Back in January, thousands of women gathered in major cities to express their anger toward newly sworn-in President Donald Trump. Among their many complaints was that Trump had been accused of sexual impropriety, and that the nation had elected a man who once referred to “grabbing” women “by the pussy.”
They even had special pink “Pussy Hats” made up for the occasion to show solidarity with women who’d been mistreated by a man in power.
But in Utah, at the Sundance Film Festival, at a march organized by comedian Chelsea Handler, Harvey Weinstein also mixed in with the sea of pink knit hats, showing his own solidarity with women who, ostenstibly, felt shamed and marginalized by predatory men in power.
Ironic.
Harvey Weinstein at the January 2017 Women’s March in Park City, Utah. pic.twitter.com/WdVmlZjWA6
— jodikantor (@jodikantor) October 6, 2017
At least he went with a gray beanie instead of the de rigeur head wear.
The Women’s March is, obviously, not to blame for Weinstein’s presence — he did that all his own — and Women’s March leadership has done more than enough to discredit their movement since that frigid January day without his help.
But it is interesting to note how readily women’s rights activists embraced Weinstein, even though rumors of his bizarre and sexually aggressive behavior have persisted for decades — and how willing some organizations, like Planned Parenthood, were willing to ignore those same rumors so long as Weinstein’s checks kept clearing.
In May, as Ronan Farrow was seeking out Weinstein victims and pitching his investigation to NBC News, Weinstein dropped $100,000 at a Planned Parenthood gala in honor of the abortion promoter’s 100th anniversary. As a reward, he got to sit next to another champion for women’s rights, who also ignored the sexual abuse allegations until the absolute last minute: Hillary Clinton.
Give Hillary a break. It’s not like she recently hung out with…oh. pic.twitter.com/se40rFyKyu
— BT (@back_ttys) October 9, 2017
Real champions of the female gender, they are.