In a post #MeToo World, when does talent stop being enough to excuse behaviour?

Abuse of power in the creative world has been an open secret for about as long as these spaces have existed. Sleazy producers, handsy actors, talent scouts whose main talent is taking advantage, they’re characters that are so far from hidden that they feature as well-known tropes in the stories they themselves work to put on stage and screen. And for years people - mostly women - would attempt to speak out, and instead of support they had their careers blackballed. Nothing ever seemed to happen to the - mostly - men that took advantage of the position they were in. That is until a movement that is now widely known as the MeToo movement.

Starting in 2006, and coming to real prominence in 2017, the MeToo movement is a movement that spreads awareness around the issues of sexual harassment and abuse in the workplace. It started out as a movement for women, highlighting just how many of us have been harassed, assaulted, abused, or raped in the workplace. But it soon became clear that in the arts especially this was not at all limited to women. The 2017 prominence came about as a response to numerous allegations of sexual abuse against film producer Harvey Weinstein. One of the biggest names in Hollywood, he held so much power for so long that the allegations covered a period of over 30 years. But he wasn’t the only one, something called the Weinstein Effect followed. Suddenly, people felt like they might actually be heard, and so they spoke. Director Bryan Singer had long faced allegations and lawsuits for sexual assault and rape of underage boys, dating as far back as 1997. Despite that, he was still working regularly on big budget productions, including the X-Men franchise. But in 2019 he was once again accused of sexual assault by four men who alleged he assaulted them when they were teenagers. He hasn’t worked in TV or Film since. There had long been rumours about actor Danny Masterson - famously a member of Scientology - but nothing ever seemed to stick, and he kept working. In 2017 he was hit with allegations from three women of sexual assault. After a fourth woman filed an allegation against him, he was dropped from the Netflix comedy The Ranch, and after a fifth woman filed he was dropped by his agents. He didn’t work in TV or Film again after that, and in 2021 he was charged with multiple counts of rape, and in 2023 was convicted of them. Actors, directors, producers, journalists, politicians, powerful men from across all sorts of industries were finally scared they weren’t going to be able to get away with such brazen abuse anymore.

Whilst it was wonderful to see powerful men facing some sort of consequences, I couldn’t help but feel like this wasn’t going to last. I was curious - is this actual change I am witnessing, or is it a few sacrificial lambs in the name of appeasement? Will this last? Call me pessimistic, but I didn’t think so. I watched as Woody Allen continued to create freely and with the full support of many within the industry, I watched as Roman Polanski continued to have his work premiering at the most prestigious Film Festivals in the world, and I felt doubt. And then I started this platform, and suddenly, I found myself in it. I was being invited to junkets, to red carpets, to do one on one interviews. I was meeting other journalists, older journalists, publicists, performers and I quickly realised my fears were right. Things weren’t changing at all. These older, or more established, professionals would take me under their wing, and they’d warn me who not to be left alone with, who not to stand too close to, who to straight up refuse to see - and also who I could relax around. The power hadn’t shifted at all I realised, these women still do not feel they can speak out. Because there’s so many of them, the people abusing their power. If the women want to work, they cannot speak publicly, they just have to spread the word to their peers and try to keep each other safe.

But the thing about it is this - there are layers to this problem. Layer one is the obvious - powerful people using that power to treat people badly. And there’s plenty of them, but they almost aren’t the biggest issue. The biggest issue, in my opinion, are the people at layer two. These are the powerful people who aren’t themselves hurting anyone, but they are continuing to employ them despite knowing what they are doing. The people who know about the harassment, who know about the abuse of power, who know about the violence and they could choose to say no to giving them more work. But they don’t care about people, they care about money and so if someone is talented enough, or has a big enough audience, they can excuse the lawsuits and allegations. It doesn’t matter to them that they’re giving horrible people the opportunity to generate more power and influence they can abuse, what matters is dollar signs.

And so I have to ask - what is the limit? When does talent stop being enough. How bad does someone have to be, what is the worst they have to do for the people at layer two to say enough? Because Boy George has headed to one of the largest shows on Broadway (Moulin Rouge) despite a conviction for assault and false imprisonment. Todrick Hall has been announced for 3 major arts events in the UK (World Premiere of Burlesque The Musical, Wild About You Concert Event, and Chaka Khan’s 29th Meltdown Festival), despite allegations of toxic work environments, and a lawsuit for sexual harassment. Chris Brown made nearly $35million touring last year, despite convictions and lawsuits and restraining orders for violent behaviour.  James Franco has 7 upcoming projects despite a $20million lawsuit settlement for sexual assault - and these are just a selection of people off the top of my head who are still working successfully despite public convictions for violence, or lawsuits they either lost or settled for sexual harassment. There are no doubt more who fall into this category, and there are absolutely more who are working despite being known within their industry for inappropriate at best, illegal at worst, behaviours. And why? Because they’re good at playing pretend? Because they sing pretty?

So do a million other people. And they manage to do it without bullying anyone, without beating anyone, without harassing, assaulting, or raping anyone. So when are we going to stop using talent as an excuse? When are we going to be able to show up to work within creative spaces, safe in the knowledge that those at the top have done everything they can to make sure everyone is okay? When are we going to know that one person’s talent isn’t going to be valued above all of our safety?

MeToo was nice, but WhatNow?