The real meaning of #MeToo

You’ve probably heard my rogue fireman story, right? This is the guy who surreptitiously sets the fire then comes back later as the hero to put it out. That’s what we’re seeing in Hollywood right now.

The Oscars were all about #MeToo and #TimesUp. This is the feigned righteous indignation from Hollywood over the likes of Harvey Weinstein and others who have had their way with the ladies on the casting couch. Those with attributes that allowed them to cut corners to stardom never complained until it became trendy to do so. Now, all of a sudden, these starlets are victims.

From Variety Magazine

Don’t misunderstand. I’m not condoning debauchery, and I’m certainly not condoning rape. One would assume a woman who had been raped would report it. If she didn’t report it because she really wanted that part in the movie then she wasn’t really raped.

These Hollywood types remind me of coyotes. Once they find a wounded animal they all jump on them and tear them to shreds. And it doesn’t much matter if you’re guilty or innocent. Ryan Seacrest was cleared by NBCUniversal of any wrongdoing after a wardrobe stylist accused him of repeated sexual abuse and groping. It didn’t matter that he was cleared. Most stars steered away from him on the red carpet before the Oscars.

This is the same crowd that called Harvey Weinstein God. This is the same crowd that gave Roman Polanski a standing ovation, a man convicted of unlawful sex with a minor after drugging and raping a 13-year-old girl.

This is the same crowd that cheered on Bill Clinton even after a parade of sexual harassment victims told their stories. Then they cheered on his wife, the same woman who tried to destroy the women who were brave enough to come out against her husband.

Then one of the vicious rabble becomes the wounded animal, like actor James Franco, and the rest pounce on him and tear him to shreds. They speak of courage then cower behind their publicists for fear that something in their sordid past will surface in People Magazine or the National Enquirer and their fragile careers will be over.

People like Tavis Smiley are fighting back with lawsuits to recover their reputations. I’m not going to sit in judgement of who’s guilty and who’s innocent. That’s for the courts to decide. My point is the #MeToo cause has become more important than the truth. Hollywood has always been about appearances. It’s all about trends. And right now it’s trendy to be a victim, even when you’re not. ‘I had to sleep with that director,’ they’ll say. ‘How else was I supposed to get the part?’ How about not getting the part? That never enters into the equation.

There are some great stations I’d love to have our radio show on. If the only way we get on the station is by my sleeping with the station manager then we don’t get on the station. Pretty straight forward. But I’m living in the world of scruples and standards. In the world where people do anything for a movie part there will always be other people ready to take you up on it. And don’t act so outraged when they do. 

If you’re not willing to sell your soul then you don’t have to worry about buyers. You’ll never have to panic when a reporter starts sifting through your trash. And you’ll never have to avoid Ryan Seacrest.

Have you ever aided and abetted a sexual predator? Well, now you know why so many Hollywood starlets are tweeting #MeToo.

Phil Valentine is the host of the award-winning, nationally syndicated talk radio show, The Phil Valentine Show.

Hollywood has no moral high ground

I was in Europe last week for a river cruise. I highly recommend it, by the way. My wife and I would wind down from the day’s excursions with BBC news. I don’t know what everyone was talking about back here in the States but it was wall to wall Harvey Weinstein. This is not purely a political issue, but I find it so ironic that this pig was hailed far and wide by liberals all across Hollywood as a wonderful guy who gave selflessly to liberal candidates and causes. The irony is that all the while Harvey Weinstein’s sexual harassment was legendary.

And now starlet after starlet is coming forward to reveal that they too were sexually harassed by Weinstein. They kept their silence because they were afraid it would hurt their careers. What does that say about them?

Everyone’s focused on Harvey, as well they should be, but we have to have a conversation about culpability. You can’t at once say you kept silent to advance your own greedy desires to succeed in Hollywood and call yourself a victim.

I don’t want anyone to misunderstand my point here. There are plenty of women who have been sexually harassed by pigs like Weinstein. They keep quiet for a variety of reasons. Some know they’ll lose in a he said/she said situation. Others actually like the guy and don’t want to ruin his career over what they hope is a temporary lack of judgement or an isolated indiscretion.

What I’m talking is the Hollywood community that knew full well that Harvey Weinstein was a monster. Still, they dealt with him because he could help them. And I’m talking men and women. What they should’ve done was lived by the principles they preach to everyone else and stop dealing with people like him. Instead, they fed on Weinstein for decades when it served their own purposes.

Hillary Clinton is one of them. She’s now going to give the money Weinstein gave to her campaign to charity. Or so she says. She’s using the Weinstein story to bash Trump. “After all, we have someone admitting to being a sexual assaulter in the Oval Office,” she told Andrew Marr on BBC. I’m sitting there screaming at the TV, “What about your frickin’ husband?” Of course, Marr never brought that up.

And another piece of irony is Weinstein helped pay Bill Clinton’s legal bills during the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal.

Again, Hollywood knew full well about Hillary’s husband and not only never said anything, they continued and continue to give to the Clinton machine. Hillary once said on the campaign trail that any woman who accuses a man of rape should be believed. Unless that woman happens to have been raped by her husband. Then she needs to be destroyed.

This whole Weinstein thing isn’t just a Harvey Weinstein scandal. It’s a Hollywood scandal. It’s about people like Ashley Judd who put up with Weinstein asking her to watch him take a shower and never say anything, then publicly complain about an airport employee who says she’s pretty. It’s about the countless actresses who came to town very willing to take their turn on the casting couch if it got them that big part and now cry that they’re victims.

And, yes, there are plenty of victims. I just don’t think a whole community who knew of the monster in their midst and tolerated him because he was powerful are among them. Let’s stand against not only the monsters like Weinstein but the many enablers who keep a predator like that in business.

Phil Valentine is the host of the award-winning, nationally syndicated talk radio show, The Phil Valentine Show.

Who's to blame for a killer?

We may never know what drove Elliot Rodger to go on a killing spree in Santa Barbara, Ca. What we do know is that he was a seriously disturbed individual with a death wish and demented sense of revenge. He apparently blamed women who wouldn’t sleep with him for being a virgin — like there’s anything wrong with that at the tender age of 22 — as well as the guys who beat him to the punch.

Elliot Rodger killed seven people, including himself, and injured a dozen or so others. His list of weapons included a knife, a hammer, two machetes, a BMW, and three pistols. You can rest assured the mainstream media will fixate on the guns. They always do.

Hindsight is 20/20. His parents found out about his YouTube rant, in which he promised to kill as many people as possible, alerted authorities, and set out to Santa Barbara to stop him. 

They were too late.

Apparently he killed his three roommates with the hammer, the knife, and the machetes. He then went to a sorority house where he killed two sorority sisters on the sidewalk. He left the sorority house and drove around town randomly selecting his victims, killing one more innocent pedestrian before turning the gun on himself.

Reading his manifesto, it’s unbelievable that he truly felt as he did. What’s even more unbelievable is that no one knew he was nuts. Instead of trotting out the tired, old argument for banning guns, we need to start concentrating on the real problem. Quite frankly, there are too many crazy people roaming loose on the streets.

Now, crazy is a relative term. I’m sure we all have certain oddities that others might find strange. I’m not talking about locking up every eccentric in the country. What I’m talking about are danger signs. There’s no way Elliot Rodger wasn’t exhibiting them. He was obviously in therapy. Did his therapist know he was fantasizing about going on a killing rampage? Let’s hope not. But did he or she see signs that he might be violent?

Again, that’s quite subjective, but those of us who live in the real world know when someone is dangerous. A friend of mine who works with the animal rescue folks told me recently of a guy who cut the front legs off a cat. That guy should not only be punished for what he did, he should be watched like a hawk for the rest of his life. That’s the kind of person who ends up a serial killer or a multiple victim killer like Elliot Rodger.

One critic, Ann Hornaday from the Washington Post, was quick to blame Hollywood for white men promoting “escapist fantasies” that “revolve around vigilantism and sexual wish-fulfillment.” She went on to say Rodger’s misogynistic delusions were channeled through “male studio executives.” She singled out the movie “Neighbors,” and the movie’s star, Seth Rogen, and director, Judd Apatow. Apatow specializes in coming-of-age movies in which the inexperienced, immature guy gets the girl. Apparently, Ann Hornaday finds that distasteful.

We can blame Hollywood. We can blame video games. We can blame the “gun culture.” None of that gets us anywhere. There have been slasher movies as long as I can remember. Sure, some video games are violent. And, yes, we are a society that cherishes our Second Amendment right. All of those elements have been around for a long time. By blaming them, we ignore the obvious.

Too many people are too screwed up in the head, and too few of us take the time to notice.

Phil Valentine is the host of the award-winning, nationally syndicated talk radio show, The Phil Valentine Show.