Rose McGowan and Meryl Streep's dispute makes us forget the real villain
As the Harvey Weinstein wounds still fester, women in Hollywood are figuring out how to respond, and not everyone's on the same page.
Case in point: The recent dispute featuring Rose McGowan, Amber Tamblyn, and Meryl Streep.
The three have recently expressed, or been linked to, differing opinions on how to call for change in the entertainment industry. The online bickering among spectators that's followed has muddied the waters a bit, making us momentarily forget who the real villain is: harassers like Weinstein.
SEE ALSO:Rose McGowan slams women planning to protest Golden Globes by wearing all blackIt all started on Saturday when McGowan gave a harsh reality checkto Streep and others who planned to wear black to the Golden Globes as a silent protest against sexual harassment in Hollywood.
"YOUR SILENCE is THE problem," McGowan wrote in a now-deleted tweet. "You'll accept a fake award breathlessly & affect no real change. I despise your hypocrisy. Maybe you should all wear Marchesa." (Marchesa is the brand owned by Weinstein's estranged wife, Georgina Chapman, referred to as GC by McGowan in some tweets.)
On Monday, Streep responded with a lengthy statement to The Huffington Post. She said she was "hurt" by McGowan's comments but wanted "to let her know I did not know about Weinstein’s crimes, not in the '90s when he attacked her, or through subsequent decades when he proceeded to attack others."
"I wasn’t deliberately silent. I didn’t know. I don’t tacitly approve of rape. I didn’t know. I don’t like young women being assaulted. I didn’t know this was happening."
"I am truly sorry she sees me as an adversary, because we are both, together with all the women in our business, standing in defiance of the same implacable foe."
Earlier in the day, actress Amber Tamblyn, who has shared her own storyof harassment in the past, added her two cents, criticising McGowan for "taunting the movements of other women who are trying to create change."
Tweet may have been deleted
McGowan then tweeted an apology on Monday afternoon. "There is no map for this road I’m on," she wrote.
Tweet may have been deleted
But the online discussion about all three women has continued. There are those sayingTamblyn is doing to McGowan what she told her friend to avoid. There are those saying McGowan's gone too far. There are those applaudingStreep for her compassionate response.
While individuals are trying their best to recuperate from their own trauma or respond to the Weinstein fallout, it's important to remember that our own aggressive energy is best directed at Weinstein and the countless other harassers, rather than the missteps of the women trying to sort it all out.
McGowan said it best: There is no map.
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