Old Videos of Ben Affleck Groping the Ladies is Not a Good Look Right Now

Jerry Thornton 10/12/2017 3:50 PM

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NY Times – In a sign that the controversy over the producer Harvey Weinstein could engulf other people in the film industry, the actress Rose McGowan accused Ben Affleck of lying on Tuesday about his knowledge of Mr. Weinstein’s alleged sexual harassment and assaults of women. …

“‘GODDAMNIT! I TOLD HIM TO STOP DOING THAT’ you said that to my face,” Ms. McGowan wrote in the tweet. “The press conf I was made to go to after assault. You lie.”

The Sun – OLD footage showing Ben Affleck cuddling a Canadian TV journalist and tell her to “get her t*****s out” has resurfaced.

The 2004 video which has re-emerged online shows the actor pulling Anne-Marie Losique on to his lap during an interview. …

But Losique has denied it was harassment saying audiences in Montreal are “more open to sexually explicit jokes”.
She told Variety: “Humour is nice when it’s uncomfortable. Sometimes it crosses the PC line. As long as the intent is not to hurt anybody.” …

The clip has emerged less than a day after Affleck “sincerely apologised” to an actress after she publicly accused him of groping her breast.

The Oscar winner admitted he “acted inappropriately” towards Hilarie Burton when he was a guest on her US chat show in 2003.

Jesus, what a mess this Harvey Weinstein scandal is. Just a perfectly mixed explosive device of power, gender politics, sex, Hollywood, creepy predators, fame and money. And one of the first people catching shrapnel in the collateral damage is Ben Affleck.

There’s a lot to unpack here. Not the least of which is that Affleck knew that Weinstein’s signature move was getting hot actresses like Rose McGowan alone and then using his power in Hollywood to force them to let him grope/rape/jerk it in front of them. The second being that Affleck should not have pulled a Weinstein Lite by copping a feel on Hilarie Burton. And if he was just some slapdick on the street instead of Ben Affleck, he would’ve pulled back a bloody stump. Or at least wound up on a sex offender registry.

The video of him on Montreal TV is obviously much more of a gray area, since the host of the show was perfectly fine with it. Still, it’s a horrible look for him. Consensual or not, he comes off like a drunken, horny douchebag who’s about to break out the chloroform and duct tape in Act One of “Law & Order: SVU.” Again, he’s not. I want to be fair so I’ll say again, Anne-Marie Losique certainly enjoyed the hell out of herself. But it’s tough to watch that and then have Affleck try to tell us how sad and disappointed he is in the behavior of his fat, hairy, disgusting ex-producer.

To me though, this whole mess is an indictment of Hollywood, first and foremost. Ben Affleck is a horny kid from Cambridge who hit it big, had the looks and got the fame and money to make panties hit floors. He shouldn’t be grabbing anybody’s titties that doesn’t want their titties grabbed, but that’s how handsome, famous rich guys in Hollywood roll. My problem is when they pretend they are something other than that.

No other group of people on Earth congratulate themselves for their towering virtues more than the people who make movies. Every awards show is a 3-hour lecture by our Beautiful People betters, enlightening the great unwashed on their own fabulous, Social Justice Warrioring. When the truth is that their motivations are exactly the same that power men have had since we started walking upright: Getting laid. All that speechifying about great social causes like equality and empowering women sounds great when you’re accepting your Oscar, but it didn’t make Affleck, Matt Damon, George Clooney and a hundred others tell Weinstein he’s a sick fucking bastard who should be locked up. In fact supposedly he’s gotten thanked more on Academy Awards night than anyone in Hollywood, even though his path of sexual destruction was the worst kept “secret” in the business.

Now the ironic thing is the timing. Because Justice League comes out in five weeks. A major tent pole film that a whole cinematic universe, a major studio and careers all depend on, now has a lead actor who looks like just another enabling, titty-grabbing hypocrite. I’m still hoping Justice League works. But regardless, those press interviews Affleck gives to promote are going to be fascinatingly awkward.

@jerrythornton1

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