Actor Geoffrey Rush accused of sexual misconduct

[oberliner]

“Orange Is the New Black” actress Yael Stone alleged actor Geoffrey Rush engaged in sexually inappropriate behavior when they starred in “The Diary of a Madman” in 2010.

Speaking to The New York Times , the 33-year-old said Rush danced naked in front of her in their dressing room, used a mirror to watch her while she showered and sent her occasionally erotic texts.

Stone said she “enthusiastically and willingly” replied to the texts from her fellow Australian actor when she was 25 and he was 59.

“I was so flattered that someone like that would spend their time texting me into the very early hours of the morning,” she said. “Gradually the text messages became more sexual in nature, but always encased in this very highfalutin intellectual language.”

https://www.recordonline.com/news/20181218/actor-geoffrey-rush-accused-of-sexual-misconduct

[Fullduplexxx]

1. Highfalutin lol. Nt

[Doodley]

2. If she was a willing participant as she says, and 25 years old, she has no business

sharing it with the media.

[oberliner]

3. That was with respect to the text messages

Not the behavior that followed, such as:

The shared dressing room had two shower cubicles next to each other. After the show one evening, Ms. Stone said, “I remember I looked up to see there was a small shaving mirror over the top of the partition between the showers and he was using it to look down at my naked body. I believe that it was meant with a playful intention, but the effect was that I felt there was nowhere for me to feel safe and unobserved.”

“I saw it,” another person who worked on the play and asked to remain anonymous told me about the mirror incident. “It was very close quarters and I had a direct view of the showers. After the show that night, I heard Yael scream and tell him to stop.”

“I certainly talked about it with Yael afterward. It was one instance of her feeling psychologically and physically intimidated by him,” the person said.

That's from the NY Times piece referenced in the article in the OP.

[Bucky]

4. The way I read it, it started fun and then got creepy

Maybe it is maybe it isn't legally actionable. But using a mirror to check out someone showering is always over the top.

[Major Nikon]

5. Not all of it was willing

Just because someone participates in lewd text messages with someone who obviously had a significant power differential over them, doesn't give them license to touch them inappropriately and use a mirror to clandestinely spy on them in the shower. That's the behavior of someone who has something wrong with them and other people should know about it.

[obamanut2012]

6. Nice victim blaming and shaming

WTF is wrong with you???

[obamanut2012]

7. Not the first time he has been accused of this

The other stage actress who did had her career almost ruined because she accused him. And, just like in this case with Yael Stone, he admitted it, but also said it was just pranks.

[oberliner]

8. The NY Times piece talks about how Australian law makes it even harder for folks to come forward

The Cost of Telling a #MeToo Story in Australia

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/16/opinion/metoo-defamation-geoffrey-rush-yael-stone.html

That article references the situation with the other actress as well.

[tavernier]

9. Possibly the nicest actor we've ever met at stage door.

Friendly and generous, a very nice person sharing laughter and annecdotes with fans. Certainly didn’t seem at all “high falutin’” on that occasion.

I’m sorry for her experience. I just wish we could get both sides of an accusing story before it is published.

[oberliner]

10. His side of the story has also been reported

A statement from him is included in the AP article posted.

[tavernier]

11. I saw his statement.

I meant that I would have liked to hear his side of the story.

How does one respond to an accusation that occurred years ago? He denied it but apologized for any discomfort he had caused her. It sounded to me like there was more to that story, or a different version in his view, but any further explanation would only be considered He Said, She Said.

[Major Nikon]

12. How do you explain using a mirror to spy on someone in the shower without consent?

To answer your question, you deny it happened if that's not what happened. His statement was published in full and he didn't even attempt to do so. Sometimes silence speaks volumes, especially when there's more than one person making completely independent allegations of the same type of behavior.

Actors like Rush have tremendous power because they know one word of theirs against a junior actor can be a career ending event. So the whole He Said, She Said thing just doesn't work all that well in that situation. As such actors like him have a much greater responsibility for ethical behavior and even if you take his side of the story at face value you're still left with the fact he's a first rate shitheel. Were it not for the fact he can hide behind Australia's oppressive defamation laws, I'm sure there'd be plenty more telling stories unfavorable to him.

[oberliner]

13. The statement is his side of the story, isn't it?