Welcome back to the show.
The Me Too Movement has totally reshaped the media industry.
And those accused are taking time away to make
amends for their actions.
JK, they're on TV yelling into Gayle King's face.
Look, it is hard to keep talking about this shit.
That's why we asked some incredibly talented
women animators to draw it.
I think watching "The Little Mermaid" was a big one for me.
The three things I wanted to be when I was a kid
was a marine biologist, a musical theater
singer, or an animator.
I kind of grew up sort of feral in the woods
and then got into animation because it was the easiest way
to tell stories where I could be all sorts
of different characters.
I always wanted to be a cartoonist, like, starting
like, sixth grade or something.
I remember getting the phone call from Dreamworks
saying that I got the job.
And I actually had to, like, pull over somewhere so I could
jump around for a little bit.
[SHOUTING]
I think Me Too is waiting to happen in every industry,
if you look around.
[INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC PLAYING]
After the Harvey Weinstein thing happened,
we had already been talking about starting a group.
We started a private Facebook group.
Literally the first post was like, a huge one.
It was this one.
CHEYENNE CURTIS: I was around 22 when it first
happened and desperately trying to break
into the animation industry.
He followed me on LinkedIn and through email and everything.
He was fine, but meeting him in person, it escalated.
I've known Cheyenne for 10 years.
This was like, such a shock to me.
Oh my god, my best friend went through this.
And I didn't find out until a post
was made on the Facebook group.
CHEYENNE CURTIS: Something came over my body.
My hands just started typing frantically.
And I remember shaking and just typing
in-- it wasn't thought out.
It was just years of just pent up feelings, you know.
People knew exactly who I was talking about.
And I didn't need to say who it was.
Several women in the comments came out and said,
I'm pretty sure I know who this is.
This has happened to me too.
It was like, oh, it's Chris Savino.
ANNOUNCER 1: Big news that broke out in the animation community
this week is that "The Loud House"
creator Chris Savino has been accused of sexual harassment.
This has actually been going on for decades on Cartoon
Network and Nickelodeon.
From unwanted sexual advances--
ANNOUNCER 2: And threats to blacklist women
who refused to be in relationships with him.
ANNOUNCER 1: I guess that's why they say you
should never meet your heroes.
It becomes apparent that there are 10 people, 15 people.
He had worked everywhere.
And he had made this hit show.
We didn't know if he was going to be removed.
Then Cartoon Brew put out an article.
And that forced Nickelodeon's hand.
And he was fired.
There was this huge anxiety that he was just going
to get hired somewhere else.
People do terrible things.
And then they just get to keep working.
And the statute of limitations for sexual harassment
in California is so small, we could not even
legally do anything with that.
We needed people to know, if you hired this guy,
you're going to be held responsible
when he harasses somebody, scares
somebody, corners somebody.
But we're just like, these nerdy cartoonist girls.
What could we do?
We realized that this had been behavior
that had gone on at three different major studios.
That's what made us think of getting the guild involved.
[TRIUMPHANT MUSIC PLAYING]
Somebody went through the union constitution.
There was no language about sexual harassment,
but a couple people have discovered
the language around disloyalty.
He's betrayed the union by making people
feel unsafe in the union.
So we had to draft an affidavit, get it notarized,
all the signatures.
So we met up at a UPS Store.
I'm just really surprised so many people showed up.
It was like, hilarious.
Like, imagine you're like a notary.
You know, you're almost going to close.
And suddenly there's like 100 people in Steven
Universe shirts at your door.
And they actually kicked us out.
So we went out to the Chuck E. Cheese parking lot.
Yeah, animation is classy.
We had to call a mobile notary.
She mentioned that she had experience of her own
at a law firm she'd worked at before.
And she was really on board to help us.
We rolled into the union building.
And we're like, we want to charge him with misconduct.
Oh, did I mention there were 93
people that signed the charges?
He wanted them dropped.
They weren't going to be dropped.
I was really, really scared when I learned there was going
to be a trial within the guild.
We were the last people to enter the room.
We all wore black.
We all had little roses.
40 to 50 people were sitting behind us in solidarity.
There was this sense of power.
There were 11 witnesses who spoke.
Their statements were almost identical.
Like, this person had an MO.
He's like a spider who lures people to his web.
And they get tangled in it.
I was just watching him act sympathetic, and like,
act like he was listening and like
he understood fucking anything. Sorry.
Can I swear?
Yeah.
Fucker.
Sorry.
[LAUGHING]
We found out, like, the day of that he was going
to give a statement at the end.
When that time came, we stood up and turned away from him.
And even though we hadn't planned the rest of it,
everyone else in the room actually turned away from him
too.
His statement was a piece of shit.
I didn't believe any of it.
Anyone's a predator out there.
You shouldn't say, it wasn't my intention.
Because whether it was your intention or not,
15 women felt harassed by you.
He suspended for a year.
And they sent a letter out to the studios
that they had found Chris Savino guilty of disloyalty.
A letter, when it comes down to it, is a public shaming.
And the letter is, I think, the strongest
thing we could have done.
CHEYENNE CURTIS: I was able to tell him,
I wish I had never met you.
And that was something I never thought
I was going to be able to do.
It really felt like that trial was me with my women army.
And there's, like, this sword that's stuck in the ground.
And I'm like, trying to lift it.
And I can't.
And then a bunch of hands come in.
And they helped, helping me wield that sword
and take down the web.
Yeah, you mess with someone's friends
and they'll fuck you up, you know?
[INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC PLAYING]
We'll be right back.
[MUSIC PLAYING]