There’s a Petition to Bar Casey Affleck from the Oscars
A director in New York, Cameron Bossert, started the change.org petition in light of Affleck's sexual harassment allegations.
Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
The recent run of powerful alleged sexual harassers being forced to face consequences for their actions has ensnared producers, journalists, and businessmen. But given the scope of the problem, there are some people frustrated that progress isn’t happening quickly enough. A director in New York has now introduced a petition to stop Casey Affleck from participating in the 2018 Academy Awards because of the sexual harassment allegations against him.
Affleck won a Best Actor Oscar for Manchester by the Sea at the Academy Awards last year, but in the run-up to the awards ceremony, conversation about his sexual harassment allegations resurfaced. As a reminder, he was accused of climbing into bed with one woman while she was sleeping and trying to get another to get a hotel room with him, among other things, during filming of I’m Not There, the mockumentary he directed about Joaquin Phoenix. Affleck denied the allegations, but settled with both women out of court.
The added factor here: Tradition states that the prior year’s Best Actor winner hands out the award to the new year’s Best Actress winner. In this case, in 2018 an alleged sexual harasser will hand out his industry’s highest award to a woman at the most important moment of her professional life.
The Academy has not commented on whether or not they’ll make any changes to this year’s award ceremony, so Cameron Bossert took matters into his own hands. His petition, “Don’t let Casey Affleck participate in the 2018 Oscars” doesn’t mince words. As Bossert puts it, “As a burgeoning film maker, I want to know that the industry I am entering respects and protects everyone, no matter their gender. Movies are better when made by a diverse crew – and that won’t happen if women keep getting harassed in at work. Let’s stop honoring people like Weinstein and Affleck and hold them accountable for their actions.”
The petition currently has more than 3,000 signatures, and seems likely to climb, given the level of interest in this issue currently. It’s addressed to John Bailey, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, as well as the Academy itself.
Notably, the woman who followed through on the tradition of handing out the award last year, Brie Larson, has more or less admitted that we can interpret her lack of applause for him then as a statement.
