Chris Hardwick is returning to hosting duties at AMC after being suspended while the network conducted an investigation into allegations that he sexually abused his ex-girlfriend Chloe Dkystra. AMC has announced that Hardwick will return as host of “Talking Dead” on August 12, 2018.
On June 14, 2018, actress/model Dykstra posted an essay on Medium claiming that an unnamed ex-boyfriend (who was obviously Hardwick) inflicted sexual and verbal abuse on her during their relationship. Dykstra and Hardwick dated from 2011 to 2014. Hardwick, 47, denied the allegations, but AMC suspended him and his talk show “Talking With Chris Hardwick” (which had been scheduled to premiere that month) while conducting the investigation. In the aftermath of the allegations, Hardwick had his scheduled appearances (including moderating AMC panels) cancelled at Comic-Con International in San Diego and the San Diego Music-Comedy Festival. After Dykstra (who is 29) made her accusations, Hardwick’s wife Lydia Hearst and his ex-girlfriends Jacinda Barrett, Janet Varney and Andrea Savage all made statements to publicly support him and declare that Hardwick is not abusive.
AMC issued this statement: “Following a comprehensive assessment by AMC, working with Ivy Kagan Bierman of the firm Loeb & Loeb, who has considerable experience in this area, Chris Hardwick will return to AMC as the host of ‘Talking Dead’ and ‘Talking with Chris Hardwick.’ We take these matters very seriously and given the information available to us after a very careful review, including interviews with numerous individuals, we believe returning Chris to work is the appropriate step.”
Actress/comedian Yvette Nicole Brown, a frequent “Talking Dead” guest, replaced Hardwick at Comic-Con as moderator of the AMC panels that he would normally moderate. She will be a guest host of “Talking Dead” when the show returns on Aug. 5, 2018.
Hardwick also hosts the NBC game show “The Wall.” NBC said it would investigate Dysktra’s allegations, and has made no further comment. It appears that NBC will keep him as host of “The Wall.”
Harvey Weinstein at The Weinstein Company party in celebration of “Wind River” at Nikki Beach in Cannes, Frances, on May 20, 2017. (Photo by Dave Benett)
On May 25, 2018, disgraced entertainment mogul Harvey Weinstein turned himself into the New York Police Department, where he was arrested and charged with rape and forced oral sex. According to the Associated Press, the rape charge is for an unidentified woman who claims that Weinstein raped her at a New York hotel room in 2013. The oral sex charge is for a 2004 incident in which former aspiring actress Lucia Evans claims that Weinstein forced her to perform oral sex on him at his New York office. During his arraignment, he pled not guilty and was released on $1 million bail, with constant electronic monitoring and a ban on traveling beyond New York and Connecticut. Weinstein’s attorney Benjamin Brafman says that Weinstein will seek to have the charges dismissed.
In October 2017, the New York Times and the New Yorker reported that Weinstein has a long history of sexual misconduct allegations (going back as far as the 1980s), and that he silenced many of his alleged victims with financial settlements and non-disclosure agreements. In the months since those reports were published, more than 80 women have come forward to claim that Weinstein sexually harassed or sexually assaulted them. Weinstein has denied all the allegations, and says any sex acts he committed were consensual.
After the reports were published, Weinstein was fired by The Weinstein Company (the entertainment firm that Harvey co-founded with his brother Bob); Harvey’s second wife, Georgina Chapman, divorced him; and the company filed for bankruptcy. The Weinstein Company has since been purchased by an investment group and is expected to change its name. Several industry organizations (including the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) have expelled Harvey Weinstein from their membership, and he has been sued by several women for sexual harassment/sexual misconduct. Ashley Judd, one of his accusers, is also suing him for defamation because she claims Harvey Weinstein damaged her reputation and career after she rejected his sexual advances.
Harvey Weinstein’s downfall is widely considered to be the turning point of the #MeToo cultural movement, which has survivors of sexual harassment and sexual assault publicly telling their stories and seeking justice. The #MeToo movement has also led to sexual misconduct allegations against many other famous and powerful men, often resulting in the accused losing their jobs and/or being sued.
October 11, 2018 UPDATE: The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has dismissed the sexual assault charge against Weinstein in the Evans case. According to CNN, Evans’ attorney Carrie Goldberg implied that the charge was dropped for political reasons because of a “feud between the NYPD and the DA’s office.” Goldberg added that the dropped charge “does speak to a system desperate in need of reform.” Weinstein still faces five charges for sex-related crimes.
New York-based celebrity restaurateurs Mario Batali and Ken Friedman have been accused of sexual assault, and Batali is under criminal investigation for it, according to the CBS News program “60 Minutes.” The program televised a bombshell report on May 20, 2018, alleging that Batali committed sex crimes and sexual harassment over the course of many years. The “60 Minutes” report featured interviews with several former employees of The Spotted Pig, a New York City restaurant co-owned by Friedman and frequented by Batali. Although many of the accusers’ claims were first reported by the New York Times in December 2017, the “60 Minutes” report includes new details about Batali’s alleged sexual assault against one of his former employees.
The accuser, who wished to remain anonymous, claims that Batali sexually assaulted her at The Spotted Pig in 2005, when she used to work for him at Batali’s restaurant Babbo. She says Batali invited her to The Spotted Pig, and she believes she was drugged without her knowledge and consent because she vomited and felt disoriented before passing out. She alleges that before she passed out, she remembered Batali kissing her. The former Babbo employee woke up to injuries on her body, knowing that something sexual had happened to her without her consent because she found semen stains on her skirt. She says that when she confronted Batali about the alleged assault, he said nothing. Although the accuser says she went to police and even had a rape-kit test done on her, she ultimately decided not to file a police report against Batali, out of fear of retaliation and because she feared there wasn’t enough proof that any sexual acts he may have committed were without her consent. (On a semi-related note, Babbo fired executive chef Frank Langello in January 2018, after he was accused of sexual misconduct, according to the restaurant-industry website Eater. Langello had worked at Babbo for more than 17 years.)
Another woman, who also wants to remain anonymous, is claiming that Batali drugged and raped her at Babbo in 2004. The New York Times reports that the New York Police Department is also investigating this accusation against Batali.
Batali is denying the claims of sexual assault, but in December 2017, he acknowledged and made a public apology for sexually inappropriate conduct against many of his female employees and colleagues. The apology came when Eater published an article exposing Batali’s alleged misdeeds. He was subsequently fired as a co-host of ABC’s “The Chew,” and he announced that he was stepping away from his businesses. Friedman did the same thing around the same time: He made a public apology for his behavior, and he stepped down from his businesses; he is denying that he committed any non-consensual sex acts.
A subsequent report published by Eater in December 2017 detailed allegations of rampant sexual misconduct at restaurants owned by Batali & Bastianich Hospitality Group, the company co-founded by Batali, Joe Bastianich and Joe’s mother Lidia Bastianich. Joe Bastianich (who is a judge on Fox’s “MasterChef”) was named by several former anonymous employees as a deliberate enabler/participant in the sexually abusive behavior, which accusers claim was happening for about 20 years.
After the “60 Minutes” report aired, Batali & Bastianich Hospitality Group (which owns 28 restaurants worldwide) issued a statement saying that it is in the process of ending the company’s involvement with Batali.
Here is Batali’s statement to “60 Minutes” about the claim that he sexually assaulted a Babbo employee in 2005 while she was unconscious: “I vehemently deny the allegation that I sexually assaulted this woman. My past behavior has been deeply inappropriate and I am sincerely remorseful for my actions. I am not attempting a professional comeback. My only focus is finding a personal path forward—a path where I can continue my charitable endeavors—helping the underprivileged and those in need.”
The former Spotted Pig employees who told their stories to “60 Minutes” did not remain anonymous. They include former waitresses Trish Nelson, Carla Rza Betts and Natalie Saibel, as well as former manager Jamie Seet and former bartender Erin Fein. They all said that Batali and/or Friedman frequently harassed them physically and verbally. Seet claims that she witnessed Batali sexually assaulting a woman by putting his hands in or on her genital area while she seemed to be unconscious. This alleged assault was caught on surveillance video, and Seet claims that she and other Spotted Pig employees saw the video, but they did not report it to the police. This was a story she also told to the New York Times. Fein claims that Friedman groped and kissed her without her consent while they were in his car in 2014, and then ordered her not to tell anyone. Nelson also claims that Friedman did the same thing to her.
As for why the accusers did not file formal complaints, they all said that it was common knowledge that Batali’s and Friedman’s power in the close-knit restaurant industry meant that the two men could destroy the careers of anyone who spoke out against them. And if any incidents of harassment or abuse were reported to supervisors at The Spotted Pig, former employees say that nothing was done about the problem, because Friedman was one of the alleged perpetrators. For example, Seet told “60 Minutes” that Batali had grabbed her breasts while she was on the job, but when she told Friedman about it, he laughed and dismissed her concerns. According to “60 Minutes,” The Spotted Pig, which opened in 2004, did not have a human resources department until 2017.
Seet also claimed that Friedman “blacklisted” her when she tried to find a job at another restaurant. In one example, she says that she had a job offer rescinded, and was told that she wasn’t hired for the job because of Friedman. All the accusers say that rampant sexual harassment isn’t just a problem for The Spotted Pig and the restaurant industry but for society as a whole, especially in places where there are very few women in power.
But even having a woman in power doesn’t guarantee a safe working environment. April Bloomfield, The Spotted Pig chef who co-founded the restaurant with Friedman, issued a statement to “60 Minutes” saying that she regrets not doing more to protect her employees, and that she is in the process of ending her partnership with Friedman.
Dozens of famous and powerful men have been accused of sexual misconduct since the #MeToo movement became a major cultural force in late 2017. Many of the accused have lost their jobs and have been sued in civil cases, but criminal cases against them have been rare, since the required burden of proof is much larger in order for a criminal case to make it to court. Entertainment mogul Harvey Weinstein, actor Kevin Spacey and hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons are all reportedly under criminal investigations for sex crimes, and it remains to be seen what the outcomes of those investigations will be.*
Disgraced actor/comedian Bill Cosby is the only celebrity in several years who has been convicted of a felony sex crime. His conviction, which took place in April 2018, was for the 2004 rape of Andrea Constand, a former employee of Temple University’s women’s basketball team.
*May 25, 2018 UPDATE: Harvey Weinstein was arrested for felony sexual assault in New York City. He has pled not guilty.
Bill Cosby at the 2014 American Comedy Awards in New York City (Photo courtesy of NBC)
A jury in Norristown, Pennsylvania, has found comedian/actor Bill Cosby guilty of three counts of sexual assault on April 26, 2018. Cosby had been on trial for the crime, in which he was accused of drugging and raping Andrea Constand at his Philadelphia-area home in 2004. Constand, a native of Toronto, was director of operations for Temple University women’s basketball team at the time. Cosby received a bachelor’s degree from Temple in 1971. He was a major donor to Temple and on Temple’s board of trustees for many years until his fall from grace.
According to the Chicago Tribune: “Cosby stared straight ahead as the verdict was read, but moments later lashed out loudly at District Attorney Kevin Steele and called him an ‘a–hole’ after the prosecutor asked that Cosby be immediately jailed because he might flee. Cosby denied he has an airplane and shouted, ‘I’m sick of him!'”
Cosby (who is 80 years old) will remain out on bond until his sentencing. His wife Camille (who’s been married to Cosby since 1964) and their three surviving children were not present in the courtroom when the verdict was read. His legal team will almost certainly appeal the verdict.
In 2005, a year after Cosby raped Constand, she reported the crime to the police. However, Cosby was not arrested at that time. Bruce Castor, who was Montgomery Country’s district attorney in Pennsylvania at the time, declined to bring a case against Cosby. Constand then filed a civil lawsuit against Cosby. The lawsuit was settled out of court, with Constand reportedly getting a $3.4 million settlement. In depositions for the lawsuit that weren’t made public until 2016, Cosby admitted to giving drugs to several women, including Constand, before he had sex with them, but he contended that the sex was always consensual. Although the lawsuit made news in 2005, it barely had an effect on Cosby’s career for many years.
That all changed in 2014, when video footage from a Hannibal Buress stand-up comedy show went viral. During one part of the stand-up show, Buress went on a rant against Cosby by calling Cosby a hypocrite who likes to “rape women.” The viral video opened a floodgate of accusations from more than 60 women who claimed that Cosby raped them after he drugged them without their knowledge or consent. Almost all of the women said that Cosby lured them into these situations by offering to mentor them or help them with their careers.
Almost all of the alleged incidents occurred in the 1960s to 1990s—too many years ago for any of the alleged victims to have Cosby arrested for these alleged crimes, since the statute of limitations had run out. In addition, the women said they were alone with Cosby when these alleged rapes happened, so even if some of the women told other people about these alleged rapes at the time (and many of them did), the accusations were hard to prove. In some cases, the accusers said that they told police, attorneys and/or Cosby colleagues about these alleged crimes, but none of the authorities they confided in wanted to hold Cosby accountable because of his immense power and fame. Some of the accusers now have pending lawsuits against Cosby. He has countersued a few of the accusers, but those countersuits will probably be dropped now that Cosby has been found guilty of sexual assault and is going to prison.
Cosby has maintained his innocence throughout the controversy. His accusers have faced criticism for either not coming forward sooner and, in some cases, continuing to be in contact with Cosby after they were allegedly raped by him. Critics of the accusers have called them “gold diggers,” “liars” and “opportunists.” Meanwhile, after the flood of accusations came to light, NBC and Netflix cancelled projects that they had in the works with Cosby. However, he continued to perform stand-up concerts, even though some of his performances were also cancelled because of the controversy. Many universities and institutions (including Temple) also rescinded any honors that they had bestowed on Cosby.
In 2016, a new district attorney (Kevin Steele) took a look at the Constand/Cosby case and decided to file charges against Cosby before the statute of limitations ran out. He was arrested, and the case went to trial in 2017, but ended in a hung jury.
The 2018 retrial, unlike the 2017 trial, allowed the testimony of five other alleged Cosby victims, including former supermodel Janice Dickinson. The added testimony seems to have made a huge difference in the jury’s verdict. In media interviews done after Cosby’s guilty verdict, many of his accusers said that the #MeToo movement also probably made a difference in the trial’s outcome.
For decades, Cosby was revered as a role model not just for Americans but for many people around the world. In his stand-up comedy routines, books, TV commercials, public appearances and in starring roles on TV series like “The Cosby Show,” he had the image of a friendly, upstanding, fatherly figure with a strong moral code of ethics.
He also broke race barriers in television. Cosby was the first African-American to star in a prime-time TV series when he co-starred with Robert Culp in “I Spy,” which NBC televised from 1965 to 1968. In addition to having a successful career in TV and stand-up comedy (he had five Emmys and nine Grammys), Cosby starred in several movies, including 1974’s “Uptown Saturday Night” and 1978’s “California Suite.” His last movie was 2004’s “Fat Albert,” which was based on Cosby’s popular “Fat Albert” animated TV series.
Now that he is a convicted rapist, Cosby will be a registered sex offender and spend time in prison. This article will be updated after Cosby is sentenced.
Netflix has announced that it has fired actor Danny Masterson from its comedy TV series “The Ranch,” after four women have come forward with claims that Masterson raped them in the early 2000s, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “The Ranch,” which premiered in 2016, is set to begin airing the second half of its second season on December 15, 2017. The show is about a dysfunctional family that owns a ranch in Colorado. The cast includes Ashton Kutcher, Debra Winger and Sam Elliott.
Masterson is best known for co-starring with Kutcher in the sitcom “That ’70s Show,” which was on the air from 1998 to 2006. In the U.S., “That ’70s Show” aired on Fox. Masterson has denied all the rape allegations, and issued a statement saying that he was “disappointed” in Netflix’s decision to fire him from “The Ranch.”
Netflix’s firing of Masterson comes a little over a month after the streaming network did the same thing to “House of Cards” star/executive producer Kevin Spacey after numerous men (including “House of Cards” employees) came forward in October 2017 to claim that Spacey sexually harassed or sexually assaulted them. Spacey allegedly committed sexual harassment against males over several decades, according to published reports. Spacey issued a public apology to actor Anthony Rapp, who claimed in an October 2017 article published by BuzzFeed that Spacey tried to have sex with him in 1986, when Rapp was 14 and Spacey was 26. Spacey has not publicly commented on the other allegations, but said that he is taking time off from his career to seek treatment. Spacey has since been removed from the Columbia Pictures drama “All the Money in the World” and replaced by Christopher Plummer.
In late 2017, other actors who have lost TV shows, movies or other business deals after being accused of sexual misconduct include Louis C.K., Ed Westwick, Jeremy Piven and Jeffrey Tambor. Prominent TV journalists Matt Lauer, Charlie Rose and Mark Halperin have also had disgraceful exits from their jobs after numerous women accused them of sexual harassment going back several years. An even larger number of high-ranking executives who work behind the scenes at various entertainment and media companies have been fired, placed on leave or have resigned in late 2017 after being accused of sexual misconduct by several people. The companies with these major shake-ups include Amazon Studios, DC Comics, Def Jam, National Public Radio, Nickelodeon, Pixar, Rush Communications, Vox Media, Warner Bros. Television and The Weinstein Company.
Although people being fired for sexual misconduct is nothing new, this unprecedented tidal wave of accusations and scandalous ousters in the entertainment industry seems to have been triggered by entertainment mogul Harvey Weinstein’s massive fall from grace in early October 2017, when numerous women went public with stories that he sexually harassed or sexually assaulted them. As of this writing, more than 60 women have come forward with sexual misconduct stories about Weinstein, with the stories spanning various years over several decades, going as far back as the 1970s.
