As Trevor Noah pointed out on The Daily Show, no one is happy that Harvey Weinstein has been a sexual predator for decades, regardless of how glad we are that he’s finally facing consequences, and the news has resulted in momentum behind fixing this society-wide problem. No one is happy except for the pundits of Fox News, that is, as they gleefully seize upon the story to demonstrate liberals’ problems with covering up sexual abuse, regardless of their own network’s history of the same thing.
Worse still, as Noah pointed out, they still seem to be defending ex-host Bill O’Reilly, who’s paid millions of dollars to settle sexual harassment suits, only to be rewarded with an extension of his working relationship with Fox News. He’s said he’s “mad at god” for not protecting him from the repercussions of his own actions. O’Reilly even reappeared as a guest on Sean Hannity’s show on the Fox after departing his own, before the most recent news about his past broke. As Noah mentions at the end of the segment, this doesn’t have to be a partisan issue.
We can all condemn sexual harassment and assault no matter the politics or industry of the perpetrator, and while too many are still willing to come to O’Reilly’s defense—including these same Fox News pundits—the movie industry, despite taking way too long to do it, has finally largely turned its back on Weinstein.
But hey, it’s only been a few weeks, so there’s still plenty of time for Hollywood to even the score by disappointing us all and welcoming Weinstein back, just like Fox News and O’Reilly after a few months. He’s already come through a one-week outpatient program to adjust his behavior, with his psychologist saying he “took it seriously.” That hardly seems like enough when, contrary to what 2017 may have you believe, one week is not actually several arduous months long, and he’s already trying to smooth things over by extending his treatment for another month after that news broke.
(via TVLine, image: screengrab)
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