Jane Fonda: People Are Paying Attention to Weinstein’s Accusers Because They’re ‘Famous and White’
Actress Jane Fonda and activist Gloria Steinem stopped by MSNBC’s “All In With Chris Hayes” Wednesday night to discuss the Harvey Weinstein scandal, where Fonda pointed out that part of the reason Weinstein’s accusers are getting so much attention is because they’re “famous and white” — with the exception of Lupita Nyong’o.
“It feels like something has shifted,” Fonda told Hayes. “It’s too bad that it’s probably because so many of the women that were assaulted by Harvey Weinstein are famous and white and everybody knows them. This has been going on a long time to black women and other women of color and it doesn’t get out quite the same.”
Fonda and Steinem were on Hayes’ show as representatives of The Women’s Media Center, a non-profit founded by Steinem and Fonda along with poet Robin Morgan in 2005.
Harvey Weinstein has been accused by over 60 women of various forms of sexual harassment, including rape and assault. The reverberations of the scandal have been felt throughout the entertainment industry and society at large, with women continuing to come forward with stories of harassment at the hands of other powerful men, and several executives have lost their jobs or stepped down as a result of those allegations.
Steinem added that she believes there is power in numbers.
“If you steal money, you probably get arrested and convicted, because everybody says stealing is wrong. But if you do something that is very sexist or racist, because there still is a critical mass of bias in this country, it takes more cumulative instances for it to be recognized,” she said. “So we have reached a tipping point I think.”
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