UPDATE: Yeatman’s wife also reportedly sent this nasty email to the husband of Victim B:
2. The wife of Netflix exec ref in my story above, who is a Disney executive, sent an email to the husband of Masterson’s accuser..from her Disney corporate account! Keep in mind she’s attacking a woman who has told authorities she was violently raped. https://t.co/MgIhQfYl0Y pic.twitter.com/ciAhEuCDep
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) December 4, 2017
Netflix was quick to place Kevin Spacey on leave after the allegations of his sexual misconduct came out, but they’re still standing by Danny Masterson, who’s been accused of raping four women. And unlike Spacey, Masterson is currently under criminal investigation, as the Los Angeles Police Department reopened his case in January and has sent it to the District Attorney’s office.
However, it would appear that Netflix executives simply “don’t believe” Masterson’s accusers—and even more despicably, they’re not ashamed to say so aloud. One of Masterson’s alleged victims, Victim B, recently approached a Netflix executive named Andy Yeatman, who serves as the director of global children’s content, on the sidelines of a youth soccer game.
According to both Victim B and a second witness, when she asked Yeatman why they hadn’t cut ties with Masterson, he said that Netflix “takes sexual misconduct allegations seriously” but “we don’t believe them.”
Victim B then told him, “I’m one of them.” The conversation ended quickly, and when he approached her again about an hour later, she started to cry and said, “I hope no one ever says that to your daughter.”
A spokesman for Yeatman confirmed that this conversation occurred, but said that he didn’t speak for the company, and that as an executive in charge of children’s programming, he has “no insight” into any decisions made about Masterson and The Ranch.
“While he was coaching a youth soccer match today, Mr. Yeatman—a Netflix kids’ programming executive ― was approached by a stranger who did not identify herself or explain her connection to Danny Masterson,” read the statement. “Mr. Yeatman’s comments were careless, uninformed and do not represent the views of the company. Further, he would have no insights into decision making on The Ranch. We are aware of the allegations against Danny Masterson and we are following the current investigation, and will respond if developments occur.”
This statement suggests that Yeatman’s statement would have been a-okay, if only he hadn’t been speaking to the victim—which speaks volumes about how Netflix really views these women, and why it won’t take action on The Ranch.
Three of the four women whom Masterson allegedly raped were, like Masterson himself, members of the church of Scientology at the time of their assaults. The Church of Scientology has strict rules against reporting another member of the church to the police; anyone who does so is shunned as a “suppressive” person. Even knowing all this, Victim B still filed a police report in 2004, naming Masterson as her rapist. At the time, dozens of Scientologists signed sworn affidavits declaring that she was lying.
As more women came forward, the LAPD decided to reopen the case back in January. This means that Netflix most likely already knew about the accusations when they decided to renew The Ranch in July of 2017. Because who cares about sexual assault when you’ve got a 58% on Rotten Tomatoes?
I would urge you all not to watch The Ranch, but I’m pretty sure that won’t be a problem. For the rest of us, there is now an online petition with over 37,000 signatures asking Netflix to cancel his show.
(Via Huffington Post and Jezebel; image via Shutterstock)
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