Harvey Weinstein (and assorted horrible people)... RIP career.

[hepcat]

He was trying to draw a comparison between Tarantino’s use of racist imagery and language in his scripts, and Weinstein’s sexual assaults in an attempt to argue that Tarantino is just as bad as Weinstein, I believe.

[gameoverman]

Let's say I'm Tarantino in 1995, and I just found out about what people are saying about Weinstein. What am I supposed to do about it? That's the part that I'm not understanding in all this outrage.

A) Speak out? I'd have no personal knowledge to share, he did nothing to me. So do I say "Well, Mira Sorvino told me that..."? Isn't that harmful to her if she's not willing to go public with that, if what she told me was personal and in strict confidence? With no evidence and no witnesses to back my story, what can I actually say?

B) Not work with him, but not say anything? How does that help the women he's harassing? How does it make sense that I won't work with him but the women who he abuses still do? Also, who can I work with? What if there are various kinds of rumors about everyone? What level of 'bad' is acceptable to work with and what level is too much?

I don't think this entire thing is as simple as people want it to be.

[Moliere]

Is there another thread discussing how NeoGAF is now shut down indefinitely due to Weinsteinian allegations against the guy that runs it?

Never heard of the site until your post. Now it's making the rounds.

Over the weekend, one of the most popular video game forums, NeoGAF, suddenly went offline. Following allegations of sexual misconduct by the site's owner, Tyler Malka, many of the message board's moderators quit in protest, threads referencing the allegations were deleted, and NeoGAF's users began revolting in protest. NeoGAF is back online, as of this writing, but remains "down for maintenance."

While there are countless places to discuss video games on the Internet, NeoGAF has been one of the more common melting pots, a place for fans, developers, and critics to talk among one another. It's been around for 18 years. The "neo" part comes from splintering off from Gaming-Age, a once-influential video game website from the 90s. GAF originally stood for Gaming-Age Forums. Now, it's just part of the board's long history. (Full disclosure: More than a decade ago, I wrote for Gaming-Age, and was part of the forum's moderation staff.)

After speaking with Malka, the woman who made the original allegations, and a number of moderators who helped run NeoGAF, a messy and uncomfortable picture emerges.

[alexmercer]

#MeToo

I hope there are no hardcore feminists here.

[hepcat]

What’s a “hardcore feminist” to you?

[wonderpug]

Is there another thread discussing how NeoGAF is now shut down indefinitely due to Weinsteinian allegations against the guy that runs it?

Never heard of the site until your post. Now it's making the rounds.

Think of it as a bigger and more well-known OO -- they also don't even have any front page other than the forums themselves. It's an old fashioned gaming forum that originated around the same time Gone Gold's forums got going.

The site just came back online, and they've nuked the Off-Topic non-gaming forums.

The main guy made his statement and denies the allegations, but a lot of mods have quit and the forum population is splintering. Sad to see one of the few remaining old fashioned gaming forums crumbling.

[Rip]

Wow, what a bunch of snowflakes.

[hepcat]

Yeah, closing down a forum just because you don't want people talking about your love of sexual assault is kind of the definition of a snowflake, isn't it?

[Scuzz]

Is there another thread discussing how NeoGAF is now shut down indefinitely due to Weinsteinian allegations against the guy that runs it?

Never heard of the site until your post. Now it's making the rounds.

Think of it as a bigger and more well-known OO -- they also don't even have any front page other than the forums themselves. It's an old fashioned gaming forum that originated around the same time Gone Gold's forums got going.

The site just came back online, and they've nuked the Off-Topic non-gaming forums.

The main guy made his statement and denies the allegations, but a lot of mods have quit and the forum population is splintering. Sad to see one of the few remaining old fashioned gaming forums crumbling.

I saw some place (QT3 maybe) that many ex-NeoGaffers are going to a forum designed for them on Reddit.

[Rip]

Is there another thread discussing how NeoGAF is now shut down indefinitely due to Weinsteinian allegations against the guy that runs it?

Never heard of the site until your post. Now it's making the rounds.

Think of it as a bigger and more well-known OO -- they also don't even have any front page other than the forums themselves. It's an old fashioned gaming forum that originated around the same time Gone Gold's forums got going.

The site just came back online, and they've nuked the Off-Topic non-gaming forums.

The main guy made his statement and denies the allegations, but a lot of mods have quit and the forum population is splintering. Sad to see one of the few remaining old fashioned gaming forums crumbling.

I saw some place (QT3 maybe) that many ex-NeoGaffers are going to a forum designed for them on Reddit.

Probably for the best. I hear it is almost impossible to just create a new forum for refugees to reassemble.

It would take assembling a truly elite group of people to oversee it.

[Alefroth]

#MeToo

I hope there are no hardcore feminists here.

I'm sorry you've been sexually assaulted. I can't imagine how that must feel.

Why do you hope that?

[Moliere]

Scoble Isn’t Sorry

Last Thursday, former Microsoft spokesman and well-known blogger Robert Scoble became the latest of the many, many men in the technology industry who have been publicly accused of sexual harassment this year. Scoble’s story came to light in the aftermath of the damning allegations against powerful film producer Harvey Weinstein, and he joins the ranks of other men in tech who have recently been accused by women of groping, making unwanted advances, and leveraging their high profiles to silence victims.

Scoble resigned from his company Transformation Group LLC on Sunday, and while you might think now would be a good time for him to keep a low profile, he instead has apparently decided he’s not sitting this fight out. On Wednesday, Scoble shared a new blog post, apparently against the advice of his lawyers, that he hopes “in the spirit of healing” will help to “set the record straight.”

Mission failed.

[tjg_marantz]

Scoble Isn’t Sorry

Last Thursday, former Microsoft spokesman and well-known blogger Robert Scoble became the latest of the many, many men in the technology industry who have been publicly accused of sexual harassment this year. Scoble’s story came to light in the aftermath of the damning allegations against powerful film producer Harvey Weinstein, and he joins the ranks of other men in tech who have recently been accused by women of groping, making unwanted advances, and leveraging their high profiles to silence victims.

Scoble resigned from his company Transformation Group LLC on Sunday, and while you might think now would be a good time for him to keep a low profile, he instead has apparently decided he’s not sitting this fight out. On Wednesday, Scoble shared a new blog post, apparently against the advice of his lawyers, that he hopes “in the spirit of healing” will help to “set the record straight.”

Mission failed.

Jesus. That's one dense mother fucker.

[A nonny mouse]

He was trying to draw a comparison between Tarantino’s use of racist imagery and language in his scripts, and Weinstein’s sexual assaults in an attempt to argue that Tarantino is just as bad as Weinstein, I believe.

I was actually failing at being funny with the Hailey Joel Osment comment, as he seems like such an innocent. I don't give a shit if the whole academy and rich people awarding other rich people gets shut down. It doesn't work as it is intended anyway.

The Tarantino comment, Jaime Foxx and Samuel Jackson non withstanding, was regarding the argument of saying racist comments and acting on them, which spiraled from the Weinstein issue. Wouldn't portraying racinst comments/actions in your movies be acting on them? And once again, who is allowed to do things and who is not? It is not always black and white, no pun intended, but where does the gray area go?

I'm not making light of any of this, especially since my wife is a "person of color," but sometimes every one being so damned offended at everything has to stop.

Also, now George H.W. Bush is being dragged in. lord. Open the flood gates for attention.

[Paingod]

Also, now George H.W. Bush is being dragged in. lord. Open the flood gates for attention.

I'm not sure where I stand on that one. On one hand, they basically say he's handicapped and his arms only go so far - so he cracks a bad joke, poses for a couple pictures with his hands as high as they'll go, and everyone smiles. I somehow doubt a handicapped ex-President with his wife standing beside him was taking excessive liberties with young hotties.

On the other hand, she clearly didn't like having his hand on her ass. I don't know if I'd call that sexual assault, but someone should have at least warned her "Mr. Bush can only raise his arm so high. Do you mind if he places his hand here?"

[hepcat]

I think society needs to be careful about using the term sexual assault in some cases. An incident like this is a bit misogynistic and more than a little creepy at times (although I would guess Bush didn't actually intend it that way), but I would call it sexual harassment at most. I believe applying sexual assault to everything can end up trivializing it.

[McNutt]

Woody Allen warned of a witch hunt and he may be right. I don't have a problem with people being called out for bad behavior. However, we have to be careful not to get caught up in this and start smearing people just because a name was mentioned with the #metoo tag.

I clicked on CNN last night and saw three stories at the top of men accused of sexual assault or harassment. It's getting out of control. An accusation of sexual harassment should not be a top story. I'm not excusing it or saying it's OK. I've seen a coworker falsely accused of sexual harassment (yes, I know it was false) and that's something that is very hard for a man to shake off. Seeing names thrown about here in front of a torch bearing public is a little disconcerting.

[LawBeefaroni]

Woody Allen warned of a witch hunt and he may be right.

He may be right but he's also a bonafide witch.

[hepcat]

I think it's safe to assume that when something that's almost become an institution in some areas is brought into the light, there will be an initial explosion as those who felt too intimidated to speak up before now feel empowered. Of course there will be some that take advantage of the tragedy of others, but awful people exist everywhere. If the end result is that people in positions of power like Weinstein start behaving like human beings around those they work with, we're all the better for it in the long run.

And yeah, Woody Allen is NOT the person you want to take advice from in a situation like this.

[malchior]

I have yet to have seen a recent story that wasn't well sourced. That is why I don't feel like it is much of a witch hunt...for now. More like a bunch of bad behavior is getting flushed out at once. But there will be some garbage in this flood...because normal distributions are just how nature works in general. Hopefully it will be seen as expected noise and we won't lose the signal.

[Paingod]

It's getting out of control.

A person could easily argue that it's been out of control in the other direction for far too long. We're seeing a flood of pent up feelings coming out and it shouldn't be stopped or slowed. This pendulum has got to swing, and it's going to get worse before it gets better. It'll hopefully come back around with less force and find equilibrium, but it's going to take time.

[tjg_marantz]

It's getting out of control.

A person could easily argue that it's been out of control in the other direction for far too long. We're seeing a flood of pent up feelings coming out and it shouldn't be stopped or slowed. This pendulum has got to swing, and it's going to get worse before it gets better. It'll hopefully come back around with less force and find equilibrium, but it's going to take time.

Amen.

However open minded we see ourselves, a lot of comments on this thread are proving the opposite point.

[Alefroth]

It's getting out of control.

A person could easily argue that it's been out of control in the other direction for far too long. We're seeing a flood of pent up feelings coming out and it shouldn't be stopped or slowed. This pendulum has got to swing, and it's going to get worse before it gets better. It'll hopefully come back around with less force and find equilibrium, but it's going to take time.

Amen.

However open minded we see ourselves, a lot of comments on this thread are proving the opposite point.

+1

It's a pretty good illustration of why so many victims are reluctant to come forward.

[Alefroth]

Another accusation has come out against Bush the First and he said that he's sorry for any offense he caused and he did it to put people at ease. I guess it's not just from dementia then.

[McNutt]

I'm not saying that people should stop coming out with their stories. Men need to be held accountable for what they do. What I'm saying is that this is quickly becoming a tabloid frenzy where people who "might have" committed sexual harassment are filling up news feeds and being lumped in with those who have been accused of much more serious crimes like assault. This can easily go down the road of "let's fire them all" as soon as a finger is pointed.

And I know exactly what I am doing when I quote Woody Allen. His charge of molesting his daughter was never proven in court and his argument makes a lot of sense to me. Yet he will always be tainted with that label.

[tjg_marantz]

Should we not lump in cops who harass blacks but don't assault them?

Please understand I'm not picking on you specifically and if it sounds like that, I'm sorry.

Women and men should not be harassed, assaulted or whatever else you want to call it.

And no, if someone hasn't done anything, of course they shouldn't be lumped in with the truly piggish men and women who've done these things. Anyone making a false accusation should be pursued to the full extent of the law. But it's out there and it's worst than any of us have allowed ourselves to imagine and it needs to come out.

[McNutt]

I'll give you a story about Ricky Rocket (the drummer for Poison) or however you spell his name. He was accused of raping a woman. It made big headlines because famous guy raped someone. It turns out Rocket wasn't in the state when it happened. He might have been out of the country, can't remember. The guy who raped the woman was just some loser who claimed to this woman that he was the drummer for Poison.

When Rocket was cleared, the story was given very little exposure and you had to search to find the article. The story the headline had created had died down and the exoneration headline wasn't as hot as the accusation headline. There are probably people out there who still think Rocket raped some poor woman because that's all they heard.

We have to be careful that in our quest to right previous wrongs we don't automatically label people and lump them into a large category of "horrible men.". We have anger towards what is thankfully becoming the old way. We need our media to be responsible in their reporting, and that's my concern.

[tjg_marantz]

We can do anecdotal all day.

[Moliere]

Kevin Smith to donate Weinstein project residuals to women's nonprofit

Kevin Smith got his big break courtesy of Harvey Weinstein and the famous filmmaker is no longer happy about that.

In the wake of the Weinstein sex scandal, Smith said he will donate the future residuals from the projects he did with the now disgraced mogul to a women's organization.

[Jaymann]

We can do anecdotal all day.

One time I was hitchhiking and the guy made me show him my dingo.

[Paingod]

If this do be true, then he done goofed.

3rd Woman Accuses Bush of groping. Detailed below. Not a "misunderstanding" at all and completely in "dirty old bastard" territory.

She said that when she and her husband posed next to Mr Bush in his wheelchair, the former president told her: "You're beautiful."

He asked if she was a writer and Ms Kline said she replied: "Yes."

The Yale graduate wrote: "'You wanna know my favorite book?' he whispered. I had to lean close to hear him.

"'Yes, what is it?'"By now the photographer was readying the shot. My husband stood on one side of the wheelchair, and I stood on the other.

"President Bush put his arm around me, low on my back. His comic timing was impeccable.

"'David Cop-a-feel,' he said, and squeezed my butt, hard, just as the photographer snapped the photo. Instinctively, I swiped his hand away."

She said Mr Bush simply laughed at his joke "like a mischievous boy".

[hepcat]

We can do anecdotal all day.

One time I was hitchhiking and the guy made me show him my dingo.

Is it true they don't bark?

[Jaymann]

We can do anecdotal all day.

One time I was hitchhiking and the guy made me show him my dingo.

Is it true they don't bark?

It's true, but don't ask about biting.

[Moliere]

We can do anecdotal all day.

One time I was hitchhiking and the guy made me show him my dingo.

Is it true they don't bark?

It's true, but don't ask about biting.

or spitting

[gameoverman]

I took a look at that guy's blog post because I wondered 'how bad could it be?'. He should have listened to his lawyer. His contention that if he did all that he would have lost his position, and thus not be able to do all that, is

[Isgrimnur]

Kevin Spacey

As allegations of unwanted sexual advances in 1986 by Kevin Spacey against a then teenage Anthony Rapp have emerged, Netflix today has decided to pull the plug on House of Cards after the upcoming sixth season next year.

Coming just over 12-hours after the Star Trek Discovery star first made public his allegations on October 29 of what happened at a party at Spacey’s NYC apartment back in the mid-1980s, the streaming service made the official decision today sources tell us. While Netflix and producers Media Rights Capital were leaning towards ending the show awhile, key cast and creatives were only alerted this morning in a series of calls.
...
Late Sunday, Rapp claimed that then 26-year old Spacey drunkenly put the then teen on a bed to “seduce” him. “I was aware that he was trying to get with me sexually,” Rapp said last night of the 1986 incident when the Stacey and he were both on Broadway in a revival of Long Day’s Journey Into Night and Precious Sons respectively.

Shortly afterwards, an apologetic Spacey issued a statement on social media saying he “did not remember the encounter” but added he was “horrified” by what Rapp described. “If I did behave then as he describes, I owe him the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior,” Spacey also said.

In also using the occasion to seemingly shift focus in announcing publicly that he had “choose now to live as a gay man,” The American Beauty star drew harsh rebukes swiftly online and otherwise. As for Rapp himself, the actor said on Twitter after Spacey’s apology and announcement that he had “no further comment ..at this time.”

[tjg_marantz]

I wish they'd so reporting a correlation between the two events. This was planned long ago.

[Jaymann]

Now Adam Sandler is in hot water for grabbing female knees.

[Moliere]

Now Adam Sandler is in hot water for grabbing female knees.

Hopefully Netflix cancels his contract and spares us any more of his movies.

[Ralph-Wiggum]

Now Adam Sandler is in hot water for grabbing female knees.

It's weird, but, as his reps pointed out, Sandler seems to do the same thing with Dustin Hoffmann on the Tonight Show. Maybe he just has a general problem with intruding on other peoples' space?