Actress Issa Rae doesn’t believe that the Hollywood community punishes its members enough for alleged misconduct.
The star and co-creator of the HBO series “Insecure” made the comments during a recent interview with Elle while speaking about Ezra Miller, an actor who identifies as non-binary who has been accused of multiple crimes in recent months.
“It feels like we’re regressing, depressingly so,” Rae told the publication. “There are just too many enablers for there to be real change. People have to be held accountable. There have to be legitimate consequences. Hollywood is very bad about consequences.”
She pointed to Miller as an example of this phenomenon.
“The stuff that’s happening with Ezra Miller is, to me, a microcosm of Hollywood,” the actress continued.
“There’s this person who’s a repeat offender, who’s been behaving atrociously, and as opposed to shutting them down and shutting the production down, there’s an effort to save the movie and them. That is a clear example of the lengths that Hollywood will go to to save itself and to protect offenders,” Rae continued.
Miller has been accused of choking a female bar patron, sexual abuse, burglary, harassment, and grooming a teenager, though so far the actor hasn’t been convicted of anything.
Despite pending felony burglary charges in Vermont, Miller’s Warner Bros. project “The Flash” has not been canceled.
“So, don’t do that, and women may be able to thrive,” Rae said. “They won’t have to live in fear of keeping silent because it’ll ruin their careers. It’s just a constant pattern of abuse that’ll only persist if Hollywood continues to insist on being this way.”
In August, Miller entered treatment for “complex mental health issues,” as The Daily Wire originally reported.
An official statement from Miller’s rep on the actor’s behalf said, “Having recently gone through a time of intense crisis, I now understand that I am suffering complex mental health issues and have begun ongoing treatment. I want to apologize to everyone that I have alarmed and upset with my past behavior. I am committed to doing the necessary work to get back to a healthy, safe and productive stage in my life.”
This apology and others were not enough for Rae, who argued that bad behavior from money-making actors is accepted in the community.
“It’s literally the worst industry when it comes to punishing people for misdeeds and actions, because money will always reign supreme,” Rae said.
“That’s something that, even by working in this industry, we’re enabling. So it’s hard. What I have realized is that I can control my own environment and who I work with. I can hold people accountable within my world and my bubble. I don’t have to work for everybody. All money isn’t good money. All people aren’t good people,” the actress insisted.