Actress Issa Rae slammed Hollywood’s efforts to save The Flash star Ezra Miller, who has been accused of grooming a teenager since she was 12 years old, as well as acting inappropriately toward a separate child.
“It starts with a backbone,” Rae told Elle magazine. “While I don’t support people jumping to immediate conclusions and I think it’s entirely fair for investigations to happen, I think it’s extremely important to, like the mantra says, ‘Listen to women.'”
The actress went on to say that Hollywood’s “effort to save” the “repeat offender” Miller — who faces felony charges and abuse allegations yet remains involved with the production — is just “a microcosm of Hollywood.”
“The stuff that’s happening with Ezra Miller is, to me, a microcosm of Hollywood,” she said. “There’s this person who’s a repeat offender, who’s been behaving atrociously, and as opposed to shutting them down and shutting the production down, there’s an effort to save the movie and them.”
“That is a clear example of the lengths that Hollywood will go to to save itself and to protect offenders,” Rae added. “It’s just a constant pattern of abuse that’ll only persist if Hollywood continues to insist on being this way.”
After being asked if anything has changed for women in the wake of the #MeToo movement, Rae said, “There are just too many enablers for there to be real change.”
“People have to be held accountable,” the actress continued. “There have to be legitimate consequences. Hollywood is very bad about consequences. It’s literally the worst industry when it comes to punishing people for misdeeds and actions, because money will always reign supreme.”
“That’s something that, even by working in this industry, we’re enabling. So it’s hard,” she added.
In August, Warner Bros. — after remaining silent for months while Miller made headlines for questionable and disturbing behavior — finally broke its silence by revealing that the actor’s film The Flash is still proceeding, despite Miller’s seemingly never-ending stream of scandals, restraining orders, and a growing petition to recast his role.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
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