The voices of the victims that are continuing to emerge are shedding a light on a corner of the entertainment industry that has been ignored and overlooked for far too long. Hollywood’s problem with sexual harassment and assault reaches back decades, and the stories that are surfacing day by day are bracing. So too is the knowledge that many stood by and watched as it happened, and said nothing.
Ellen Page has taken to Facebook, sharing a thoughtful, eloquent, and heartbreaking account of being sexually harassed and outed by director Brett Ratner on the set of “X-Men: The Last Stand.” Only eighteen years old at the time, and still coming to terms with her sexuality, Ratner humiliated the actress, and even more, was supported by the team around him. Here’s an excerpt from Page’s statement:
“You should fuck her to make her realize she’s gay.” He said this about me during a cast and crew “meet and greet” before we began filming, X Men: The Last Stand. I was eighteen years old. He looked at a woman standing next to me, ten years my senior, pointed to me and said: “You should fuck her to make her realize she’s gay.” He was the film’s director, Brett Ratner.
I was a young adult who had not yet come out to myself. I knew I was gay, but did not know, so to speak. I felt violated when this happened. I looked down at my feet, didn’t say a word and watched as no one else did either. This man, who had cast me in the film, started our months of filming at a work event with this horrific, unchallenged plea. He “outed” me with no regard for my well-being, an act we all recognize as homophobic. I proceeded to watch him on set say degrading things to women. I remember a woman walking by the monitor as he made a comment about her “flappy pussy”.
We are all entitled to come into an awareness of our sexual orientation privately and on our own terms. I was young and although already a working actor for so long I had in many ways been insulated, growing up on film sets instead of surrounded by my peers. This public, aggressive outing left me with long standing feelings of shame, one of the most destructive results of homophobia. Making someone feel ashamed of who they are is a cruel manipulation, designed to oppress and repress. I was robbed of more than autonomy over my ability to define myself. Ratner’s comment replayed in my mind many times over the years as I encountered homophobia and coped with feelings of reluctance and uncertainty about the industry and my future in it. The difference is that I can now assert myself and use my voice to fight back against the insidious queer and transphobic attitude in Hollywood and beyond. Hopefully having the position I have, I can help people who may be struggling to be accepted and allowed to be who they are –to thrive. Vulnerable young people without my advantages are so often diminished and made to feel they have no options for living the life they were meant to joyously lead.
I got into an altercation with Brett at a certain point. He was pressuring me, in front of many people, to don a t-shirt with “Team Ratner” on it. I said no and he insisted. I responded, “I am not on your team.” Later in the day, producers of the film came to my trailer to say that I “couldn’t talk like that to him.” I was being reprimanded, yet he was not being punished nor fired for the blatantly homophobic and abusive behavior we all witnessed. I was an actor that no one knew. I was eighteen and had no tools to know how to handle the situation.
Page goes to talk at length not only about sexual assault in Hollywood — and how it affects minors, too — but also the constructs that keep marginalized voices quiet. She also shares her regret about making a movie with Woody Allen. It’s a powerful piece, and you can read it in full below:
Holy shit and a chicken… Ellen Page nailed this hard.
She’s an inspiring woman. It’s a damning and brave telling of her own experiences. But to throw Woody Allen under the bus like that in the face of facts is disappointing.
Why is tossing Woody Allen under the bus bad form exactly? This sea change started because of an article Ronan Farrow wrote. You know, brother to Dylan Farrow.
Because people need to get their facts straight. You see how Ellen was marked for years by the Ratner’s comment, the way it damaged her and replayed over and over in her mind? Well it’s the same when you’ve been judge to be a rapist by people who don’t know what they are talking about. There are two misdeeds that Allen has been saddled with A) The molestation of his daughter Dylan and B) Running off with his adopted Daughter Soon Yi. These two things get conflated into a single crime but B) is one 100% what he did, disgusting but not illegal, A) was investigate and the charges were dropped before any trial. Dylan and her brother maintain that Allen committed the act while Allen disputes this and some of his other adopted children like Moses Allen asserts that Farrow couched them to say the things they said. So while Allen started a relationship with a non blood relative when she was 18 and in my personal opinion it’s gross, insanely gross, it isn’t illegal. The he said she said between him Dylan, Farrow that began at the inception of what proved to be a nasty divorce is an entirely different matter, it’s the most foggy and hard to say what really happened but it’s the one that people like you prosecute with the most certainty without any basic research into the case.
I have seen so many people try and destroy their spouses during a divorce that that alone cast a huge shadow over the accusation for me, the fact that the investigators found Dylan to be unreliable in her telling of the story, also cast doubts in my mind. That case was aggressively investigated and Allen was cleared. Years later Moses came out with his side of the story saying Mia manipulated them, I don’t know but the divorce, Moses, the testimony of the baby-sitter that said allen was not alone with Dylan on the day in question all to me cast doubt and that is what our legal system is base on reasonable doubt.
Ellen page was talking out of her ass when she brought Allen into the conversation. If you hate him for running off with Soon Yi fine, but people need to stop saying that they know 100% for sure he molested Dylan. The facts of the case are way too murky for anyone to research and come away with 100% certainty.
100% certainty, no, but I think the probabilities are not in his favor.
The court’s decision:
The evidence suggests that it is unlikely that [Allen] could be successfully prosecuted for sexual abuse. I am less certain, however, than is the Yale-New Haven team, that the evidence proves conclusively that there was no sexual abuse.”
The judge further concluded that Dr. Schultz’s and Dr. Coates’s opinions “may have been colored by their loyalty to Mr. Allen,” and that the report provided by the Yale-New Haven team was suspect due to the “unavailability of the notes,” which were “destroyed prior to the issuance of the report,” and the doctors’ “unwillingness to testify at this trial except through the deposition of Dr. Leventhal,” a pediatrician on the team, “resulted in a report which was sanitized and, therefore, less credible.” The judge concludes: “We will probably never know what occurred on August 4, 1992. The credible testimony of Ms. Farrow, Dr. Coates, Dr. Leventhal, and Mr. Allen does, however, prove that Mr. Allen’s behavior toward Dylan was grossly inappropriate and that measures must be taken to protect her.
You combine this with his actions with Soon Yi, and numerous films he writes about an older man (often played by him) having a relationship with a young, sometimes underage, female
Again, what you are doing is making conjectures and assumption which is 100% fine. There is nothing wrong with being an arm chair Perry Mason. What Page is implying with her “I felt bad about woking with Allen” quote is that it was a morally dubious choice to work with him. She is implying that anyone who works with him is making a morally dubious act and I think it’s quite the opposite. I think her statement is morally dubious because it is render via blind faith. No one knows if Allen is guilty or not, anyone making the claim that “they KNOW” is full of it.
None of us know, especially now, twenty whatever years later, with all the opinion pieces, and articles written, and twitter posts, with so much discussion of this case, with false facts and opinions turned into facts, it’s very hard to claim objectivity in this case.
I can’t call Allen a pedophile nor can I call Dylan a liar, I’m a bystander, just like Ellen Page, her position isn’t any more privileged than mine so I take issue with that statement because it’s equally harmful to call him a pedophile in the absents of any definitive proof as it’s to call Dylan a liar. My argument is simply that none of us KNOW and so we have to live in that uncomfortable place of not condemning either side.
What I see in that statement is the spirit of the mob and I think it’s dangerous. We live in a place where people need to be convicted of crimes to wear that albatross, we don’t condemn people for being accused.
Your statement make a perfect example of what’s wrong with being an arm chair Perry Mason. You said “You combine this with his actions with Soon Yi, and numerous films he writes about an older man (often played by him) having a relationship with a young, sometimes underage, female. This paints a picture. The probabilities are NOT in his favor.”
So you are using his films and the CHARACTERS he plays to make assumptions about the PERSON behind those characters. This is an obvious mistake, but it’s doubly so because you are mistaking Pedophilia with Ephebophilia. Ephebophilia is more akin to what Allen’s characters display, an attraction to teens, never has he played a character who is attached to a prepubescent child, which is what Dylan was at the time of the allegations.
Not only are you conflating the person with the characters he plays but you’re diagnosis of their problem is incorrect. So while it’s harmless for you or for me and for anyone else to have an opinion about his guilt or innocences, it’s not okay for Page to make a public statement which condemns anyone associating with Allen giving that our opinions on the matter are just opinions and can not rise to fact without definitive proof one way or the other.
I also want to note that even calling it “Ephebophilia” is incorrect because that would imply that his characters had an exclusive attraction to teens and he’s never played that character either.
Again, what you are doing is making conjectures and assumption which is 100% fine. There is nothing wrong with being an arm chair Perry Mason. What Page is implying with her “I felt bad about woking with Allen” quote is that it was a morally dubious choice to work with him. She is implying that anyone who works with him is making a morally dubious act and I think it’s quite the opposite. I think her statement is morally dubious because it is render via blind faith. No one knows if Allen is guilty or not, anyone making the claim that “they KNOW” is full of it.
None of us know, especially now, twenty whatever years later, with all the opinion pieces, and articles written, and twitter posts, with so much discussion of this case, with false facts and opinions turned into facts, it’s very hard to claim objectivity in this case.
I can’t call Allen a pedophile nor can I call Dylan a liar, I’m a bystander, just like Ellen Page, her position isn’t any more privileged than mine so I take issue with that statement because it’s equally harmful to call him a pedophile in the absents of any definitive proof as it’s to call Dylan a liar. My argument is simply that none of us KNOW and so we have to live in that uncomfortable place of not condemning either side.
What I see in that statement is the spirit of the mob and I think it’s dangerous. We live in a place where people need to be convicted of crimes to wear that albatross, we don’t condemn people for being accused.
Your statement make a perfect example of what’s wrong with being an arm chair Perry Mason. You said “You combine this with his actions with Soon Yi, and numerous films he writes about an older man (often played by him) having a relationship with a young, sometimes underage, female. This paints a picture. The probabilities are NOT in his favor.”
So you are using his films and the CHARACTERS he plays to make assumptions about the PERSON behind those characters. This is an obvious mistake, but it’s doubly so because you are mistaking Pedophilia with Ephebophilia. Ephebophilia is more akin to what Allen’s characters display, an attraction to teens, never has he played a character who is attached to a prepubescent child, which is what Dylan was at the time of the allegations.
Not only are you conflating the person with the characters he plays but you’re diagnosis of their problem is incorrect. So while it’s harmless for you or for me and for anyone else to have an opinion about his guilt or innocences, it’s not okay for Page to make a public statement which condemns anyone associating with Allen giving that our opinions on the matter are just opinions and can not rise to fact without definitive proof one way or the other.
I also want to note that even calling it “Ephebophilia” is incorrect because that would imply that his characters had an exclusive attraction to teens and he’s never played that character either.
Don’t be an asshat
“I have seen so many people try and destroy their spouses during a divorce”
And usually – they don’t just try to destroy their Ex during and after the divorce. Usually (if they have kids) they will try to use them as pawns in their war. The talk about all these values and such while destroying their children for a little revenge.
Thousands upon thousands of children are twisted and abused this way by their “Loving” parents. How’s that for “Asshatery” ?
Agreed Mick, inspiring piece by Ellen, but this hatred toward Woody Allen is crazy! Ellen actually mentions nothing specific at all, it’s simply a parenthetical. Where are the facts? Mia Farrow claims. Key word ‘claims’! Her hatred of Woody is nothing short of lunacy, and has for this Soon-Yi business, however unconventional it may seem to Western eyes, he married her for crying out loud, and is still married to her!
Read the court documents
https://www.thedailybeast.com/inside-the-shocking-custody-case-court-documents-that-shed-light-on-the-dylan-farrow-woody-allen-saga
Fuck Woody Allen, don’t be a creep
Awww, look at the ghey trend chaser chasing trends.
Why didn’t you speak out about it BEFORE it became trendy.
Good for you Ellen. We all knew this creep was a creep, but this… ?
Often wondered why we haven’t seen more of you and your talent.