LONDON'S OLD VIC THEATRE DID AN INVESTIGATION INTO KEVIN SPACEY
AND WHETHER OR NOT INDIVIDUALS WORKING AT THE THEATER EVER HAD
ANY TYPE OF INAPPROPRIATE CONTACT WITH SPACEY WHILE
HE WAS WORKING THERE.
HE IS TO BE THE FORMER ARTISTIC DIRECTOR THERE AND THROUGH
THE INVESTIGATION THEY WERE ABLE TO FIND THAT THERE WERE AS
MANY AS 20 PEOPLE WHO TESTIFIED THAT THEY WERE HARASSED OR
ASSAULTED IN SOME WAY.
WE DON'T KNOW THE DETAILS OF WHAT THEY WENT THROUGH BUT
WE DO KNOW THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE WHO SAID THEY
UNCOMFORTABLE SITUATIONS WITH THEM.
SO IN THE REPORT THAT WAS RELEASED TODAY:
THAT
THE RELEVANT COMPONENT OF IT BECAUSE THE FIRST ALLEGATION
THAT CAME OUT AGAINST KEVIN SPACEY WAS BY SOMEONE WHO SAID
HE WAS A MINOR WHEN SPACEY TRIED TO FORCE HIMSELF ON HIM.
AGAIN, THE FLOODGATES ARE OPEN AND MORE ALLEGATIONS ARE GOING
TO COME FORWARD, NOT JUST A SAC AND THE PEOPLE YOU HEARD ABOUT
BUT THEY'RE GOING TO BE NEW ALLEGATIONS ABOUT NEW PEOPLE IN
VARIOUS PROFESSIONS AND DON'T BE SURPRISED BECAUSE I THINK THIS
TYPE OF BEHAVIOR DOESN'T DISCRIMINATE AGAINST POLITICAL
IDEOLOGY OR ANY OF THAT.
IT IS DEVASTATINGLY PREVALENT THIS
IS BUT I THINK IT IS FINALLY A TIME THAT WE CAN FOCUS ON
SOLUTIONS AND CHANGE.
IT IS DEVASTATING BECAUSE SO MANY OF THESE MEN ARE OUR
HEROES.
KEVIN SPACEY IS ONE OF THOSE BRILLIANT ACTORS OF HIS
GENERATION SO WHEN YOU HEAR THESE STORIES, YOU DON'T WANT
TO BELIEVE THEM, ALLEGATIONS REAGAN SENATOR AL FRANKEN.
HE IS A BELOVED SENATOR OF MINNESOTA BUT THESE ARE
SERIOUS ALLEGATIONS AGAINST THESE MEN AND YOU ARE
RIGHT, THIS IS PROBABLY JUST A COUPLE.
THIS KIND OF POINTS TO SORT OF A SYSTEMIC THING GOING ON AT
THE OLD VIC AND THE OLD VIC WAS SO, SPACEY AND HIS LAUREN SAYS,
THIS ACTOR WHO IS A RESPECTED, GOING TO THE OLD BACON LONDON,
IT WAS GOING TO PUT ASSES IN THE SEATS FRANKLY.
IT WAS GOING
TO REINVIGORATE THE THEATER OR TAKE IT TO ANOTHER LEVEL.
APPARENTLY THERE WAS A LOT OF BIGGER RATING GOING ON
BEHIND-THE-SCENES AND HE AGAIN IS A PERSON OF POWER WHO WAS
ABUSING THAT POWER AND HIS POSITION AND BY NOW IT'S CLEAR,
SOME NEW PEOPLE HAVE COME FORWARD THAT YOU HAVE TO SAY
THERE IS SOME FEROCITY TO SOME OF THE STUFF AND NOW THEY, THE
OLD VIC I AM TALKING ABOUT, THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS ON THE
RECORD, THEY TOOK THE THING THAT WAS GOING TO BE JUST ALL
GOOD AND NOW IT IS A HORNETS NEST.
HAVE TO GO BACK INTO HIS INVESTIGATION AND IT TURNS
OUT THERE ALL THESE ALLEGATIONS THAT IT IS A MESS BECAUSE,
IT FALLS IN THE CATEGORY OF ANOTHER POWERFUL GUIDE
TAKING ADVANTAGE OF HIS POSITION.
I'M SO HAPPY THEY DID THE INVESTIGATION BECAUSE THEY
REALIZE, WAIT, THIS GUY WAS OUR ARTISTIC DIRECTOR FOR A WHILE
AND THE COULD'VE BEEN PEOPLE WHO ARE VICTIMIZED IN OUR GROUP.
WE NEED TO MAKE SURE THAT THAT DIDN'T HAPPEN AND IF THAT
DID HAPPEN, WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING INTERNALLY TO
MAKE THE ENVIRONMENT SAFER FOR THE PEOPLE WHO WORK WITH US.
SO THEY ARE TAKING ACTION AND THEY OUTLINE SOME OF THOSE
ACTIONS IN THEIR REPORT.
THEY WILL APPOINT GUARDIANS FROM ACROSS THE BOARD AND A
WIDER ORGANIZATION TO CHAMPION BEST PRACTICES AND BE A
FIRST POINT OF CONTACT FOR THOSE WHO DON'T WANT TO REACH OUT
THROUGH FORMAL CHANNELS.
THERE'S USUALLY AN ISSUE WITH, JUST GO TO HR AND REPORT IT
TO HR, THEN OFTENTIMES THE HR DEPARTMENT WILL GO AHEAD
AND PROTECT THE PERPETRATOR AND SO THEY ARE TRYING TO FIND
A WAY AROUND THAT.
THEY ALSO WANT TO SPEND TIME WITH THOSE WHO WORK HERE TO
CREATE AN OKAY, NOT OKAY SET OF CULTURAL EXPECTATIONS FOR
ALL TO UNDERSTAND AND OWN.
HAVING A DIALOGUE ABOUT IT AND MAKING SURE THAT PEOPLE ARE
ABUNDANTLY CLEAR ABOUT WHAT IS AND IS NOT OKAY.
THIS IS A RIGHT OR LEFT ISSUE BUT IT IS ALSO NOT JUST AN
AMERICAN ISSUE.
GREAT BRITAIN IS ALSO STRUGGLING WITH ACCUSATIONS AGAINST
SEXUAL MISCONDUCT IN PARLIAMENT.
THEY HAD A MEMBER OF THE WELSH PARLIAMENT WHO HAD ACCUSATIONS
AGAINST HIM BUT THEY WERE NEVER MADE PUBLIC NOT ONLY TO THE
PUBLIC BUT THEM AS WELL AND HE SUFFERED BECAUSE OF THAT AND
ENDED UP KILLING HIMSELF SO THESE ARE REALLY SERIOUS TIMES
WE ARE IN AND AS A JOURNALIST, IT IS HARD FOR ME TO SAY, GO
WITH AN ALLEGATION BEFORE WE HAVE ANY EVIDENCE OR BEFORE
ANYONE HAS BEEN PROVEN GUILTY BUT IN THESE CASES, BECAUSE
THERE WAS NO ONE TO REPORT IT TO, BECAUSE THERE WAS NOWHERE TO
GO, UNFORTUNATELY THAT IS ALL WE HAVE ARE ALLEGATIONS AND WHEN
YOU HAVE EN MASSE 80 WOMEN COMING FORWARD, USE YOUR
DEDUCTIVE
REASONING.
IT IS PROBABLY TRUE.
BY THE WAY, 80 WOMEN WHO HAVE NOTHING TO GAIN.
PEOPLE THINK THERE IS AN AGENDA AND THEY ARE LOOKING TO GET
A PAYDAY BUT NO, THEY NOTHING TO GAIN, HONESTLY OTHER THAN
HOPEFULLY SPARKING SOME REAL CHANGE IN SOCIETY.
I USED TO BE THE DEFAULT POSITION RIGHT?
THEY ARE DOING IT FOR THE MONEY.
YOU HEARD LAUREN, THERE WAS NO MONEY IN IT.
THIS HORRIBLE THING HAPPENED AND SHE FINALLY SPOKE UP AND WAS
ABLE TO BE PART OF THE TIDE THAT CARRIED AWAY WEINSTEIN BUT THERE
IS ANOTHER THING GOING ON HERE AND YOU TOUCHED ON IT AND THAT
IS THAT THE INSTITUTION, THE TENDENCY IS FOR THEM TO PROTECT
THEMSELVES SO THEY SAY, WE WILL DO AN INTERNAL INVESTIGATION.
YOU SAW IN THE CASE OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, WITH
EVERYTHING GOING ON THERE.
WE'RE GOING TO HANDLE IT INTERNALLY AND ENDED UP
THAT THINGS WERE SO WELL HANDLED INTERNALLY THAT YOU SAW
WITH PENN STATE AND JERRY SANDUSKY.
THE UNIVERSITY PROTECTED THEMSELVES.
THEY WANT TO PROTECT THE INSTITUTION PERSON
SOMETIMES I CAN GET IN THE WAY OF AN ACTUAL INVESTIGATION,
WE SEEN IT WITH THE US MILITARY NOW I CAN GO ON AND ON.
O'REILLY WAS THE GOLDEN GOOSE OVER AT FOX NEWS.
THEY WANT TO PROTECT THAT BRAND FIRST THAT
WE ARE SEEING A POLITICALLY AND WE'RE SEEING IT WITH
STATE LAWMAKERS.
I WANT TO BE SPECIFIC.
STATE LAWMAKERS IN ALABAMA WHO WOULD RATHER PROTECT WAY MORE,
TO PROTECT THEIR PARTY THEN ACTUALLY SPEAK OUT AGAINST HIM
INTO THE RIGHT THING.
AND ON A NATIONAL LEVEL, WE ARE THING AND WITH THE
PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES.
17 ALLEGATIONS OF HIM REALLY INAPPROPRIATELY SEXUALLY
INVOLVING HIMSELF WITH WOMEN, GRABBING, KISSING, ALL OF
THE REST AND HIM TALKING ABOUT IT ON TAPE AND YET, AS YOU
SAY, BUT THEY HAD THEIR EYE ON THE PRIZE.
THE PARTY HAD THEIR EYE AND THE PRIZE AND THEY ALL FELL IN LINE.
THEY SAID NOTHING AND THEY ALLOWED HIM TO CALL THE
WOMEN LIARS.
AND THAT IS HOW IT HAS BEEN LEFT OUT
AND ALSO DEGRADE THEM BY SAYING DISPARAGING THINGS
ABOUT THEIR LOOKS.
AFTER ALL THAT WENT DOWN.
IT IS DEPRESSING.
BUT IN THIS CASE, AT THE OLD VIC, IT SEEMS AS THOUGH IT
IS ON THE RIGHT TRACK.
I COMMEND THEM FOR THAT.