Susan Sarandon says a lot of Harvey Weinstein’s enablers are still in Hollywood
After Mira Sorvino reflected on being blacklisted by Harvey Weinstein, Susan Sarandon says "cleanup" still needs to happen
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In 2024, the results of the #MeToo movement are a mixed bag. There were positive changes, particularly in that a decades-long culture of silence was disrupted. But in the years since, Time’s Up has fallen apart and what true accountability looks like is still often a subject of debate. No wonder, then, that Susan Sarandon—one of Hollywood’s most outspoken activists—thinks the entertainment industry still has more work to do.
Sarandon’s comments at ’90s Con came after Mira Sorvino reflected on coming forward about being harassed by Harvey Weinstein (via People). “For a time, I had a lot of wonderful offers and then, my career was stifled by Harvey Weinstein. So, I stopped doing [major] studio movies after 1998,” Sorvino said, a year when she “rejected him the third time.” She added, “I stopped being a viable movie actress. I still did indies and I still did television, but that was very hard.”
“I don’t think we’ve done the cleanup afterwards that we should be doing,” Sarandon said in response. “I don’t think people talk enough about the people who facilitated the Harvey Weinsteins of the world that are still functioning that are equally responsible.” Sarandon observed that there are still industry power players who “knew when they were sending people to a hotel, who didn’t pay attention when someone complained.”
“Sexualization is like a mainstay of this business. So it’s very confusing to be, you know, a young girl and know that they’re checking on your viability, according to how sexy you are. You know that right? You do know that there’s something going on,” the Thelma & Louise star said. “They call it a chemistry thing or whatever they want to call it. But that is part of what you’re bringing to the table. Whether you like that or not, that exists. There was this big flourish of this whole thing and then Harvey Weinstein, thank God was punished against all odds. But I don’t think we’ve done the cleanup afterwards that we should be doing.”
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I just want to share, because I think sometimes it’s easy to feel despair when dealing with these huge entrenched problems: In my experience the impact of ‘Me Too’ has been absolutely seismic. I work as a prosecutor in an office with about 25 lawyers. 10 years ago 1 guy handled about 90% of our sexual assault cases. Today every single lawyer in the office is handling multiple sexual assault cases at any given moment. It’s gone from a niche area to essentially the main aspect of day to day work at my office. Which is… dark obviously, but also massively encouraging, as these crimes were happening before, they just went unreported.
thanks for sharing, this does offer a glimmer that victims are finally being listened to.
I wish I knew where you live, though I wouldn’t want you to dox yourself. This kind of thing is abysmal where I live. Simple domestic abuse is not taken seriously and I don’t mind adding that law enforcement here probably do more to facilitate harm to women than anyone. I decided to finally break my silence after a very long time ; the assault happened when I was 15 and now I’m dealing with threats to my life from people who are related to me. The world has become extremely unsafe for women. Well, of course, life has always been pretty awful for women in undeveloped countries. I’m not even sure if seeing famous (or nearly famous) women (and men) getting justice even does the rest of us any good. Famous folks get recognition, empathy, justice sometimes. And we regular folks think that we’ll get that too. It doesn’t work that way.
I’m so sorry that happened to you. Even where I live we have a long way to go. The process of getting justice is an incredibly difficult road for most victims, and I’m certainly not going to pretend that everyone comes out of the process satisfied with the result.What you’ve done in speaking out is really important. Women coming forward is what forced people like me (and the police, and judges) to change how we do things. Once the reports became a flood we were forced to embrace things like trauma informed practice, and identifying and rejecting myths and stereotypes around these assaults. I hope you get justice, but even if you don’t, the fact that you spoke out really does matter.
Thank you. That’s what I should have written first. The work that you do is of the highest order of good and deserves all of the recognition. I can only imagine how difficult it is, bless you.
Well I didn’t anticipate tearing up when I signed into the AV Club today but here we are. Thanks for your kind words. Here’s hoping things keep getting better.
I’m grateful you shared your experience with us here. And the tearing up?Me too 🙂
I don’t think we’ve done the cleanup afterwards that we should be doing.I always assumed they just threw the potted plant out right after he left.
Fuck off, Stein supporter
Yeah! She’s just as bad as Weinstein!
Her support of Stein had more impact on more women. She’s worse
I find it hard to believe Stein or Sarandon had that much impact on the election.
You are, as ever, a parody of a person.
It’s interesting, because I think the failures have been more on the high-profile organizational side – failures of organizations like Times Up. But I think it’s profoundly shifted the industry, even if it hasn’t unmasked every PoS in it (and there are a lot!). The people at the top will sadly always be more protected, but it does feel like it’s helped foster safer environments in general. You can also see that in crime statistics tbh. Despite fear-mongering, most violent crime has either been stagnant or down, except for one: reported forcible rape, which rose substantially around #MeToo and has stayed at that level. It’s highly doubtful that’s because there are more rapes, and much more likely it’s because of increased reporting due to women feeling safer reporting.
As I shared in my own comment, that isn’t what I’m seeing. I think I even see an added boldness, in my city. Men defiantly see what they can get away with and they do get away with it. For maybe five years we had a group of women activists who gave themselves a proper title. They were vocal and visible and then last year they suddenly announced that they would no longer be spearheading projects but, rather, supporting some that already existed. ‘Handmaidens’, if you will. These women all came from ‘nice homes’ and most of them had spouses with good jobs (I live in a Capital city. There’s big bucks in non-profit). I’m guessing they were getting too many death threats and also worried about losing their livings. There were problems within the group. One of them got tossed out for disagreeing with the ‘Inside Founders’ and one of the members was murdered last year by a guy who fled the country. She was only 24. I wish I had your optimism.
Having Mira Sorvino’s pic up there kind of implies that Sarandon is calling out Sorvino. Maybe change that photo?