Weird take from someone who usually has a thoughtful, nuanced take on masculinity and comedy. He hasn’t “served his time” and he’s not “moving on”...he’s returning to the exact stage he previously occupied, only 10 months after a disappointing faux apology. Hard pass.
This shit, the automatic “he’s learned his lesson” response to an attempted comeback, despite ZERO evidence, is why women hesitate to come forward.
Seeing an abuser applauded, seeing people concerned more for the abuser’s lost revenue than the lost career opportunities of the women he abused, the women he threatened to fucking blackball if they came forward about the abuse, is so toxic.
I am not happy to see him try, and fuck you if you are. Money (and let’s not kid ourselves that this is about the art) is not more important than women’s safety, than their physical and mental wellbeing.
I don’t know what I expected from #MeToo but one serial rapist going to jail (maybe, hopefully) and all the other male millionaires getting to slide back into their positions of power after a bullshit cooling off period wasn’t it. Why do I ever get my hopes up...
We continue to make it very clear that we value money more than people. Power more than victims and potential victims.
This, coupled with #mattlauer ‘s “don’t worry, I’ll be back on tv” attitude, makes it much harder for women, and men, to come forward as victims, knowing they’ll suffer intense scrutiny while their abuser simply hides from the public until we’ve moved on. And the cycle continues.
