Hot & Bothered

This is no longer surprising. Now it is just very, very sad.

The latest Hollywood bigshot to be caught with his pants down (quite literally) is Louis CK. Everyone in the comedian business appears to have known about this shit for a while, even if only as a rumor. I’m not a woman. I don’t live in Hollywood. No one even marginally related to the entertainment industry appears anywhere within my sphere of influence.

In other words, I’m really not qualified to have an opinion on this. Here it is anyway.

First, this has been the way Hollywood has worked for a very long time. People in power take advantage. They shouldn’t, but they do. Fortunately for everyone, that Hollywood appears to be a thing of the past, gone but never forgotten.

Welcome to new Hollywood, where even the suspicion that you may be a sexual predator can end your career. To my knowledge, none of these clowns have actually been brought up on charges. A few of those involved appear to be on the way to court, but that also remains unresolved.  Many of the accusations and stories have been out there before now; only recently does anyone appear to give a shit.

Maybe Bill Cosby should be in prison. That won’t solve shit really, and some of his accusers aren’t even interested in seeing the Cos in jail. His career is over, his reputation destroyed, and his legacy tarnished. Most of his victims seem to feel vindicated, even if it is all too little, too late.

There are other names to add to the list, so many that I’m having difficulty following them all. Harvey Weinstein. Jeffery Tambor. Kevin Spacey.

Now Louis CK.

Louis seems to have had a history of yanking out little Louis and jacking off in front of unwilling women. Sometimes in person, sometimes on the phone. Sometimes in his hotel room, sometimes in his dressing room. Apparently, he’s never done anything else with it, so at least there is that. I guess that makes him a sexual predator. Though, honestly, it does seem to lesson the impact of the term “predator”. Deviant maybe? Hell, I don’t know.

Mostly, I just find it all so pathetic.

And here’s the thing. Sooner or later, the backlash will come. A lot of Hollywood types may have the careers ruined before it is all said and done, but this America. We have a short attention span and a high tolerance for stupidity. But we are already feeling “sexual misconduct fatigue”. With every revelation, the outrage becomes less vocal, less universal. This is America. We elected a president who, not so long ago, declared that he could do whatever he liked to a woman because he was famous. We have it on tape. And we voted for him anyway.

Well, I didn’t. But someone did.