All posts tagged: MeToo

The Michael Jackson Biopic and the Cancellation That Wasn’t

The Michael Jackson Biopic and the Cancellation That Wasn’t

First, let’s establish two things. One: Michael, the biopic sanctioned by the Michael Jackson estate that opened Friday, is almost certain to make an enormous amount of money. The movie’s currently on track for a $70 million opening in North America alone, and could make $80 million (or more) internationally. And that’s just in its first weekend. These aren’t Thriller numbers, but they’re certainly healthy, particularly in the wake of several recent movies about musicians that crashed and burned both critically and commercially. Two: At least five boys, now men, have credibly and publicly accused Jackson of sexually abusing them when they were between the ages of 7 and 12. How can both of these things be true at the same time? Filmmaker Dan Reed has a simple explanation. “People don’t care that he was a child molester,” he told The Hollywood Reporter this week. “Literally, people just don’t care.” He’s right. Reed’s 2019 documentary, Leaving Neverland, a four-hour accounting of the allegations against Jackson, is excruciatingly detailed and powerfully compelling. It’s difficult, if not …

Politics is shaken by a new wave of #MeToo reckonings

Politics is shaken by a new wave of #MeToo reckonings

This story was originally reported by Grace Panetta of The 19th. Meet Grace and read more of their reporting on gender, politics and policy.   A years-long, explosive investigation by The New York Times last month exposed allegations of sexual abuse by the late labor leader Cesar Chavez. Two members of Congress, one Democrat and one Republican, resigned this week after being accused of sexual misconduct. And Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer is facing an internal investigation, including allegations of inappropriate behavior by her father and husband toward young women staff. The #MeToo movement, founded in 2006 by activist Tarana Burke, brought a reckoning for powerful men at its public peak in 2017 and 2018, leading to changes in laws and policies to address abuse and help survivors get justice. It also drew a swift cultural backlash, culminating in President Donald Trump’s election to a second term after he was found liable of sexual abuse. Now, in 2026, sexual misconduct by people in positions of power is back at the forefront of the political conversation and …

German Star Christian Ulmen Accused of Revenge Porn Against Ex-Wife

German Star Christian Ulmen Accused of Revenge Porn Against Ex-Wife

The ex-wife of German actor and comedian Christian Ulmen has filed a criminal complaint accusing the Berlin Blues star of creating and decimating fake sex videos and nude photos of her online. Collien Fernandes, a well-known German actress and TV presenter, made her allegations public in an Instagram post on Friday, detailing what she alleges was a decade of systematic “humiliation” by Ulmen. She accuses Ulmen of creating AI-generated photos and videos of her that he spread online and sent to other men in the German film and TV industry. One fake video, which she claims was sent to 21 men, depicted her being gang-raped. Ulmen, Fernandes alleges, also used AI to clone her voice for the purpose of fake telephone sex chats with other men. Ulmen, through his lawyer, had denied all charges. In an in-depth investigation, published in German newsmagazine Der Spiegel, Fernandes alleges that her ex-husband created fake social media profiles in her name and used them to contact men to send them pornographic photos and videos. A media law firm, commissioned …

Unifrance Executive Files Rape Complaint Against Patrick Bruel

Unifrance Executive Files Rape Complaint Against Patrick Bruel

Daniela Elstner, managing director of French cinema and TV export agency Unifrance, has filed a police complaint against French actor and singer and actor Patrick Bruel, accusing him of attempted rape and sexual assault dating back to an alleged incident from 1997. Elstner has spoken publicly about her experience in the past, including with The Hollywood Reporter, but declined to name Bruel, saying only that the alleged attacker was a high-profile figure in the film industry. She filed the complaint on March 12. On Wednesday, French investigative news website Mediapart named Elstner as one of eight women who have accused Bruel of sexual violence in incidents from between 1992 and 2019. Mediapart reported that a second woman lodged a complaint for rape against Bruel, for an incident alleged to have taken place at the Dinard British Film Festival in 2012, when Bruel was president of the jury. Elstner’s complaint claims Bruel assaulted her during Unifrance’s French Film Festival in Acapulco, Mexico, in 1997. Elstner was then 26 and working as an assistant at Unifrance. Bruel was …

Epstein tracked #MeToo fallout and advised accused men behind the scenes

Epstein tracked #MeToo fallout and advised accused men behind the scenes

This story was originally reported by Grace Panetta of The 19th. Meet Grace and read more of their reporting on gender, politics and policy. The year was 2018, and Lawrence Krauss, the prominent physicist and scholar of the cosmos, was facing a Title IX investigation at Arizona State University. BuzzFeed News had just reported on allegations of sexual misconduct against him; he denied them. In March, he contacted a lawyer experienced in higher education cases. Krauss and Justin Dillon, the lawyer, exchanged a few friendly emails before speaking on the phone. Then, Krauss presented him with an “unusual request” — he wanted Dillon to call a disgraced financier who had, 10 years before, pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution of a minor. “I have been advised through much of the BuzzFeed experience, both before and after, by a friend, who is also somewhat infamous. His name is Jeffrey Epstein, and you may know who he is already,” Krauss wrote. “Bottom line is that Jeffrey is not only friends with most of the famous people from finance, to …

‘13 Reasons Why’ Author Claims #MeToo Was Weaponized Against Him

‘13 Reasons Why’ Author Claims #MeToo Was Weaponized Against Him

The once celebrated author of the Young Adult novel 13 Reasons Why, which became a popular Netflix series, is now telling his side of the story after allegations of sexual misconduct, which he maintains are baseless, shut his career down as #MeToo peaked, and, as he claims, the movement was weaponized by his scorned lovers for revenge. In an article for The Free Press, the Bari Weiss-founded news outlet recently purchased by Paramount Skydance, novelist and reporter Kat Rosenfield shares Jay Asher’s perspective on what led to him being kicked out of his life as a married father with a wildly successful YA career, a Netflix deal, and shunned from the publishing world, divorced and earning just a hair above the national poverty level. The article, titled “How #MeToo Destroyed the Author of ‘13 Reasons Why,’” paints Asher as the victim of a vindictive campaign involving anonymous accusations from several women with whom he’d had affairs and organized by a single former lover hellbent on destroying his life and reputation. Asher and Rosenfield state and …

New David Adjaye-Built Museums Beg Question: What Happened to #MeToo?

New David Adjaye-Built Museums Beg Question: What Happened to #MeToo?

Of all the political movements of the 2010s that failed to secure for themselves real power, perhaps the most devastating failure for me personally was that of #MeToo. I was in graduate school at the height of the movement, where I was being harassed by a professor and sharing my stories with others in the same situation. Detractors have since labeled the movement as little more than a battle in a lost liberal culture war, but at the time, it was electrifying. As I messaged with other women in my field, I realized that I was not alone in my situation. In fact, my situation was nauseatingly common, and the more I and other realized this, the more urgency I felt to change it, galvanized by a sense of collective anger and sorrow that built up into something real and, evidently, dangerous. Related Articles And it was dangerous. There was a moment, albeit brief, when sexual abuse in the workplace, long the subject of whisper networks and covert references, was dragged out of the shadows …