“There’s An Elephant In Harvey Weinstein’s Hotel Room”
“In Hollywood, where both racism and sexism are rampant, what can look like a sort of mitigated blessing ends up highlighting another insidious problem in (the societal microcosm that is) Hollywood: Black women do not often come up for the kind of prestigious high-profile and award-winning roles that a producer with Weinstein’s power could offer.
Consider, for example, what Scottish film director Michael Caton-Jones told BuzzFeed News this week about a casting dispute with Weinstein. In 1998, he was in line to direct the Miramax-produced crime drama B. Monkey, and his first choice for the lead was black British actor Sophie Okonedo. Recalling a meeting between himself and Weinstein, Caton-Jones said: “Harvey kept saying to me, ‘Do you think she is fuckable?’” The frustrated director replied, “Don’t screw up the casting of this film because you want to get laid,” which apparently incensed Weinstein. After Caton-Jones was unceremoniously fired from the film following the conversation, Variety called him for a statement. He said he told the interviewer about harassment claims against Weinstein that he had heard about, ending the conversation with: “I don’t cast films according to Harvey Weinstein’s erection.” According to Caton-Jones, the reporter laughed. (In the end, Asia Argento, an Italian actor, got the role, and last week she was among the many women who publicly accused Weinstein of assaulting them.)…
Sexual harassment is often predicated on a power differential, but life’s other isms complicate things further.”
