Harvey Weinstein story the latest entry in Hollywood boys-own franchise

Artwork: Eric Lobbecke.

The Harvey Weinstein scandal has exposed Hollywood’s PC moralising as an exercise in projection. The entertainment industry featured large in campaigns against Donald Trump’s sexism. All the while, its elite turned a blind eye to comrades who par­aded feminist credentials in public while preying on women and girls in private. Perhaps Weinstein got away with it for so long because he is a member of the PC elite — and the politically correct protect their own.

At the time of writing, the number of women accusing Weinstein of sexual harassment or assault has risen to more than 30. The claims read like a well-worn script of a movie mogul who showers young actors with promises of fame and fortune before ruining their virtue. Allegedly Weinstein’s exploits were well known. But there is a deep-seated cultural ­belief among lovers of Greek myth and Freud’s meandering thought that male ­genius is a libidinal ­condition. For a time Weinstein’s brilliance was enough to outshine the rumours about him.

More than one of Hollywood’s reputed male genii have been ­embroiled in sexual controversy. In the early 1990s Woody Allen’s long-term relationship with Mia Farrow broke down. She discovered his sexual relations with her adopted daughter, Soon-Yi Previn. After the story broke, industry ­insiders believed Allen’s reputation was damaged beyond ­repair. But Harvey Weinstein’s company Miramax offered him a deal. In a 1994 LA Times article, Weinstein dismissed widespread concerns about Allen’s affair with Previn, saying: “Shunned by Hollywood means nothing to Miramax. We’re talking about a comic genius.” In 2014 Allen was honoured with a lifetime achievement award at the Golden Globes.

Harvey Weinstein also came to the aid of Roman Polanski in a 2009 column for The Independent. The rider read: “It’s a shocking way to treat a man who went through the Holocaust”. Weinstein called on filmmakers to protest Polanski’s extradition to the US because he might face prison. He argued: “Whatever you think of the so-called crime, Polanski has served his time.” The “so-called” crime was statutory rape.

The entertainment industry does have an issue with sexism and its leading ladies are part of the problem. In 2015 the music ­industry released BB Talk, a video hit co-directed by Miley Cyrus and Diane Martel. The utterly ­repulsive video features Cyrus dressed in a nappy, rolling around and sucking a baby bottle. She sings: “F..k me so you stop baby talkin’.” Without any sense of irony, Cyrus emerged the following year as a feminist icon berating Trump for sexism.

As I have written previously, Trump was rightly criticised for his derogatory comments about women and people with a dis­ability. At the Golden Globes Meryl Streep rebuked Trump for his vile mockery of The New York Times reporter Serge Kovaleski’s disability: “Someone he outranked in privilege, power and the capacity to fight back. It kind of broke my heart when I saw it”. ­Beware those who pontificate from the Hollywood cesspit. It kind of broke my heart when I saw old footage of Streep, one of my favourite actors, giving convicted rapist Polanski a standing ovation at the Academy Awards.

Whoopi Goldberg, who Ms magazine once praised as a fem­inist, went further by casting doubt on the conviction. As co-host of The View, Goldberg said of the ­Polanski case: “I know it wasn’t rape-rape. It was something else but I don’t believe it was rape-rape.”

America’s ABC obtained testimony from the trial. At the time of the rape Polanski was 43 years old. His victim was 13-year-old Samantha Geimer, who testified that he plied her with drugs before raping her orally, vaginally and anally. How anyone could defend him is beyond comprehension.

The political right is not ­immune to sex scandals but has learned to respond decisively to them. Alt-right figure Milo Yiannopoulos courted controversy this year during an interview in which he suggested that some minors might be capable of consent and joked about learning sexual technique from a priest.

After a co-host raised the problem of pedophilia, Yiannopoulos said: “You’re misunderstanding what pedophilia means. Pedophilia is not a sexual attraction to somebody 13 years old who is ­sexually mature. pedophilia is ­attraction to children who have not reached puberty.”

The conservative response to the comments was swift. The Conservative Political Action Con­ference cancelled Yiannopoulos’s invitation to a speaking event. He ­resigned from news site Breitbart. In a Facebook post, he defended himself: “I did say that there are relationships between younger men and older men that can help a young gay man … But I was not talking about anything ­illegal and I was not referring to prepubescent boys.” In some quarters, it was perceived as a rationalisation of pederasty. In a subsequent post, he wrote: “I do not believe sex with 13-year-olds is okay”.

Conservatives held Yiannopoulos to account for his apparent rationalisation of pederasty. By contrast, America’s PC elite has celebrated men known for sexual predation. Yet some celebrity women have rejected partisan politics for a more ethical position. At last year’s Cannes Film Festival, Susan Sarandon held firm to her unpopular criticism of Allen, saying: “I think he sexually assaulted a child and I don’t think that’s right.” Sports Illustrated model Emily Ratajkowski ­rebuked The New York Times reporter Jacob Bernstein after he called Melania Trump “a hooker”.

So many of Weinstein’s former besties are rushing to disavow him that it sounds like a chorus of “out, damn spot”. Many are washing their hands of guilt by claiming ­ignorance about the years of ­alleged abuse. Yet more reports are emerging that indicate his ­alleged propensity for sexual predation was well known in Hollywood — and beyond. If true, the scandal will spread to Washington. Weinstein is a generous funder of Democrat cam­paigns and popular left causes. He was close to both the Clintons and the ­Obamas.

Hollywood once possessed that most magical quality of the power to enchant.

It was a glittering dream, a technicolour siren luring us from the mundanity of daily life to some enchanted ­moment. But tinsel town turned into trash town. Perhaps now we know why; art imitates life.