, and the outcome was "I hadn't said anything sexual".

www.bbc.co.uk

Who would have thought etc

 

[Wilf]

Wim Hof, a man who fraudulently makes money from celebrities and other gullible fools by teaching them how to hyperventilate, and is therefore entertainment-industry-adjacent, is a domestic abuser:

The outside world knows Wim Hof as the eccentric Iceman. His family suffered domestic violence

While Wim Hof was becoming one of the most famous health gurus in the world, his family at the time had to endure his physical and mental aggressiveness. Now that a movie about his life is in the making, his ex, their son, and her other children speak out.

www.volkskrant.nl

Which is no surprise to anyone who heard tales of his weird and creepy exploits on the Behind The Bastards podcast.

Always found him to be horrible though I didn't know any of this. I've seen at least one programme on him which goes through his early life, including the death of his first wife. Either there have been several sets of programme makers who have been extremely gullible and taken his bullshit as gospel, or in doing their research they've just discounted his DV, stalking and the rest. Just putting the most basic profile together, doing a couple of searches, they should have come across this stuff. Ditto all the deaths due to his, yuk, 'method'. He's a disgusting abuser and dishonest grifter, but shame on all those who knew what he was like and still promoted his shit.

 

[keybored]

Which is no surprise to anyone who heard tales of his weird and creepy exploits on the Behind The Bastards podcast.

Today's arrests will be similarly unsurprising to those who watched The Abercrombie Guys (or listened to the related podcast)

Ex-Abercrombie CEO charged with running sex trafficking ring

Mike Jeffries and his British partner have been arrested and charged in the alleged sex trafficking of more than a dozen victims.

www.bbc.co.uk

About time.

 

[story]

I’m surprised that P Diddy isn’t yet being noted on here.

Some really terrible accusations.

He settled an earlier case.

Sean 'Diddy' Combs: Singer Cassie settles lawsuit accusing rap mogul of rape and abuse

A day after the singer sued the rap mogul, the pair said they wanted to "resolve this matter amicably".

www.bbc.co.uk

The allegations there are appalling.




The current allegations are also very bad.

All the allegations made against Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs

In March, federal agents with US Homeland Security raided two of the rapper’s houses in Los Angeles and Miami, reports Andrea Cavallier

www.independent.co.uk

And of course the rumour mill and conspiracy treadmill are running at full speed. Plenty of other slebs being caught up in the tailwind.

krtek a houby

 

[Wilf]

Wim Hof, a man who fraudulently makes money from celebrities and other gullible fools by teaching them how to hyperventilate, and is therefore entertainment-industry-adjacent, is a domestic abuser:

The outside world knows Wim Hof as the eccentric Iceman. His family suffered domestic violence

While Wim Hof was becoming one of the most famous health gurus in the world, his family at the time had to endure his physical and mental aggressiveness. Now that a movie about his life is in the making, his ex, their son, and her other children speak out.

www.volkskrant.nl

Which is no surprise to anyone who heard tales of his weird and creepy exploits on the Behind The Bastards podcast.

Always found him to be horrible though I didn't know any of this. I've seen at least one programme on him which goes through his early life, including the death of his first wife. Either there have been several sets of programme makers who have been extremely gullible and taken his bullshit as gospel, or in doing their research they've just discounted his DV, stalking and the rest. Just putting the most basic profile together, doing a couple of searches, they should have come across this stuff. Ditto all the deaths due to his, yuk, 'method'. He's a disgusting abuser and dishonest grifter, but shame on all those who knew what he was like and still promoted his shit.

A footnote to this: I still think that BBC programme makers and others should have been able to do a brief search on Hof before making their programmes, enough at least to discover an actual conviction for DV in 2012. However I listened to the Behind the Bastards episode, which did of course show that he was an absolute shit, responsible for multiple deaths, but didn't mention the DV.

The way the BTB team seem to work is that they draw on a limited number of sources pretty heavily to go through the timeline of the shit under discussion. In this case they referred heavily to an academic or writer who was taken in by Hof's bullshit, but then produced a further paper when the scales fell from his eyes (lying about world records, people dying, abandoning his family etc.). However neither the BTB team nor this academic seemed to know about the DV conviction, quite astonishingly in that they were both in their different ways trying to show his 'dark side'. I've no idea how it was missed, maybe something as simple as it taking place in the Netherlands rather than the UK/USA? Equally, you wonder if they took Hof's own account of himself and then unpicked it, rather than building a proper picture up.

 

[Wilf]

And in 'Who'd Have Thought It' news, Greg Wallace:

Gregg Wallace steps away from MasterChef after allegations of misconduct

BBC received ‘complaints from individuals in relation to historical allegations of misconduct’, says production company

www.theguardian.com

Edit: it doesn't actually say the 'historical allegations of misconduct' are specifically about sexual abuse though that is often the meaning. Could be (allegations) of bullying behaviour.

 

[belboid]

And in 'Who'd Have Thought It' news, Greg Wallace:

Gregg Wallace steps away from MasterChef after allegations of misconduct

BBC received ‘complaints from individuals in relation to historical allegations of misconduct’, says production company

www.theguardian.com

Edit: it doesn't actually say the 'historical allegations of misconduct' are specifically about sexual abuse though that is often the meaning. Could be (allegations) of bullying behaviour.

inappropriate sexual comments on a range of programmes over 17 years.

Is the allegation

 

[Wilf]

inappropriate sexual comments on a range of programmes over 17 years.

Is the allegation

Ah, yes, more details here:

Gregg Wallace steps aside from Masterchef as host as allegations are investigated

Kirsty Wark and 12 others have told BBC News that Wallace made inappropriate sexual comments.

www.bbc.co.uk

All of which raises the issue of the culture on these programmes, the failure of the BBC/production companies to create a safe working environment and the rest. The old, old questions about power and the craven nature of organisations. And the bullshit they fall back on when found out. For example:

Banijay UK's duty of care to staff is always a priority and our expectations regarding behaviour are made clear to both cast and crew on all productions, with multiple ways of raising concerns, including anonymously, clearly promoted on set.

"Whilst these are historical allegations, incidences brought to our attention where these expectations are not met, are thoroughly investigated and addressed appropriately."

Banijay's statement concluded by encouraging anyone who wanted to raise any issues or concerns to come forward.

 

[Wilf]

Anyway, we are currently at stage 1:

Wallace's lawyers say it is entirely false that he engages in behaviour of a sexually harassing nature

Stage 2, within the week, when a mass of evidence emerges, moves on to what used to be the 'bantz defence'. Now updated to:

Sorry if anyone felt uncomfortable though it was never his intention, blah, blah

 

[PR1Berske]

From archived PopBitch emails

 

[Wilf]

Another BBC case - Greg Wallis

Gregg Wallace: Masterchef host denies inappropriate sexual comments

Wallace says an incident was investigated, and the outcome was "I hadn't said anything sexual".

www.bbc.co.uk

Dopey sod that I am, I didn't notice this was posted back in October.

Anyway, from your link he is reported to have already used the 'bantz' defence:

Gregg appeared to think it was all just banter and is also said to have made some comments in front of the live audience," the source said

 

[tim]

Anyway, we are currently at stage 1:


Stage 2, within the week, when a mass of evidence emerges, moves on to what used to be the 'bantz defence'. Now updated to:

Stage 3, two hours a day on Saturdays and Sundays on GBNEWTS.

(((Victims of the Wokzis)))

 

[Wilf]

Guardian give more details of Wallace's gruesome behaviour:

Gregg Wallace accused of ‘highly inappropriate’ behaviour while filming

Presenter denies allegations of harassment, including claim he made ‘lesbian jokes constantly’ and discussed spanking

www.theguardian.com

They make the point well by listing his horrible comments and then following that with the (3) production companies retreat into the usual high minded guff about duty of care. And this isn't about hidden behaviour in the main, most of it is stuff being said in the studio, often with cameras rolling.

A spokesperson for Channel 5, which airs Big Weekends, said it had asked the production company that made the show to look into the claims. “We take any allegations of this nature extremely seriously,” they said. “The health and wellbeing of everyone involved in our productions is very important to us and we want all of our productions to be safe and secure places for people to work.”

The production company Rumpus, which produced Big Weekends, said: “We do not tolerate inappropriate behaviour on our productions. Our comprehensive duty of care processes were in place during production of these series and any matters raised would have been investigated in accordance with these.”

On Thursday MasterChef’s production company, Banijay UK, said it had launched an investigation after the BBC received complaints about Wallace’s behaviour and said the 60-year-old was “committed to fully cooperating throughout the process”.

 

[Lotte]

I'm so sick of people defending men like Wallace who use sexual jokes to make women feel small and worthless. And I doubt it's just jokes. He's notorious for being a creep.

 

[editor]

Guardian give more details of Wallace's gruesome behaviour:

Gregg Wallace accused of ‘highly inappropriate’ behaviour while filming

Presenter denies allegations of harassment, including claim he made ‘lesbian jokes constantly’ and discussed spanking

www.theguardian.com

They make the point well by listing his horrible comments and then following that with the (3) production companies retreat into the usual high minded guff about duty of care. And this isn't about hidden behaviour in the main, most of it is stuff being said in the studio, often with cameras rolling.

Looks like one career sliding into oblivion. Good riddance.

 

[Orang Utan]

Well colour me surprised