MeToo Movement Has Quieted, No Longer Cancels Stars Like Before | Christian Toto
What does it take to get canceled these days MeToo?
MCU star Jonathan Majors is in court this week on abuse allegations, but he’s still technically the key baddie in the franchise’s next wave of films. Rumors suggest Disney, which owns the MCU, will replace Majors as the villainous Kang in the popular saga.
For now, they’re just rumors.
Sean Diddy, Jamie Foxx and New York City Mayor Eric Adams all got hit with sexual assault allegations over the past few days. And all are still gainfully employed or otherwise seem impervious to the MeToo-style attacks that brought down a bevy of stars in circa 2017.
Harvey Weinstein. Matt Lauer. Charlie Rose. Director Brett Ratner (the “Rush Hour” franchise). Sen Al. Franken.
MeToo Is Ignoring Things These Days
Diddy faced three separate lawsuits alleging he sexually assaulted the women in question. One accuser swiftly settled with the music star. The other two lawsuits continue.
The musician/actor did temporarily step down as chairman of Revolt, a music-fueled TV network he founded a decade ago. Otherwise, he’s suffered no direct attacks on his professional life or brand.
Foxx rebounded from a mysterious ailment earlier this year, but he recently was accused of drunkenly assaulting a woman in 2015 at a Big Apple restaurant.
Mayor Adams, fresh off accusations of inappropriate money handling tied his 2020 campaign, allegedly assaulted the plaintiff in 1993 while they were City of New York employees, the lawsuit claims. The victim seeks $5 million in damages.
There’s more.
Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose allegedly raped a former Penthouse Pet in a New York hotel room in 1989.
The aforementioned men deny the charges in question. So did many of the previously canceled stars. That hardly protected them from the court of public opinion’s verdict, let alone Hollywood, Inc.’s wrath.
Weinstein, currently in jail for his various sexual crimes, continues to maintain his innocence.
Harvey Weinstein uses a walker as he arrives at the Manhattan Criminal Court where he was found guilty of rape and sexual assault. (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP) (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images)
Those recently charged with cruel behavior are free to continue their careers as if nothing happened. No Women’s March event is calling out Diddy, Rose or Foxx. No blistering op-eds demand they pay for their crimes, regardless of guilt or innocence.
MeToo Falls From The Front Pages
It’s as if the MeToo movement which erupted following Weinstein’s precipitous fall from grace in 2017 never happened. Said movement has only itself to blame for its quick, tragic descent.
MeToo sprung up from that Hollywood tragedy, and that inspired a bevy of big starlets to support the budding movement. Alyssa Milano. Natalie Portman, Reese Witherspoon, Meryl Streep and more either threw financial support behind the new Time’s Up organization or joined its advisory board in 2018.
MeToo as a political movement. (Photo Illustration by Miguel Candela/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
The group quickly became political, castigating Republicans like President Donald Trump while looking the other way when Democrats like Joe Biden faced assault allegations.
That toxic turn came to a head when Time’s Up rallied behind New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, accused by 10 women of sexually inappropriate behavior. Time’s Up counseled the Democrat on how to survive the charges.
When news of its actions went public, the organization’s collapse began.
Around the same time, people began realizing accusations are just that. Accusations. The rush to convict every man accused of a sexual crime no matter the evidence in question cooled.
The moral fever broke, helped by the Time’s Up implosion.
The MeToo movement's fall remains a double-edged sword. Men deserve the chance to defend their name in a court of law, not be canceled by an angry cyber-mob. Still, having a robust MeToo community likely kept some men from committing terrible acts.