I’ve been very upfront about my thoughts on the #MeToo movement.
Sexual abuse is a heinous crime that should be taken very, very seriously. Sexual harassment should never happen and should be dealt with accordingly.
The problem is the spectrum of “sexual misconduct” is an incredibly wide one. The #MeToo movement has made the mistake of equating a dirty old man winking at you to rape. This is a major, major problem.
Getting winked at doesn’t make you a rape victim. Accusing someone of “sexual abuse” for awkwardly flirting with you doesn’t make you empowered.
If we’re TRULY going to come out strong for real victims of sexual abuse – we have to toughen up when it comes to petty crap. Strong women don’t get flirted with and then accuse the dude of sexual misconduct 20 years later.
I think this attitude does much more to hurt victims of sexual abuse than not. It’s sad… but when EVERYTHING is “Sexual abuse” …we become desensitized to ACTUAL cases of victimization.
Norm McDonald was set to be on the “Tonight Show” with Jimmy Fallon.
His appearance has now been canceled after Norm DARED criticise the #MeToo movement in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter citing “sensitivity to our audience.”
According to the Daily Wire:
He told the Hollywood Reporter that he was “happy the #MeToo movement has slowed down a bit.”
Yeah. Bring on the FREAK OUT.
“It used to be, ‘One hundred women can’t be lying.’ And then it became, ‘One woman can’t lie.’ And that became, ‘I believe all women.’ And then you’re like, ‘What?’ Like, that Chris Hardwick guy I really thought got the blunt end of the stick there,” Macdonald said.
Naturally, this quote was left out of most media accounts of Macdonald’s canceled appearance.
Macdonald was then asked about an accused person admitting to wrongdoing, to which the comedian responded, “The model used to be: admit wrongdoing, show complete contrition and then we give you a second chance. Now it’s admit wrongdoing and you’re finished. And so the only way to survive is to deny, deny, deny. That’s not healthy — that there is no forgiveness. I do think that at some point it will end with a completely innocent person of prominence sticking a gun in his head and ending it. That’s my guess. I know a couple of people this has happened to.”
This, too, is left out of other media accounts of the interview.
I don’t see the problem with ANY of this. But of course… all of this isn’t even being discussed. It’s one comment in particular that he’s getting reamed for.
I’ll agree… he could have phrased this next part better. But that’s EXACTLY what he’s talking about. There’s no leeway. There’s no forgiveness. It’s ALL black and white.
“And Roseanne was so broken up [after her show’s reboot was canceled] that I got Louis to call her, even though Roseanne was very hard on Louis before that. But she was just so broken and just crying constantly,” Macdonald said. “There are very few people that have gone through what they have, losing everything in a day. Of course, people will go, ‘What about the victims?’ But you know what? The victims didn’t have to go through that.”
“The victims didn’t have to go through that.” THAT is what everyone is focusing on.
And I’ll agree – it was a stupid thing to say. Victims of sexual abuse have their entire lives destroyed.
But do ALL victims? Do the people who say someone inappropriately flirted with them have their lives destroyed?
It’s worth thinking about, is it not?
Following this, Macdonald reiterated how both comedians saw “All their work in their entire life wiped out in a single day, a moment.”
He has tweeted this since his Tonight Show cancellation:
Many are now pushing for the cancellation of his new show.
So… is Norm DONE?
Isn’t this EXACTLY what he was saying?
