Octopus Overlords

Director Bryan Singer, who has directed X-Men films and was fired this week from his Queen biopic, has been accused of sexually assaulting a 17-year-old boy.

In a lawsuit filed Thursday in Washington state, Cesar Sanchez-Guzman says the incident happened in 2003 when he attended a party on a yacht in the Seattle area. Sanchez-Guzman was 17 at the time.

Isgrimnur wrote:Who was it that tells us to quit replying to trolls?

The groping continued. After the shows at parties, whenever he had a picture taken with me, he would put his arm around my rib cage and then grab my breast just before they snapped the picture and then remove it. He was very skilled at dropping his hand just as the picture snapped to avoid it being recorded. But it was pre-digital. You didn't know what was there until they were developed. Only by luck do I have one such picture - where the camera caught him in the act. A picture I had taken with hopes of sending it to my family. A millisecond in time. There I am - big smile and my arm moving toward his with the intention to push it away. But caught as it is, it seems I'm complicit with the gesture. I was not. Not ever.

One night in Chicago, I felt his hand up under my slip on the inside of my thighs. I was completely surprised and tried to bat him away while watching the stage for my cues. After the show he was busy with the producer and director so I had no access to him to address it. It then happened almost every show. Six to eight shows a week. I couldn't speak to him in the moment because I was on a live mic. He kept it up and got more and more aggressive. One night he actually started to stick his fingers inside me.

em2nought wrote: ↑Fri Dec 08, 2017 4:39 pm Hey, I'm gropin' here! I'm gropin' here!

GreenGoo wrote: ↑Fri Dec 08, 2017 4:42 pm

em2nought wrote: ↑Fri Dec 08, 2017 4:39 pm Hey, I'm gropin' here! I'm gropin' here!

I snickered.

[F]our women .... allege that Batali touched them inappropriately in a pattern of behavior that appears to span at least two decades. Three of the women worked for Batali in some capacity during their careers. One former employee alleges that over the course of two years, he repeatedly grabbed her from behind and held her tightly against his body. Another former employee alleges that he groped her and that, in a separate incident, he compelled her to straddle him; another alleges that he grabbed her breasts at a party, though she no longer worked for him at the time.
...
Batali was reprimanded for inappropriate behavior in the workplace as recently as two months ago. According to a spokesperson for Batali & Bastianich Hospitality Group — the restaurant-management services company that provides support to around 24 restaurants owned by, among others, Batali and Joe Bastianich — in October 2017, a B&B restaurant employee officially reported inappropriate behavior by Batali to the company. It was the first formal complaint about Batali, who was reprimanded and required to undergo training, according to the company.

In a statement to Eater, Batali said that he is stepping away from the day-to-day operations of his businesses for an unspecified period of time. ABC, where Batali has co-hosted the daytime show The Chew since 2011, has also asked the chef to step away from the show “while we review the allegations that have just recently come to our attention,” a spokesperson said.

Batali did not deny all the allegations, saying that they “match up” with ways he has behaved.

“I apologize to the people I have mistreated and hurt. Although the identities of most of the individuals mentioned in these stories have not been revealed to me, much of the behavior described does, in fact, match up with ways I have acted. That behavior was wrong and there are no excuses. I take full responsibility and am deeply sorry for any pain, humiliation or discomfort I have caused to my peers, employees, customers, friends and family.

The New Yorker magazine said Monday it has cut ties with well-known political reporter Ryan Lizza for alleged sexual misconduct.

The magazine recently learned Lizza had "engaged in what we believe was improper sexual conduct," a spokeswoman said. After reviewing the matter, it cut ties with the reporter.

Lizza is also a contributor on CNN. A spokesperson for the cable news network said he will not appear on air while it looks into the matter.

Lizza called the New Yorker's decision a "terrible mistake" made without a full investigation.

"I am dismayed that The New Yorker has decided to characterize a respectful relationship with a woman I dated as somehow inappropriate," Lizza said in an emailed statement, adding that the magazine did not cite any company policy that was violated.

He apologized to "friends, workplace colleagues, and loved ones for any embarrassment this episode may cause."

A lawyer representing the woman making the allegations against Lizza, however, disputed his description of the relationship.

Douglas Wigdor, who has brought a string of sexual-harassment and discrimination cases against Fox News, said "in no way did Mr. Lizza's misconduct constitute a 'respectful relationship' as he has now tried to characterize it."

Wigdor said the woman wishes for her identity to remain confidential. She reported his actions in order to hold him accountable and "in the hope that by coming forward she would help other potential victims," he said.

hepcat wrote: ↑Tue Dec 12, 2017 10:57 am You might want to put that in R&P. It could turn nasty in this thread.

McNutt wrote:Soon it's the guys that will be using #MeToo