In case you forgot, because Casey Affleck would like you to forget, in 2010 the lesser Affleck was sued by two women working on the set of his movie I’m Still Here. (An ironic title because I really wish he wasn’t here, there, or anywhere anymore.) The cases were settled out of court, and Affleck was rewarded with an Academy Award for Best Actor in 2017. (Shout out to Brie Larson who was forced to give him his award but refused to smile or clap for him when he won it.)
Here’s the obligatory reminder that cancel culture isn’t real and terrible men get rewarded as long as they stay out of the spotlight long enough. It happened for Louis C.K. who won a Grammy post-sexual harassment allegations and admissions and sold out Madison Square Garden. Mel Gibson is starring in the John Wick TV-spin off and has been working steadily since his sexist and antisemitic outbursts almost 20 years ago. Hell, Bryan Singer is doing his best to get his foot back in the door by financing documentaries about himself!
Now, I know what a certain type of person is thinking right now, and let’s just address it head-on: everyone has a right to shelter, food, and clothing. Not everyone has a right to a lucrative career in entertainment that gives them a platform, pays them handsomely, relies on us paying money to see their faces, and allows them to be in positions of power over people. Especially when they’ve shown time and time again that they will abuse that power. So miss me with that argument. No one is calling for any of these creeps to do anything but go away and live their lives out of the public eye, but apparently that’s too much to ask.
So let’s get back to Casey Affleck shall we? He’s in the second-best-performing movie of last weekend, Oppenheimer, despite doing nothing to earn such a comeback. Affleck has never done anything but issue non-apologies and try to run the clock out on the allegations against him, thinking there is a magical time when people would forget what he was accused of doing and let him back in the inner circle.
To be more specific, he was relying on the male Hollywood execs who cast, fund, direct, produce, and generally control most movies and I guess he’s done a pretty good job predicting behavior, there. However, the internet is forever. Here’s a summation of what he allegedly put his female colleagues through at their place of work. Per The Daily Beast:
The women, cinematographer Magdalena Gorka and producer Amanda White, sued Affleck for $2.25 million and $2 million, respectively. Gorka claimed in her suit that the treatment she endured while working under Affleck was “by far the most traumatizing of her career.” Almost “immediately” after joining the project in 2008, Gorka claimed in court papers that “Affleck and other members of the production team made lewd comments, they discussed in engaging in sexual activity with [Gorka] and they suggested that she have sex with the camera assistant.”
Wow, sounds like definitely someone you want on your payroll and insurance. That once-in-a-generation talent, Casey Affleck. Definitely worth the trauma. Definitely.
It only got worse from there, too. Per the above source:
One of the final straws for Gorka, she claimed, occurred in mid-December of 2008 after the crew traveled to New York for the film and were put up in [Joaquin] Phoenix and Affleck’s apartment. Gorka was given Phoenix’s private bedroom to rest, but claims she awoke in the middle of the night to Affleck “curled up next to her in the bed wearing only his underwear and a T-shirt,” her suit stated. “He had his arm around her, was caressing her back, his face within inches of hers and his breath reeked of alcohol.” When Gorka demanded that he get out of the bed, Affleck allegedly asked why, and if she “was sure,” angrily slamming the door on his way out when she rebuffed his advances.
The details don’t just stop there. Here’s what he did to the other defendant, Amanda White. Per The Daily Beast:
Just days before Gorka filed suit, White filed her own complaint, going into greater detail about the comments and conduct that Affleck and the crew allegedly inflicted upon the women. She claimed that Affleck once “grabbed in a hostile manner in an effort to intimidate her into complying” after she refused to stay a night in a hotel room with the married actor.
So just so we’re clear, touching someone without their consent is assault. What Affleck allegedly did is assault. The lawsuits were settled out of court and Affleck never had to answer for the allegations. Per The Daily Beast:
It’s really only his side that the public gets to hear, too. It’s impossible to truly know if either Magdalena Gorka or Amanda White agree with Affleck’s previous characterization of everyone just wanting “to move on” out of respect for their privacy, as neither has ever spoken out about their experiences since signing confidentiality agreements back in 2010.
Siri, can you look up NDAs for me?
Yet here Affleck is in 2023 working on a prestige movie, spending the week trending on Twitter as people gush over his performance, and we’re just supposed to accept that as fine and dandy? Absolutely not. Again, this is Casey Affleck we’re talking about. Dude was in Drowning Mona. I guarantee you Christopher Nolan could have gotten someone just as good if not better to fill Affleck’s role, and even if he couldn’t, who cares! Talent does not excuse abuse. This man has never taken accountability for his actions, and just wants to be let back into the Hollywood circle because he just does, OK?! He even said he supported the #MeToo movement, so he’s a totally good guy! (Sarcasm!) Per some of The Mary Sue’s prior coverage on the matter:
Casey Affleck, Oscar winner and alleged sexual harasser, has weighed in on the #MeToo movement in a recent podcast interview with Dax Shepard (reported via IndieWire) saying he’s been overly nervous to talk about the movement due to the allegations against him, but voicing his support. “Who would not be supportive of the #MeToo movement? That’s an idea that’s even out there? That there are some people saying we do not believe in equality and we think the workplace should be a dangerous place for certain people and not for others. That’s preposterous,” Affleck said, before going on to say that the values of the #MeToo were at the “heart of my own being” because of the way his mother raised him.
You should be nervous to talk about #MeToo, you goon! The movement is about what you were accused of!
It’s not just Oppenheimer, either. He’s got a new movie on the way with Zooey Deschanel called Dreamin’ Wild. I looked up the credits. Will it shock you to learn a man is directing that movie? (I’m sure it does not.)
Everyone has the right to a safe working environment free from harassment and assault. No one has the right to be cast in a movie simply because they felt they stayed away long enough and they’re hoping you forgot what they were accused of doing. Boo to Casey Affleck, and boo to any movie that has him in it.
(Featured image: Edward Berthelot/GC Images)
