Since awards season started, we’ve seen how Hollywood stars have been taking a stand against sexual harassment in the workplace. They’ve been wearing black, Time’s Up pins, white roses, and speaking out about the issue in speeches. Now, with the Oscars just days away, everyone’s expectations are high with how the Academy will handle the situation.
As we all know, the Academy Awards is a big deal—it’s the awarding body that symbolizes basically everything that Hollywood stands for. But after the Harvey Weinstein scandal and all the allegations that came after, the Academy seems to be facing a dilemma. Voice of America reported that some of the accused men are still members of the awarding body.
While Weinstein was immediately ousted from his position in the Academy, they haven’t dealt with Roman Polanski, Kevin Spacey, and Bill Cosby. CEO Dawn Hudson said in December that they’ve created new “standards of conduct” for its more than 8,000 members. She also noted that they’ve established a task force to “finalize procedures for handling allegations of misconduct, assuring that we can address them fairly and expeditiously.” They promised to release their decision early this year.
But what’s there to “finalize”? Polanski pleaded guilty in 1977 for raping then-minor Samantha Geimer, and fled the US so he would avoid jail time. He even won an Oscar in 2003 while he was still wanted. Likewise, Cosby was accused by more than 60 women for rape and sexual assault. (His “mistrial” still makes our blood boil, TBH.)
Meanwhile, Spacey is apparently “getting help” after Anthony Rapp and two other men accused him of sexual misconduct. Nice cop-out.
Many are also calling for the expulsion of Woody Allen from the Academy for allegedly molesting his stepdaughter. However, he’s not a member. (Here’s a question though: With two Oscars under his belt, do you think he should revoke them?)
That said, it will be interesting how cases of sexual misconduct such as these will be tackled this Monday (Philippine time). Will host Jimmy Kimmel be unapologetic about his jokes just like Seth Meyers at the Golden Globes? Will the Academy finally come to a final decision on their long overdue investigation? Guess we’ll have to wait and see.
Art by Yayie Motos
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