Which Hollywood high profile #MeToo cases are on trial this month? Weinstein, Spacey, Haggis and Masterson
It’s five years since the first accusations that kicked off the #MeToo movement and many of the subsequent trials have big weeks ahead.
On October 5, 2017, the New York Times published an article titled ‘Harvey Weinstein Paid Off Sexual Harassment Accusers for Decades’. This initiated a wave of support for feminism and greater awareness of workplace sexual harrassment. The subsequent campaign has a number of former members of Hollywood’s elite on trial for their alleged actions over many years.
Exactly five years on there are big trials relating to the #MeToo movement all in the same week. These include the figurehead of everything wrong with the industry, Harvey Weinstein.
Harvey Weinstein
Next Wednesday sees another criminal trial for disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein. He has already been convicted third-degree rape and a first-degree criminal sexual act in 2020. He was given a 23-year sentence while the appeal is heard in that case.
After The New York Times and The New Yorker revealed the allegations against Harvey Weinstein in 2017, the #MeToo movement expanded into a global phenomenon. But its success is inherently hard to measure. https://t.co/mDZOxTPjiv pic.twitter.com/Pjckk3OUpL
— The New York Times (@nytimes) October 4, 2022
The new case involves 11 new felony charges and faces up to 140 years in prison.
Kevin Spacey
Spacey’s trial begins first out of the four on this list, today in New York. He is accused by Anothony Rapp of an assault when Rapp was 14. Rapp is seeking $40 million in damages in a civil trial after first bringing accusations against Spacey in 2017.
Kevin Spacey facing trial on New York sex abuse claim https://t.co/JbFqDpfKdf
— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) October 6, 2022
Spacey is also on trial for criminal charges in the UK but it will take until 2023 until those charges are heard.
Paul Haggis
Haggis was first accused of sexual assault back in 2017 by Haleigh Breest. Court backlogs and the pandemic has meant is has taken nearly six years for justice and in that time another four women have come forward with accusation.
Haggis convinced a judge that he can argue Scientology is behind the sexual assault claims. He left the ‘church’ and argues they are going after him.
Danny Masterson
Masterson was also a Scientologist like Haggis, is facing criminal accusations from three women saying they were assaulted by him in the early 2000s. The Scientologist aspect is important because the four of them met through the church.
He could be jailed for 45 years.