Second #MeToo wave is inevitably sweeping Hollywood: top 5 culprits
The Second #MeToo wave is inexorably sweeping through Hollywood, with some actors facing lawsuits while some are accused on social media. Blacklisted for good, or will they get over it?
When you think of the #MeToo movement, you immediately think of Harvey Weinstein, Bill Cosby, and Kevin Spacey. They became living proof that a few tweets can unite enough women to knock even the biggest names in Hollywood off their pedestal.
Even today, the greats of the earth continue to lose their luster. The charges are not tender: rape, torture, and even cannibalism. In 2021, what are the chances that the faces of the second #MeToo wave will survive those accusations?
1. Marilyn Manson (52)
Currently running on 12 accusers
- Photographer Ashley Walters (30)
- Singer Chloe Black (31)
- Ex-girlfriend Evan Rachel Wood (33)
- Model Love Bailey (39)
- Actress Scarlett Kapella (33)
- Actress Rose McGowan (47)
- Actress Charlyne Yi (35)
- Influencer Sarah McNeilly (37)
- Influencer Ashley Lindsay Morgan (30)
- Influencer Brittany Leigh (30)
- Actor Corey Feldman (49)
- Game Of Thrones actress Esmé Bianco (52)
The alleged crime
Sexual abuse, rape, physical abuse, torture,… You can’t imagine it so horrible if Manson is accused of it. It all started when Evan Rachel Wood, Manson’s ex-girlfriend, opened her book about the shock rocker. “My experience with domestic violence is as follows: toxic abuse mental, physical and sexual, which started quietly but got worse. With death threats, serious manipulation, brainwashing, and waking up next to the man who said he loved me while raping my body, which he thought was unconscious.”
Manson would have bugged her phone and hacked email so she couldn’t ask for help. “If family and friends tried to intervene, I told them to leave and that nothing was wrong because I was afraid of what he would do.”
People who had suspicions and wanted to sound the alarm were threatened by Manson, according to Wood. “He broke me down by starving me, not letting me sleep and threatening my life, sometimes with weapons, causing me to have severe panic attacks and barely breathe or stop shaking,” she said. “When I tried to sleep, he would throw things at me or tell me to do drugs, which left me disoriented and awake, sometimes for days.”
The actress immediately received a lot of support from many other ex-girlfriends who believe that the singer was doing them more harm than good. In most cases, their stories are very similar to that of Evan Rachel Wood: they were beaten, humiliated, and in the worst-case, raped. “A clear pattern”, she says about it herself.
Will Marilyn Manson escapes the allegations?
Probably not. With 12 accusers, Manson is the dubious ‘winner’ of this list. His record label did not hesitate for a second. From the moment Evan Rachel Wood spoke the first bad words about him, they let him fall like a log.
Perhaps because Hollywood has known about its dark sides for a long time, people speculate in the American media. There is even talk of a major cover-up scandal. Tony Ciulla, Manson’s manager for 25 years, has also stopped working with the singer.
2. Armie Hammer (34)
Currently running on 3 accusers and several anonymous
- Ex-girlfriend Paige Lorenze (22)
- Ex-girlfriend Courtney Vucekovich (30)
- Ex-girlfriend Jessica Ciencin Henriquez (35)
- Anonymous testimonials via IG account @houseofeffie
The alleged crime
Instagram account @houseofeffie came out with some disturbing messages allegedly sent by ‘Call Me By Your Name’ actor Armie Hammer. In it, he would have said, among other things, that he was “100% a cannibal” and that he literally wanted to eat the woman in question, with whom he had an affair.
In addition, @houseofeffie also showed messages she received from other women, who say they have experienced the same with Armie. The reports came shortly after Hammer announced that he was divorcing his wife, Elizabeth Chambers (38), after ten years.
Soon after, more and more women came out with spooky stories about the American actor. For example, his ex-girlfriend Paige Lorenze claimed that Armie wanted to “throw her on the BBQ” and that he scratched his initials on her thigh.
Courtney Vucekovich, on the other hand, believed that Hammer asked her “dead serious” if she wanted one of her ribs to be surgically removed so he could eat it. “He is manipulative and dangerous,” she warned. “And he practices techniques for tying up women in his basement. There he has a series of mannequins. Very scary.”
Hammer himself has denied the allegations, but he did get out of his latest film project ‘Shotgun Wedding’. Presumably, he was also fired from starring in a TV series on ‘The Godfather’. “I just can’t justify leaving my kids behind for months at a time,” Hammer said in a statement. However, it seems much more serious than that because his agency, WME – one of the big players in Hollywood – has since dropped him.
Will Armie Hammer escapes the allegations?
Doubtful. Hammer had only been making a name for himself in Hollywood for a few years, and while he already had a fairly large fan base in the States, he is much less known in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the surrounding area. Without an agency, it seems unlikely that he will return to work for the first time.
For now, the women accusing him have not yet filed a complaint, so it doesn’t look like a lawsuit is on the way. Yet one positive point that Armie can pull himself off.
However, denying the whole thing is not a smart move. Getting over such a scandal usually depends primarily on how the person in question handles the accusation. In the current climate, we often see that simply denying or ignoring increases the problem and that a man who is accused of, for example, sexual abuse or transgressive behavior is less likely than before to benefit from the doubt.
3. Shia LaBeouf (34)
Currently running on 2 accusers
- Ex-girlfriend FKA twigs (32)
- Ex-girlfriend Karolyn Pho (23)
The alleged crime
British singer FKA twigs has sued Shia for sexual assault and physical and emotional abuse. That’s how Twigs describes an incident that took place on Valentine’s Day 2019. During a ride in the car, Shia drove very recklessly. He threatened to crash the car if Twigs didn’t tell him she loved him.
According to the singer, she begged to let her out of the car, but when he stopped at a gas station, the actor chased and abused her by throwing her at the car. “He grabbed me until I had bruises”, it sounds. “Sometimes he tried to strangle me. He even gave me an STD on purpose.”
Stylist Karolyn Pho, another of Shia’s ex-girlfriend, also says he assaulted her. That’s how she describes in court documents an evening when he pressed her down on the bed and headbutted her. Both women also state that the actor did not like talking to male waiters or even looking at them, which taught them to keep their eyes on the ground.
According to Shia’s attorney, Shawn Holley, the actor acknowledges that he has a problem and will soon be entering therapy: “We are actively seeking an intensive long-term relief program.” According to him, the violent behavior was partly caused by excessive alcohol consumption.
Will Shia LaBeouf escapes the allegations?
LaBeouf’s situation looks particularly dubious. The lawsuit has yet to begin, but streaming service Netflix has already decided to remove his name from the ‘For Your Consideration’ page. This is a page on which the streaming service makes suggestions for films, actors, and actresses who are eligible for a statuette during the upcoming award season.
The chosen ones also appear in special advertisements in trade magazines and on TV, with which the film studios try to influence the votes. But LaBeouf will, therefore, not be able to make use of that intensive campaign.
The man also realizes that there are no more opportunities for him in the film world in the near future. “I have been abusing myself and everyone around me for years,” he said in a statement. “I have a history of hurting people closest to me. I’m ashamed of that history, and I’m sorry I hurt people. I can’t say anything else.” According to insiders, he has since been admitted to a drug addiction clinic.
4. Johnny Depp (57)
Currently running on 1 accuser
- Ex-wife Amber Heard (34)
The alleged crime
Domestic violence, both physical and mental. Johnny’s ex-wife Amber Heard accuses him of hitting and injuring her multiple times. The British newspaper The Sun called him a ‘woman swatter’ in one of their headlines.
Hoping to restore his reputation, Depp went to court, where it turned into a thorny game of mud tossing between him and his ex. Especially the moment when he confessed that he did headbutt Amber during an argument, killed him.
He lost the lawsuit against The Sun and can therefore officially be called a woman’s swatter, which is of course, detrimental to his career.
Will Johnny Depp escapes the allegations?
Not in the short term: Depp was fired by Warner Bros. and is banned from appearing in the ‘Fantastic Beasts’ films from the ‘Harry Potter’ franchise, in which he played the villain Grindelwald. Disney also prefers not to work with him anymore, which means that he will probably never be allowed to play his most iconic role – Captain Jack Sparrow.
However, experts see it much rosier in the long run, as long as Depp adjusts its target audience. Actors survive scandals widely reported in the media more often than not. Persona non grata? If you can generate millions in turnover, you will get back to work. You have to look at the context.
‘Harry Potter’ and ‘Fantastic Beasts’ have a well-organized fan culture of very vocal and diverse boys and girls who are deeply engaged by those stories’ moral values : justice, good beats evil. The producers are under pressure because, of course, they want to keep those fans friends.
But Mel Gibson, for example, is on the record as misogynistic and anti-Semitic. He’s still making movie after movie. But he never showed up in family-friendly Disney and Marvel movies anyway. Depp has to translate his image into roles with a sharp edge in, for example, tough action films with a lot of violence, because, of course, they want to keep those fans friends.
5. Adam Driver (37)
Currently running on 1 accuser
- Portuguese actress Lídia Franco (76)
The alleged crime
According to the Portuguese actress, the ‘Star Wars’ actor has seriously misbehaved during the filming of ‘The Man Who Killed Don Quixote’, a 2018 film. The facts would have taken place behind the scenes. “He’s a bad person,” Lídia hisses at the thought of Driver. “He attacked me with a chair!”
According to her, after the attack of the production, she was given permission to (temporarily) stop recording, but legally she was left to her own devices. “I was then told that they hated what he did, but there was nothing they could do. Their hands were contractually bound, they came up to me and said, ‘Lidia, it’s terrible what he’s doing to you, but there’s nothing we can do legally. But you are free to leave the set if you wish. ‘To which I said I would not leave the movie at all. I kept going with him.”
According to Lídia, Driver was so difficult to work with that he also didn’t want crew members to be present during rehearsals. “He demanded, in my contract, that no one should be allowed to look at him. If crew members did watch, they were immediately fired. And that has actually happened.”
Will Adam Driver escapes the allegations?
Yes, as long as the situation does not change. For now, only one actress has accused Adam of violent behavior, and no other witnesses have yet come forward. The allegations were also not of a sexual nature, something that is very important to public opinion.
In addition, Driver was able to enjoy a global scrunchie so far reputation: he is known as one of the friendliest actors in Hollywood, who has spoken out several times about the importance of women’s rights in the sector: “There is a double standard for men and women in the film world. We have to get that out.”
In short, the “evidence” for his innocence is piling up even higher than that for his violent outbreak. More will be needed to turn the tide.
