Casey Affleck is an Asshole

Stop defending assholes who don’t need defending

This was a twitter rant this morning, if you prefer it in twitter form it’s available here: https://twitter.com/i/moments/838062488822366210

If you prefer it in essay form, here you go:

Dear white folks who want to argue Casey Affleck with me… Please read this first as I’m tired of saying it.

 

First of all, look around and acknowledge that you’re all white. Only white folks are defending Casey Affleck, who does not need defending. He has a lawyer. He has many.

Casey doesn’t need you.

Please do the barest minimum of research. Stop using the word ‘alleged’, there is nothing ‘alleged’ as there is no court case pending.

Sexual harassment is not a criminal offence. It is not a matter of guilty or innocent. It’s like property damages or a divorce. Once a settlement is reached no one is ‘allegedly’ divorced. They’re divorced. Casey Affleck did not ‘allegedly’ harass two women. He sexually harassed two women on the job and he paid damages for it. End of story.

Also, please stop using the words ‘guilty’ and ‘innocent’. There is no trial. There were no criminal charges laid. There’s no debate. There is a difference between sexual harassment and sexual assault. Look it up, we have the google.

You want to throw around words? Say what you actually mean: “I believe those women lied to get money.” Because that’s what you mean. You prefer to believe that a producer and a cinematographer would jeopardize their careers for some cash. That they would purposefully blacklist themselves as “difficult to work with” and chance being cut out of Hollywood.

That’s what you mean, so say that. Say that in your opinion you’re not convinced that he did or didn’t do it. And recognize that you have that opinion because you had a crush on him in Good Will Hunting. Because it was safe and fun to think about Ben Affleck’s younger brother with no shirt on.

Be honest about it.

If you’re going to sit there and denigrate these two women then be honest about your motivations. Be honest about the fact that you’re so wrapped up in celebrity culture that you’re siding with the person whose name you recognize. And stop using words incorrectly to make yourself feel better about being a shallow jerk.

No, he’s not a sex offender, he’s not a rapist. He is a creep who sexually harassed two women on the job and paid damages for it. And the only people who blew it into something else were the people who wanted him to win an Oscar. Because maybe if we weren’t all so nuts he could’ve just come out when asked about it and said: “Yeah, I don’t want to get into it but I was a creep. What I did was not okay.” And then we could’ve moved on.

But nooooooo.

No, we need to live in a world where we believe that a 41 year old man can’t look back at something he did 6 years ago and say it was wrong.

We need to live in a world where people don’t change or regret or learn or get better. And that’s your fault.

Stop defending assholes. If you stop defending assholes they’ll fucking learn and then they’ll STOP BEING ASSHOLES.

Bonus for readers: why did I address this to white folks? Because they’re the only ones asking me to justify my position on this. They’re the only ones arguing the non-existent ‘allegations’ with me on social media. Figure that one out.