On Monday, HLN’s Ashleigh Banfield weighed in on the Aziz Ansari controversy. Over the course of a four and a half minute monologue, Banfield rebuked Ansari’s accuser for having “chiseled away” at the #MeToo movement:
Dear Grace (not your real name),
I’m sorry that you had a bad date. I have had a few myself. They stink. I’m sure it must be really weighing on you. It’s hard being a victim – very painful – just ask anyone who’s been on that end of crime and justice. I cover them every day; it’s no picnic. But let’s take a moment to reflect on what you claim was the “worst night of your life.”
You had a bad date. Your date got overly amorous. After protesting his moves, you did not get up and leave right away; you continued to engage in the sexual encounter. By your own clear description, this was not a rape, nor was it a sexual assault. By your description, your sexual encounter was unpleasant. It did not send you to the police; it did not affect your workplace or your ability to get a job. So, I have to ask you, what exactly was your beef? That you had a bad date with Aziz Ansari? Is that what victimized you to the point of seeking a public conviction and a career-ending sentence against him? Is that truly what you thought he deserved for your night out?
Let me be completely clear. If you were sexually assaulted, you should go to the police right now. If you were sexually harassed, and your bad date, because of his actions, mitigated your ability to do your job, you should definitely speak up – and loud – because that’s happened to me too, and it stinks. But if you just had an unpleasant sexual experience, you should have gone home. Maybe just go ahead, tell your friends to avoid this guy. He’s gross. Go ahead, tell the date himself he’s gross; that he is not the lover that he thinks he is. And without question, don’t go on a second date with him. Certainly do not marry a guy like that.
But what you have done, in my opinion, is appalling. You went to the press with the story of a bad date, and you have potentially destroyed this man’s career over it right after he received an award for which he was worthy.
And now here is where I am going to claim victim. You have chiseled away at a movement that I, along with all of my sisters in the workplace, have been dreaming of for decades; a movement that has finally changed an over-sexed professional environment that I, too, have struggled through at times over the last thirty years in broadcasting. If you’re lucky, there’s a really good chance that you’re not going to experience the toxic work environment that the rest of us have endured, and that is because of the remarkable progress being made against the Harvey Weinsteins and the Kevin Spaceys of the world.
The #MeToo movement has righted a lot of wrongs, and it has made your career path much smoother. And here’s where I’m guessing it’s gonna be a long career path. You’re 23. What a gift. Yet you [looked] that gift horse in the mouth, and chiseled away at that powerful movement with your public accusation. And I’m going to repeat this because it’s important. If you were sexually assaulted, go to the cops. If you were sexually harassed, jeopardizing your work, speak up, and speak out loud. But by your own descriptions, that is not what happened. You had an unpleasant date, and you did not leave. That is on you. All the gains that have been achieved on your behalf and mine are now being compromised with the allegations that you threw out there – and I’m going to call them reckless and hollow.
I cannot name you publicly, and sentence you to a similar career hit as Ansari because you chose to remain anonymous. Lucky you. But as you grow in your photography career, I really do hope that you remember what you did to someone else’s career all because of that bad date that was not a sexual assault, that was not sexual harassment by your description. And I hope the next time you go on a bad date, you stand up sooner, you smooth out your dress, and you bloody well leave. Because the only sentence that a guy like that deserves is a bad case of blue balls, not a Hollywood blackball.