It’s a good long time since I’ve been round the Franklin Museum on Craven Street, but I’ve a vague memory that the human remains are from the drain of the house next door. To clarify the story, it is documented that there was a private anatomy school in one of the premises and, as someone with a non-specialist interest in the history of anatomy teaching in London, this is utterly one of the key archaeological discoveries on the subject in recent decades. What is brutally clear from the bones is that, yes, the surgeons were being trained to amputate limbs as quickly as possible.
The landlady’s son-in-law was a member [sic] of the anatomy school. Where the remains were found was once a garden but is now a basement. IIRC this was all 1780s-90s.
Jeremy Piven is the latest actor accused (of groping). OK, sexual assault is a terrible thing but I think we should bear in mind that actors’ careers are being destroyed without a scintilla of evidence. An assertion by one single woman is enough to topple a star. FWIW Piven vigorously denies the accusation and it’s quite possible he’s telling the truth. And of course it’s quite possible he isn’t but that’s my point. Who the hell knows? Big media seem to be saying, ‘let’s dump them anyway, they’re toxic’. Dangerous time for male actors and in fact all famous men. The net has put a loaded gun into the hands of everyone and many people are taking aim and using it.
Can you name an actor whose career has been destroyed without a scintilla of evidence? Jeremy Piven isn’t one, by the way; you cannot demonstrate his career has been destroyed. There is actual evidence against Casey Affleck - actually, he’s admitted to it - and they gave him an Oscar and despite all the kerfuffle, his career will probably be just fine in the long run. They’re talking about disinviting him from next year’s Oscars (tradition is the Best Actor awards Best Actress the following year) but if they do that it’ll be considered adequate penance and he’ll never stop acting. He has two movies coming out next year, in fact.
The old “o noes, it’s a witch hunt” argument has been used to dismiss this sort of problem for decades. I’d heard men bitching about how workplace harassment policies were an unavoidable, unfair career-destroying trap since as long as they’ve existed, which goes back to the early 90s, and you know what? The workplace is still full of men, so apparently they survived and it wasn’t some giant entrapment scheme. The made-up panic about how women would flail bogus accusations around and get decent men fired willy-nilly was all nonsense. I’m sure you can find a rare case of it happening, but it’s very rare indeed - certainly orders of magnitude smaller than the number of predators still getting away with it.
Certainly. Kevin Spacey. All we’ve heard are assertions and rumors. He says he doesn’t recall the incident but apologized anyway. That is far from a confession of guilt. He’s probably guilty but that ‘probably’ worries me and it should worry all of us. Would you deny that his career is in the toilet?
If you accused me of trying to seduce a fourteen year old, I would immediately tell you it didn’t happen and you’re wrong. I wouldn’t say things like it was a long time ago and I don’t exactly remember and I must have been drunk.
Couple things to keep in mind with Kevin Spacey: First, this just happened. It’s too early to gauge the fallout.
Second, he and Rapp are both part of a subculture that most Americans find unbelievably sordid anyway, and this was inarguably truer back in the 80s when the events in question occurred.
Third, while the event is being framed as an Abomination unto God, it’s actually garden variety squick in context. 14 isn’t all that young for a sexually active gay teenager. A lawyer pointed this out to Rapp when he was considering pressing charges.
Finally, there’s a legal concept called “statute of limitations.” Virtually every adult has something in his or her past that warrants jail time, and if you’re serious about pursuing it, you really need to do it while the gun is still smoking and the body is still fresh. Spacey will still have a career ten years from now and Rapp probably won’t.
I am amazed that Spacey didn’t say this, even if he knows that it’s true or if he doesn’t remember it. It supposedly happened 30 years ago. Seems to me that denying it would be the expected* response no matter what. It seems like Spacey is trying not to cause further trouble for Rapp.
*Expected from a perspective of staying out of legal trouble and saving your career and reputation.
House of Cards has suspended production due to this charge. Hard to say what will happen yet. It certainly makes some of the storyline more realistic.
Also, he has a very notorious feud with Jon Lovitz. Lots of bad blood between them, for 20 years already.
According to Jon Lovitz, it seems that, in Christmas 1997, Andy Dick gave Brynn Hartman (wife of Phil Hartmann, and a recovering addict) cocaine. This apparently sent her back into a spiral of addiction and self-destruction that culminated in her murdering Phil Hartman and committing suicide later.
Jon Lovitz and Phil Hartman were bosom friends, and Lovitz never forgave Andy Dick for this. Now - all this is according to Jon Lovitz. But many people accept this version of events.
Compliments to you on this post, especially your second point. I’ve been thinking pretty much the same thing since this whole scandal came out, but you said it more eloquently than I could
I would be surprised (and pleasantly so) if Spacey can recover from this. I do give him credit for not denying it outright. I suspect the fact is he honestly doesn’t remember. Why would he? Nothing actually happened other than a drunken and clumsy attempt to seduce the youngster. The problem is that in the present climate TV companies are loath to give actors the benefit of the doubt and act instantly to cut them off, frightened that unless they do the heat will be on them.
Probably. But even moreso if you add in “actors”, “drunk”, “party”, “Broadway”, and “Manhattan”. Not so for Rapp, if what he said is true, but probably for Spacey at age 25.
From my very limited experience of the theatrical world (and that only in local rep), “sordid” covers it pretty well regardless of the sexual orientation of the people involved.