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[shadowkat]

Well now, I feel validated for not being a fan of Michael Weatherly ("Bull" and "NCIS") -- CBS Paid Eliza Dushku 9.5 million after alleged sexual harassment termination.

And here's the link to the Times article referenced by NPR - Weatherly and Dushku Sexual Harassment

How much you want to bet that Bull gets cancelled at the end of this year? And NCIS may well be on its last legs?

Details of Ms. Dushku’s experiences on “Bull” and the confidential settlement she reached with the company emerged during the course of an investigation that began in August, when the CBS Corporation board hired the law firms Covington & Burling and Debevoise & Plimpton to examine accusations of sexual misconduct made by multiple women against Leslie Moonves, the company’s former chief executive. The board also instructed the outside lawyers to investigate “cultural issues at all levels of CBS.”

In a draft of the investigation report, which was reviewed by The New York Times, the lawyers said the company’s handling of Ms. Dushku’s complaints was not only misguided, but emblematic of larger problems at CBS. When faced with instances of wrongdoing, the company had a tendency to protect itself, at the expense of victims, the investigators wrote.

(..........)

The investigation’s findings show how Ms. Dushku sought to address conduct she found demeaning, why she believed she faced retaliation and how a top CBS lawyer tried to undermine her claims with what investigators described as an “antiquated” view of how a woman should comport herself in the workplace.

On “Bull,” Ms. Dushku played J.P. Nunnelly, a criminal defense lawyer. Although she would have a running flirtation with Mr. Weatherly’s character, Mr. Caron, the producer, said that he “wouldn’t want intimacy” until the show’s fifth season, according to notes taken by a participant in an interview Ms. Dushku gave investigators in September.

But it wasn’t long before Mr. Weatherly started making comments that left her feeling uncomfortable. “Here comes legs,” he said on a day when Ms. Dushku was wearing a suit, according to the interview notes. On another occasion, Ms. Dushku told investigators, he said in front of the cast and crew that he would bend her over his leg and spank her.

In an interview, Mr. Weatherly said the remark about spanking was meant as a joke. “I ad-libbed a joke, a classic Cary Grant line from ‘Charade’ or ‘Philadelphia Story,’ and that meant not at all that that was an action I wanted to take,” he said.

Ms. Dushku also described to investigators a time on the set when, in character, she made a gesture with three fingers. In response, she said, Mr. Weatherly suggested — to laughs from the crew — that she wanted to have a threesome with him and another male cast member.

I have to say I've seen this behavior throughout my working life. And it runs a lot deeper than CBS. This is the toxic male culture that we currently live in. Every television show, every business, every workplace, every school...most likely has seen similar behavior or instances of it. We turn a blind eye...and say, well it's a harmless joke or boys will be boys, or he's just flirting, it's nothing -- toughen up.

But it isn't nothing. And no one should be made to feel unsafe in their work environment. Also crass jokes are best left at home.

Comments

[shadowkat]

It made me feel horrible for James too when I heard that he was telling the story under the belief that it was his girlfriend who requested lots of takes, and then a fan seems to think it was cute when they told him what John Barrowman had said about it all being down to JB getting off on it, and apparently James looked uncomfortable in response and didn’t seem to know what to make of that. People on my flist seem to find it adorable, but honestly I couldn’t even watch that clip of JB making fun of James not wanting to have multiple kissing takes without very much wanting to punch him

Well that explains why he now responds to that question in a much more truthful manner.

When a fan asked who he found to be the better kisser, SMG or JB?

He responded -- "Do you want the answer that you really want or the truth?"

Of course everyone says the truth.

And he responds, "I don't know." And then explains how uncomfortable it is filming a kissing scene on camera and all the takes. He also underlines how it is a glamour and what we see isn't real. He no longer tells the story the way he used to -- about his girl-friend pushing for another take, or how it was better with JB. Or the razor burn. Instead -- he says, it's not sexy, it's work and it's frigging hard to pull off.

Smart. Because that response alone pretty much pulls the rug out of JB's and makes JB's response look like a performance.

when you think how differently it would come across to people if it was a male lead actor talking about deliberately messing up takes so that he could spend more time kissing a female guest star that he found attractive.

It's an abuse of power and the situation that you are currently in. A lot of gay male actors -- see themselves as the "disenfranchised" minority, and boy, I want to get into the heterosexual male actor's face and make him confront his homophobia. (I totally get that, but James Marsters is no more homophobic than Anthony Rapp or anyone, who just isn't that into kissing a guy he's not attracted to.)

And here's the thing a lot of people don't get -- Marsters didn't enjoy kissing Gellar. I remember him on the Sharon Osborn show, and all these pictures of him and Gellar kissing -- and he turned them over, muttering, let's not look at these. He also said -- he had to figure out a way to want to kiss her -- because he thought of her as an annoying kid sister. Barrowman -- he thought was a good guy, but he wasn't attracted to him and kissing someone is frigging hard on television and uncomfortable.

The man's an actor. He doesn't care if it is a man or woman -- when he's doing it on television, he's not really kissing the person, he's performing for the camera, and the crew, and everyone on set -- and doing lots of takes.

Can you imagine kissing some guy that you aren't attracted to, possibly has bad breath, and has made you uncomfortable on set -- but is the lead of the show? Ugh. Not to mention the fact that Barrowman is 6 feet three, and Marsters is 5'7 if that, and wants to do more episodes.

Barrowman's Q&A in that light is...a clear abuse of power.

[shadowkat]

I was just thinking about this...and...Barrowman at least wasn't sleeping with various actresses on set or coming on to them. It was just a gay friend vibe.
What David Boreanze was doing was in some ways worse...because he was sleeping with the actresses (and married at the time). He also did it to get a rise out of the actresses who were much smaller than he was.