Brokaw Fallout: #MeToo Morphs From “Believe the Accusers” to “Believe the Famous Women Trashing the Accusers”
What happens when 60+ leftist women drown out the voices of the purported victims of sexual harassment?
The #MeToo movement took shape following the dam-breaking revelations of sexual abuse by former Hollywood heavyweight Harvey Weinstein. Following Weinstein’s very public fall from grace, a number of other prominent figures in Hollywood and in the political world were also targeted and fell on the word of their accusers.
According to the left, accusers not only had the right to be heard, they had the right to be believed in their accusations. The idea was that “all women have a right to be believed,” not just heard. It was on this theory that a variety of accusers managed to bring down everyone from Weinstein to Kevin Spacey, from now-former Senator Al Franken (D-MN) to California Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia (D), and from disgraced talk show hosts Matt Lauer to Charlie Rose.
The rabid embrace and rapid expansion of the #MeToo movement was alarming. Not only did I think it was going too far, but progressive talk-show host Bill Maher labeled the warlock hunt #MeMcCarthyism.
The fervor seems to have died down in recent months; however, two very interesting and conflicting recent events suggest that the #MeToo movement is shifting into a new phase.
The #MeToo crowd is thrilled to its core that former all-American family man and beloved father-figure has been convicted of sexual assault. Meanwhile, Tom Brokaw, accused of “unwanted sexual advances” is being defended by some of the biggest #MeToo agitators.
Bill Cosby’s conviction was met with a sense of victory and joy amongst #MeToo scalp-hunters (I agree with Neo that Cosby is probably guilty of a range of sexual crimes, but the self-righteous glee of these #MeToo warriors makes my skin crawl).
Cosby is guilty. I’m sorry if you loved a lie. His victims can now exhale. Thank you judge and jury. Thank you society for waking up.
— Rose McGowan (@rosemcgowan) April 26, 2018
With Bill Cosby’s guilty verdict I hope these women find some peace and that all those who have not been able to find justice in other instances with other men have hope that they too will be heard. Zero tolerance of sexual harassment. #TimesUp https://t.co/5MHTsbp2Bz
— Susan Sarandon (@SusanSarandon) April 26, 2018
Unbelievably amazing news!!!!! https://t.co/Z6yEcLT9fC
— Mira Sorvino (@MiraSorvino) April 26, 2018
BYE BILL https://t.co/OPTODw0lyO
— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) April 26, 2018
Time’s up, Bill. Time’s BEEN up for you, for years. And now justice. Justice for women I know who you’ve hurt and those I’ve never met. Good riddance. https://t.co/aJ0YaVhwyA
— Amber Tamblyn (@ambertamblyn) April 26, 2018
In a fitting end to Sexual Assault Awareness month, Bill Cosby was found guilty today. Thinking of all the women he traumatized over the past 50 years. As a survivor myself, I know that pain never fully goes away. But I hope that his victims finally feel some semblance of peace.
— Padma Lakshmi (@PadmaLakshmi) April 26, 2018
While the feeding frenzy over Cosby’s #MeToo conviction continues unabated, something very strange is happening with the accusations leveled at NBC titan Tom Brokaw.
Brokaw has been accused by two women of improper sexual contact; Linda Vester and another, as yet unnamed, accuser.
Linda Vester had a reputation for covering tough stories. As a war correspondent for NBC News in the ’90s, she spent three tours of duty in the Middle East and took two assignments in Africa.
But as it turned out, her biggest battle at work wasn’t in the field. She says it was as a victim of sexual harassment by Tom Brokaw, the legendary newsman who manned the anchor desk for “NBC Nightly News” for 22 years and hosted “Today” and “Meet the Press.”
In a series of interviews with Variety conducted over several months, Vester alleged that Brokaw physically tried to force her to kiss him on two separate occasions, groped her in a NBC conference room and showed up at her hotel room uninvited. Two friends who Vester told at the time corroborated her story with Variety, and she shared her journal entries from the time period. Brokaw, who has been married to Meredith Auld since 1962, has never before been publicly accused of sexual harassment.
Brokaw, upon learning of Vester’s allegations, penned a passionate defense of his life’s work and career in which he admits to “personal and private mistakes” but insists that Vester wasn’t one of either.
In response to Vester’s and the anonymous woman’s allegations, Brokaw withdrew from a commencement speech engagement at Sacred Heart University.
NBC News’ Tom Brokaw has withdrawn from a planned commencement speech to university graduates in May following claims by a former television network correspondent that the longtime news anchor made unwanted advances towards her, Sacred Heart University said on Friday.
“This morning Tom Brokaw informed us of his decision to withdraw as our undergraduate commencement speaker,” Sacred Heart President John Petillo said in a statement ahead of the Connecticut university’s May 13 ceremony.
“Given events in the news, Mr. Brokaw did not want to distract from the intended and most important focus of the day – our graduating students and their families,” Petillo added in the statement.
Normally, this would be the prelude to a deluge of “yay, another one down!” twitter feeding frenzies by the #MeToo movers and shakers. Not this time.
Instead, more than 60 women in broadcasting have signed a letter defending Brokaw as someone who has provided them with “opportunities for advancement” and treated them with “fairness and respect.”
As professional women, we fully endorse the conversation around abuse of power in the workplace. In the context of that conversation, we would like to share our perspectives on working with Tom Brokaw.
We are current and former colleagues of Tom’s, who have worked with him over a period spanning four decades. We are producers, correspondents, anchors, directors, executives, researchers, personal assistants, editors and technical staff.
Tom has treated each of us with fairness and respect. He has given each of us opportunities for advancement and championed our successes throughout our careers. As we have advanced across industries — news, publishing, law, business and government — Tom has been a valued source of counsel and support. We know him to be a man of tremendous decency and integrity.
The letter was “signed by Rachel Maddow, Andrea Mitchell, Maria Shriver and Kelly O’Donnell and more than 60 other women have voiced their support for Tom Brokaw in the wake of sexual harassment allegations leveled against the NBC News veteran.”
A bit late to the party was MSNBC’s Morning Joe co-host Mika:
Add me to the list. https://t.co/KpoPznW67m
— Mika Brzezinski (@morningmika) April 28, 2018
Without saying so explicitly, these women are sweeping the allegations of Brokaw’s accusers away, diminishing their experiences and trauma, and effectively silencing them. In trashing these alleged victims, these 60+ women excuse reported inappropriate sexual behavior because the accused helped them in their careers. Isn’t this the root of the problem that fed and continues to feed the sexual exploitation of women in the employ of powerful men?
Watch the report:
The question now is what happens to the #MeToo movement? If we can’t believe Brokaw’s two accusers, whom can we believe? Just those public figures the progressive media and its allies write letters to defend? Is #MeToo dead? Is #MeToo entering a new phase in which the warlock hunt can be mitigated by sufficient testimony by (leftist) colleagues who don’t address the accusations at all? And who don’t explain why they are ignoring the accusers? Isn’t that the problem many of these very women touted as the breeding ground for covering up inappropriate sexual behavior?
Who’s listening to the alleged victims who should, according to the #MeToo rule book, always be not just heard but believed? Not these #MeToo proponents.
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Comments
I do not usually agree with Bill Maher, but at times he says something which I can get behind. Recently, he said he understands and supports #Metoo, but that he has a problem when it turns into #MeCarthyism.
The me too movement was all ginned up BS with one intended target..When they realized that Trump was not going to be run out of the Presidency ,they knew it was tome to give it up .
All will be forgiven and all will be back on their jobs soon
Maher making sense is like leap year – once every four years.
The question now is what happens to the #MeToo movement?
Sounds like it has become the #ButNotHim movement.
It maybe become the #MeRussiaTooBUTneverBillClintonTOO.
There is a reason for this!
Different Rules!
Since the #MeToo movement has consisted essentially of trial by media, the journalists have comprised the judges. Thus when the accused becomes a fellow journalists, the rubber hits the road and we find out what is actually driving the movement.
So what we now learn in terms of the rules of the court is that the pecking order includes the following two relations:
self interest > #MeToo
white liberal journalist > black somewhat unorthodox comedian
Having hired lots of people, including a fair number of women, it was not uncommon for women to use their sexuality to try and land a job, and some were quite explicit. Having worked with a bunch of salesmen, and seeing the constant drama which was part of their lives because of their inability to keep their zippers up, I passed on all those offers for some extracurricular activities.
It is my view that the mating game is always about economics, and that it should be in part about the ability of a mate to carry their share of the load in child rearing.
Some women are looking for a long term commitment, other are more than willing to jump from one bed to another to attain their goals.
I am deep suspicious that many of these claims are bids for attention, money or both.
Beyond that, I am really troubled by media’s ability to build a firestorm which may not be at all justified, everyone should receive due process, followed by punishment if it is deserved. This crap to people being ruined with no tangible evidence is wrong.
It’s all fun and games until the “good” celebrities get caught then the smear campaign begins.
The left were defending Franken but because the movement was truly designed with Trump as the ultimate target, he had to fall on the sword to “show the way”. When that didn’t work, it has changed their movement, now it is seen as a successful bludgeon to use against Republican candidates, but those of the left power positions who are accused, well, they will now stand by their man.
Remember Cosbey had called out the black community and was pushing for a more conservative family structure to improve the ghetto upbringing. It wasn’t long after that than the accusations gained traction. Cosbey had to be shut up. While I am pretty convinced he did the nasty deeds he was accused of doing, the point is the left were fine with it till he went off reservation and leaned right.
It’s why Bubba Clinton never had to answer for his transgressions, and Harvey would have been preserved but for the timing of his being exposed at the time they were trying to pin Trump to resigning for his past actions.
The left never has a problem with deviant sexuality, unless it can be used as a weapon against the right. And their excuse for the double standard is “well the right runs on family values and morality”… in other words, they don’t, so their behavior isn’t something they should be held account for.
They don’t care if they lie, because in their view, it is the accusation which carries weight, and the right is guilty because the left said they were, without proof. It’s why Trump has them deranged, he isn’t folding where Republicans usually cowered before their attacks.
The African-American community is livid that Cosby was convicted and NONE of the white people accused of similar behavior have been. FB poster Queen Chaka asks “Since we are going back in time … when American going on trial for the rape of millions of Black women during slavery….”
That return at 3:19 PM (ET) had 45,440 shares.
Somebody needs to tell her that by the standards applied to Cosby and many others, the Scottsboro Boys deserved it.
So when is Bill Clinton going to get hauled before a court?
Same with hillary clinton.
An unintended consequence for the left:
Now that the deal with males who would otherwise support leftism in exchange a free pass in molesting women, look for those males to vote against them.
Both will be convicted after the post mortem.
Having the “qualifying” ideology exempts someone from almost any offense against majority of population. Must be careful not to offend some of the elite Dem/Prog leadership. This would lead to professional career ending.
I loved The public Bill Cosby like most, and was sickened by the overwhelming evidence that in his private life, he was your average Hollywood preditor.
Especially since, as a good looking, rich, well-liked celebrety I’m sure he could have had all the game he could handle, without resorting to coercion and barbiturates. Not only evil, but stupid evil.
Then to add to the sadness of the whole thing, he wasn’t caught out because of the Weinstein meltdown and #metoo, apparently his proclivities were common knowledge in Babylon On The Left Coast just like Harvey, and, just like Harvey, he was PR damage proof…..
Until he went off the reservation/plantation and gave that infamous speech where he said some of the bad problems AA’s have to deal with result from bad choices and not always from “The Man”.
I really doubt it’s pure coincidence that the accusations only gained traction (and press coverage) post that speech. Which would mean that there are lots of other preditors still out there who are still bullet-proof because they have NOT said non PC things.
I can’t imagine Tom-cattin’ Brokaw doing those things. Of course, Tom-cattin’ Brokaw can’t imagine there being any intellect outside the beltway. Fry him up. 😉
@katasuburi
Don’t be naïve. Cosby was no conservative, he was a deeply racist individual. Old tapes of his from small venue performances and some which were circulated only on tape which have conveniently been ignored by Hollywood are full of hatred against white people. All but one of Cosby’s victims were young white girls and women, that was not an accident.
yikes. That is creepy.
I don’t watch network news and I don’t much care about Brokaw. As Glenn Reynolds says, if the left didn’t have double standards, they would have no standards at all.
Yes the hypocrisy level is, as always, stunning. But I suspect that possibly Brokaw is a decent man and the women whom he helped felt the charges grossly unfair and came to his defense.
Look, I get they have no decency, but if he’s a good man, I don’t want to see him accused just because of the current hysteria. We should not believe each and every accusation just because those on the left “deserve it”.
People have to ask themselves why a hard-bitten, foreign correspondent who spent time in war zones suddenly feels the need to whine about Tom Brokaw ATTEMPTING to kiss her (twice), groping(?) her and coming to her hotel room unannounced on one occasion 20+ years after the fact? She was not raped, physically injured, or even drugged by Brokaw. So, what is the big deal?
I tend to believe this woman, simply because if she were making this all up, she surely would have come up with something a lot worse than this tame crap. How many of you ladies out there gave not had some one attempt to “steal” a kiss, swat your backside or show up at your place of residence? If it happened to you, waste no time. get on the phone and call the local police as well as CNN, immediately, even if it occurred 20+ years ago.
Mac is rignt. Stealing a kiss, maybe getting a little “feel” does in no way rise to the level of a sex crime. For cryin out loud, lets give this guy a break!
Brokaw is a moron. If a woman won’t kiss you the first time, don’t try again.
And unless you have the necessary audio and video, all she has to do is wait a few years until there’s no actual evidence and say you tried again, whether you did or not. Gloria, her daughter, and various DNC donors will make sure it’s worth your time.
See also Roy Moore, Bill Cosby, Donald Trump, etc.
Buck Buck will never be the same. 🙁 On another note, it seems the real victims of this are the women who were not deemed attractive enough to be exploited. All of the #metoo accusers benefited from their encounters, while the less attractive women were not given an opportunity to sell their soul for advancement and opportunity. I would love to see people passed over for prime roles in movies file a class action suit against the loudmouth Hoes. In my perfect world, any woman who files a #metoo complaint must then also give up whatever she gained as a result of the sexual encounter. If you think about it, one party used power to get sex, while the other used sex to get power. So Gwyneth (or whomever it was), decide between bringing down Bob Weinstein, or keeping your Oscar. You can’t have both after the fact. Sex in Hollywood is like steroids in baseball. You can’t use it to your advantage for decades, and then in your waning days come out as a victim.
This entire “Metoo” movement scares the pants off of me. Years ago I was threatened with being terminated from my job for inappropriate behavior and a number of other reasons that caused someone to claim that I was using obscene language and creating a hostile work environment. Many were shocked because I never use profane language. These accusations were all based on a single event.
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Fortunately, there was a security camera with microphone that picked up the entire event. What happened was that I was waiting to use a piece of equipment so I as the person in question “Is that dog gone thing done yet?” She found this obscene and threatening so she made the accusation. I was held innocent.
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While a great many of these accusations that are being made are justified and should be made, what I fear are the ones that are either manufactured of brought forward by those with such sensitivities that they see trivial actions as something terrible.
Until the #MeToo movement comes to grips with the history of excusing Bill Clinton’s behavior, and Hillary’s destruction of any woman who was sexually assaulted by Bill in order to preserve her and Bill’s power base, it’s all a Lefty BS sham.
So expecting consistency from a movement that looks for a molehill while ignoring a mountain is a bit much.
Media circling the wagons for one of their own.
From what I understand, the 60 women who formally or currently work/worked for NBC but weren’t harassed by Tom Brokaw have started a #Hey Tom…what the hell was wrong with us???movement.
Stay tuned!!!!
Brokaw became an obnoxious self-righteous twit.
Nonetheless, at this point his “conviction” appears to belong firmly in the #MeMcCarthyism column.
Are the allegations true? (Sans evidence, who knows)? If true, the behavior was “inappropriate” by today’s standards (but perhaps not by the standards that prevailed decades ago). At a minimum it’s certainly not criminal and (as others have pointed out), it’s not as if mp women ever displayed an interest in trading sex (or at least the possibility of sex) to advance a career.
So, yes, Brokaw chose to become more SJW than journalist, BUT, the evidence to date is thin-to-nonexistent and, even if true, is not only not criminal but may have been considered expected (or at least reasonably accepted) behavior at the time.
It is indeed an instance of #MeMcCarthyism