Bill Maher never (almost) found a famous man accused of misconduct whom he did not want to defend. The late-night comedian, who once warned that the #MeToo Movement is creating a “police state” for sex, defended Chris Matthews of MSNBC after being accused of sexual harassment (and mocked his accuser for a measure Hi); defended his friend Al Franken, who was accused of touching and kissing unconsciously; defended former Trump friend Corey Lewandowski after he was caught on tape pushing a reporter; he repeatedly angered accuser Joe Biden, Tara Reade, whose lawyer later accused him of “recycling old rape myths”; and once claimed that married men sexually harass women “because they have a shitty sex life.” There are, of course, many other examples; this is just a taster.
Which brings us to Friday night Real time with Bill Maher, in which the political satirist took on the defense of Hollywood actor Armie Hammer, who is accused of emotional and physical abuse by a number of women. According to Maher, “feminism” may be the real culprit here.
“I think we can talk about this in relation to where feminism is, because apparently Armie Hammer has a predilection for telling the dates she wants to ‘eat’. And who wouldn’t want to be eaten by Armie Hammer? Come onMaher began. When a woman cheered the audience, Maher proclaimed, “Exactly my point of view. Thank you – an honest woman. ”
Hammer, the 34-year-old star of movies like Social network and Call me by your name, initially came under control when DM Instagram was removed from the @houseofeffie account in which she expressed cannibal women, rapes and kidnappings. Unfortunately, some members of the press and the public then began to combine the actor’s confusions with real accusations of coercion and emotional and physical abuse.
“Looks like this is something called ‘human cannibal ethical fetishism.’ No real women were eaten in making this film. They were just talking. They have his lyrics, where he said things like, “I want to take your ribs out and boil them with grilled sauce,” says Maher. “We are in such a pornographic society – people have been watching really hardcore porn for so long that ‘spank you’ doesn’t stop it.” (So porn is apparently to blame for Hammer’s fetishes now, based on … what?)
Maher painted Hammer’s accusers as women who simply had a change of heart: “My idea is that the women who now oppose this, who went out with Armie Hammer – willingly – and stayed in – willingly – and there were no bad things happening, OK … we can all agree that it’s intolerable – but if there was no physical constraint, why not record this: “That seemed like a good idea at the time – to let Armie Hammer eat me … but he really wasn’t. ‘It seems that we no longer have any property over our own choices. ”
One of the real-time panelists, TIME correspondent Charlotte Alter disputed that “there were physical things” between Hammer and his accusers. “Some of the women claimed that there was a kind of slap. A woman said she sculpted her initials in her body, “Alter added.
“Did he tie her up and do that?” he pulled Maher back. “I do not think.”
Here we should consider exactly what Hammer accuses. One of the first women to go public and accuse Hammer of misconduct was Courtney Vucekovich, an entrepreneur and application founder, who told Page Six that the actor forced her into an insecure relationship, forcing her into “Dangerous situations in which I was not well,” including sexual ones.
“He’s in a hurry in a relationship,” she told Page Six. “It kind of captivates you and, although it is charming, it takes care of you for these things that are darker, heavier and consuming. When I say consumption, I mean mentally, physically, emotionally, financially, anything. Vucekovich claims that she had to be hospitalized for 30 days with PTSD, which she suffered after meeting Hammer.
“The women approached me with their stories of adventures, while we talked overwhelmed with pain for days and nights without sleeping or eating, some reaching the emergency room …”
Then there was Paige Lorenze, 22, who said Hammer she sent nude photos around her to other people without her consentand he manipulated her emotionally to let him beat her repeatedly, encouraging her to “show” the signs and “be proud” of them. She claims that Hammer “enjoyed hurting women, but used BDSM as a mask for it” and told Page Six that she had been in trauma therapy since ordeal.
A number of other women appeared anonymously at @houseofeffie, claiming that Hammer had crossed borders and that they had experienced abusive behavior from him.
“The women approached me with their adventure stories, while we talked in pain overwhelmed for days and nights without sleeping or eating, some arriving in an emergency,” wrote the person who leads @houseofeffie in an Instagram story. (Hammer, who was dropped from film and TV projects, dropped out of his agency and was hit by his estranged wife, denying all charges.)
Go back to Maher, who insisted Real time that all the women who accuse Hammer have said that everything is “consensual” and that “I think he’s exactly the type in the book Fifty shades of gray, which was the most popular book in the world, I think, with women … He’s a rich, handsome guy, a movie star, and he’s stupid. ”
Then he explicitly blamed Hammer’s accusers – again: “If you swim with alpha sharks, you won’t do well in the end. Shouldn’t you know that? I mean, is it really that hard to figure out without the law getting involved? Maher said, adding, “He’s a cad!”
By the way, Maher has his own checkered past with women. Actress and activist Rose McGowan accused Maher quite recently of harassing her when she was invited to her show: “I went to your show Politically incorrect in the late ’90s – as the show was returning from a commercial break, you leaned over and whispered in my ear: “My parents didn’t give me a good face, but they gave me a cock huge, ”she wrote, adding:“ I could feel your hot breath in my ear as an image of your hideous face and the supposed big cock shone through my mind. They both turned my stomach. I always wondered what you say and do to girls who are not famous? ”