that have been fired or resigned because of misconduct in the workplace - Matt Lauer, Mario Batalli, Al Franken, Kevin Spacey, etc.
Is there anything they could do to redeem themselves to be able to continue their careers? Or are they just done for and have to live the life of a hermit for whatever is left of it?
I think with the passage of time, Al, and Kevin can salvage a portion of their careers. They will have to get some sort of counseling and probably do some activism.
Matt though… No, he’s done.
My opinion of course.
The entertainment people (Spacey et. al…with the exception of the Weinsteins) can and will absolutely bounce back from this. We have a short memory for these things and as time passes we will see them back in entertainment.
News people and politicians not so much. They’re done simply because their job is to be trusted, and they lost that.
Time and good PR teams will work for most but not all. The American public can be hard to judge sometimes. While we’re talking a way different kind of misconduct I would have said Marion Berry was dead meat after his arrest and conviction. But then again, I never lioved in DC.
Personally, all these women coming out after the fact is getting ridiculous, and I’m a female.
If you can’t stand up and point it out the minute it happens, you shouldn’t be allowed to come back years later and ruin somebody’s career over it. You being silent gave them a free pass.
JMHO.
I find the story of Arnold Schwarzenegger instructive.
If my memory serves, while he was running for Governor of California stories of his history of groping resulting in the nickname “The Gropenator”. This was widely used in the media, and the Doonesbury comic strip used it for a number of story lines.
He survived the accusations, and it did not impact his political or entertainment career.
Due to the current climate, he may still have his “time in the barrel”, as they say, but I suspect he will be unscathed.
So, I suspect that after a period of time, many of these folks will be “rehabilitated” back into their careers.
Often, while it’s happening, the women (or men) are afraid of losing their jobs, and probably the publicity. It’s much easier to stand up when you’re not doing it alone. It’s probably also easier for a studio to listen to their million-dollar talent than a minion crying sexual harassment, and those women know that.
That being said, Franken’s handsiness and crude behavior is no where near the level of harassment/assault as Weinstein’s, Conyers’, Spacey’s, Lauer’s, Batalli’s. I haven’t heard of any women working for or with Al saying anything bad about his behavior. Not so with the other creeps; they were abusing their power over those women’s lives for their sexual gratification. And those women now pointing the finger shouldn’t be vilified for waiting until they felt more secure saying something.
JMHO.
My bet.
Harvey Weinstein should thank his lucky stars if he avoids prison.
Kevin Spacey is too good an actor to stay down. Somebody will take a chance on him in a few years.
Matt Lauer: No idea how US TV works so no comment.
Al Franken: I think he has a good career as a pundit on TV. He may also get a Cabinet position in a future Democratic administration.
Done in old school traditional news. I could see some new media enterprise giving him a chance in a half-dozen years or so.
I find I care little about the consequences they face. I’m tired of the world being focussed on the ruining of the perpetrators life, job, good name or future. It’s time for that to change, I think. What ever happened to the good old American ‘You made your bed, now lie in it!’, attitude?
These men didn’t bumble accidently into this. These are intelligent men, successful in highly competitive fields, and their victimizing of those around them almost Machiavellian. They had choices to make, and they made them. Now they can live with the consequences, in my opinion. I do think some will weather the storm. But I doubt it will be by mincing their words and dancing around ownership of their actions.
And for anyone growing weary of hearing about yet another harasser story, I would point out that you might stop and consider just how fatigued women are with having to live through and deal with these occurances. You just have to hear about it, they had to live it.
I see waves upon us, but sense an oncoming tsunami. You better buckle up if you feel this is too much, in my opinion.
Spacey has a strong persistent preference for young teen boys. This isn’t a matter of hitting on an unusually mature looking 14 year old that one time. He likes 14 year old boys because they look like 14 year old boys. I don’t see him coming ba k from that.
The Charlie Rose story mentioned that some of his victims reported to their boss and she didn’t do anything.
To be fair, not one woman has come forward to say anything bad about Spacey.
Talent is talent and isn’t going away. Those with talent will bounce back in some way. There is an entire industry in Hollywood built around building and rebuilding careers. Someone with the talent of Spacey will work again.
Matt Lauer’s only talent is being likable on TV. He has no particular insight into any issues. He isn’t an actor. He has no skill. He’s done.
To be fair, I did mention “or men” in the first paragraph.
if they recognize the wrong and damage they did, regret it, and work to eradicate/denormalize such behavior in the future (not just from themselves, but from others), that’s pretty much what redemption is.
The case of Lyle Prouse is instructive. He was arrested, imprisoned, fired, and delicensed for flying a commercial airliner while drunk. After several years he turned his life around and worked his way back to his flying career, and along the way made it part of his life mission to help others overcome alcohol addiction. IOW, he didn’t just fix himself, he dedicated a good part of his life toward helping to prevent other people from going down the same alcoholic path he did.
If Lauer, Spacey et al. can do something similar - not just acknowledging/regretting their own misdeeds, but working to eradicate that behavior in others - then there’s a chance they could regain their status as respected public figures.
People do come back from these things, but it depends on what was alleged. Marv Albert was back on the air two years after a sexual assault case, for instance.
Of course, attitudes have changed, so it will take longer for people to forget. Still, it’s quite possible that in ten years both Spacey and Franken will be back in the public eye. Lauer and Weinstein won’t – mostly because they were so egregious.
Here in St. Louis, Chuck Berry video taped the women’s bathroom in a restaurant he owned and they erected a statue of him. If any of these guys see any lasting damage to their careers, outside of a few years of reduced income, I’ll be surprised.
I have absolutely no doubt whatsoever some of these men will be right back at it quite soon.
It depends on the severity of the accusations. Louis CK will be back in form within eighteen months; Kevin Spacey will take years to rehabilitate; Harvey Weinstein won’t be welcome in any entertainment job for the rest of his life.
It also depends upon how weil-liked these people were within the industry. I agree with your assessment of Weinstein not only because he has an extensive track record of rape and sexual assault but also he’s been a hated and despised (albeit powerful) figure in Hollywood for years. Even people who he didn’t put his fat paws on are relieved he’s finally going down. As for Spacey, he seemed to be more popular but now that he’s been exposed as a creepy sociopath, I doubt even people who initially liked him would want anything to do with him. Louis CK probably has enough friends within the comedy circuit that he has the best chance at bouncing back but, in my uneducated opinion, he actually seems to have a mental illness that, not so long ago, would’ve resulted in his being locked up in an asylum for a long time.
This makes me remember Ted Kennedy. He died at the top of a mountain.