Rep. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) joined Breitbart News Daily on SiriusXM Thursday morning to discuss the Republicans’ newly released tax plan and Hollywood’s still-developing sexual misconduct scandal with Breitbart News Editor-in-Chief and show host Alex Marlow.
During the interview, Marlow asked DeSantis whether the misconduct scandal surrounding Hollywood — first sparked by an October New York Times report about decades of sexual harassment and assault allegations against move mogul Harvey Weinstein — might become the subject of an official Congressional inquiry.
“Look, Hollywood is a cesspool. The idea that Weinstein is alone, or even that conspicuous, I don’t think is true,” DeSantis told Marlow. “I think this is pervasive behavior in Hollywood, and I think it does implicate the media. I think they’ve been complicit in it, I think businesses have been complicit in it.”
“I think the issue for [Congress] is, is there a jurisdictional hook for government activity, that government has been involved with regulating or not, and I don’t know the answer to that,” he added. “It definitely needs to be throughly investigated, so I think we just have to figure out whether Congress is the appropriate venue. But I think whatever we’ve seen come out of the woodwork, I think it’ll be exponentially greater if we, or some entity, actually brought in witnesses to testify about all the filth that happened there.”
LISTEN [Discussion on Hollywood begins at 16:40 mark]:
DeSantis’ comments come as at least one Republican lawmaker has called for Congressional hearings on Hollywood’s treatment of women.
Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO) told Breitbart News in an exclusive interview Thursday that Congress should help expose the widespread “criminal conduct” in the entertainment industry.
“Now that we are discussing the tax bill, I think our leadership should make it absolutely clear that we are not going to allow deductibility of settlements for the conduct of sexual predators and give a tax benefit to the entertainment industry for criminal behavior,” Buck said.
More major Hollywood figures were accused of sexual misconduct this week as the scandal has continued into a second month. Actor Kevin Spacey was accused Sunday of making a sexual advance on a then-14-year-old actor at a New York City party in 1986, while director Brett Ratner was accused of misconduct by at least six different women.
In all, more than 50 prominent figures in Hollywood and media have been accused of sexual harassment, assault, or other misconduct in recent weeks.
Listen to Rep. DeSantis’s full interview above.
Breitbart News Daily airs on SiriusXM Patriot 125 weekdays from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. Eastern.
Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum
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