On Sunday, the #MeToo movement received a shock when a report dropped that claimed Asia Argento, one its prominent members, allegedly sexually abused a 17-year-old male and paid him off.
Argento not only denies the assault, but she has thrown her former boyfriend Anthony Bourdain under the bus and insists he paid off the accuser. Yeah, the same Bourdain that took his own life this year and is not here to defend himself.
The New York Times reported on Sunday that after Argento accused Harvey Weinstein of raping her, she paid off her accuser:
But in the months that followed her revelations about Mr. Weinstein last October, Ms. Argento quietly arranged to pay $380,000 to her own accuser: Jimmy Bennett, a young actor and rock musician who said she had sexually assaulted him in a California hotel room years earlier, when he was only two months past his 17th birthday. She was 37. The age of consent in California is 18.That claim and the subsequent arrangement for payments are laid out in documents between lawyers for Ms. Argento and Mr. Bennett, a former child actor who once played her son in a movie.The documents, which were sent to The New York Times through encrypted email by an unidentified party, include a selfie dated May 9, 2013, of the two lying in bed. As part of the agreement, Mr. Bennett, who is now 22, gave the photograph and its copyright to Ms. Argento, now 42. Three people familiar with the case said the documents were authentic.
It’s sickening that Argento sticks this on her dead boyfriend, the man who until his dying breath defended her and became a loud male voice to female victims of Hollywood predators.
Could she be telling the truth? Yes. I can see why rich people would pay off someone, even if it’s a lie, because it makes them go away.
But if Argento’s lying and she did sexually abuse Bennett, this could have a powerful effect on the whole #MeToo movement because a lot of attention has been placed on female victims. Now we have an opportunity to bring attention to the pedophilia that runs rampant in Hollywood and male victims as well.
My friend Kira Davis asked at RedState why we in America have ignored pedophilia for so long. She wrote:
Why? Why does it seem like so many people are so willing to ignore pedophilia, which is easily the most grotesque violation of another human being that can be imagined? Why is it so easy to find information on Hollywood’s “open secret” of child abuse and yet so difficult to expose the evil? Why are we so keen to give voice to the women of #MeToo (to the point where we are qualifying bad dates as sexual harassment) but not completely outraged that none of those “do-gooders” in Tinsel Town have dared to step forward and speak up for the children who have been used and abused?—I have been thinking about this ever since I researched and wrote an article about alleged abuse issues at Nickelodeon. Why has this “open secret” been allowed to collect more victims for decades and decades? Why aren’t we collectively screaming bloody murder over this? Alyssa Milano will organize a protest against the NRA in a heartbeat but is silent on the abuses happening in her own industry – abuses she, as a former child actor, is most certainly aware of and may have even experienced herself.
It’s time to lift the veil and expose the pedophilia that exists in Hollywood. Former child star Corey Feldman has tried many times to bring attention to the issue, but has only met resistance.
I’ve often said I won’t be happy until famous director Bryan Singer faces justice and shunned from Hollywood. That man has numerous allegations against him, even hosting parties where older men can prey on younger boys.
[Featured image via YouTube]
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