4211

He played his character in House of Cards and sort of responded to the allegations in that character’s voice and persona. It reminded me of Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard being unable to separate her movie memories from reality.

4212

To add to Mark’s response, google “Let me be Frank” and Spacey if you’d like the opportunity to downvote it.

4213

Okay yeah that was … I dunno what the hell that was. Intertwining of playing Frank as though for the show but trying to dodge personal accusations. Who thought that was a good idea?

4214

I believe the answer was… no one. I think the person who helped put the video together wasn’t a fan either. It really doesn’t scream the innocence I think he thought it would say. The creep factor is just so… high.

4215

Amazingly high. Higher than the creepiness and sleaziness of the character from the show, himself.

4216

Maybe he was relying on people to to link those to, but since I didn’t watch the show, as far as I am concerned, that was 100% Kevin Spacey doing some creepy, sleaze ball video about allegations against him. That’s going to stick with him until death, regardless of what he managers to or not to do.

4217

Sadly(?) the show was good. Prior to all this it ran along with nearly real portrayal of a sleazy politician and his wife and them doing anything to make it within the political world within the US. His role was amazing in both drawing you in, while also giving you disgust for him and his ilk (and real life politicians that are of the same mold.) So all of this circles around with his actual personal sleaziness, that strange sorry/not-sorry dismissal video and everything else. If it weren’t for all of this I’d recommend the show, but screw that. Spacey doesn’t deserve time spent from anyone giving him any sort of admiration at this point.

4218

I heard that it was good and it was recommended to me even. But… as TV becomes dozens of subs to get to outside of expensive cable packages… I just wind up watching less and less TV. I think I am done to 6 shows now, and not really picking anything up. At least a dodged a bullet on this one!

4219

There are certain actors who are typecast into roles that are nothing like their offscreen personalities. Edward G. Robinson and Boris Karloff, by all accounts, were lovely people.

… And then there are actors whose roles match their actual personalities quite well. Turns out there’s a reason Kevin Spacey kept getting roles as a sleazy or creepy guy.

4220

A better version of Let me be Frank is the spoof with a voiceover by a local film student that helped direct - really funny IMO.

4221

Only two years ago, Franken was being talked up as a possible challenger to President Donald Trump in 2020. In Senate hearings, Franken had proved himself to be one of the most effective critics of the Trump Administration. His tough questioning of Jeff Sessions, Trump’s nominee for Attorney General, had led Sessions to recuse himself from the investigation into Russian influence in the 2016 election, and prompted the appointment of Robert Mueller as special counsel.

As it turns out, Franken’s only role in the 2020 Presidential campaign has been as a figure of controversy. On June 4th, Pete Buttigieg was widely criticized on social media for saying that he would not have pressured Franken to resign—as had virtually all his Democratic rivals who were then in the Senate—without first learning more about the alleged incidents. At the same time, the Presidential candidacy of Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has been plagued by questions about her role as the first of three dozen Democratic senators to demand Franken’s resignation. Gillibrand has cast herself as a feminist champion of “zero tolerance” toward sexual impropriety, but Democratic donors sympathetic to Franken have stunted her fund-raising and, Gillibrand says, tried to “intimidate” her “into silence.”

Franken’s fall was stunningly swift: he resigned only three weeks after Leeann Tweeden, a conservative talk-radio host, accused him of having forced an unwanted kiss on her during a 2006 U.S.O. tour. Seven more women followed with accusations against Franken; all of them centered on inappropriate touches or kisses. Half the accusers’ names have still not become public. Although both Franken and Tweeden called for an independent investigation into her charges, none took place. This reticence reflects the cultural moment: in an era when women’s accusations of sexual discrimination and harassment are finally being taken seriously, after years of belittlement and dismissal, some see it as offensive to subject accusers to scrutiny. “Believe Women” has become a credo of the #MeToo movement.

At his house, Franken said he understood that, in such an atmosphere, the public might not be eager to hear his grievances. Holding his head in his hands, he said, “I don’t think people who have been sexually assaulted, and those kinds of things, want to hear from people who have been #MeToo’d that they’re victims.” Yet, he added, being on the losing side of the #MeToo movement, which he fervently supports, has led him to spend time thinking about such matters as due process, proportionality of punishment, and the consequences of Internet-fuelled outrage. He told me that his therapist had likened his experience to “what happens when primates are shunned and humiliated by the rest of the other primates.” Their reaction, Franken said, with a mirthless laugh, “is ‘I’m going to die alone in the jungle.’ ”

4222

Due process… there was a picture. It wasn’t believing her over him… there was an inappropriate picture of him treating a member of the military like some sort of sexist joke object.

4223

Disgraced Screen Junkies creator Andy Signore, tells his side of the story #MeToo

4224

It’s absolutely true that Franken could have said fuck you that was nothing I’m not resigning, and no one would or could have forced him out. Which means, in the end, he decided to go voluntarily, and that suggests he knows he was wrong.

4225

Sure, but I think it’s at least worth having a conversation about “proportionality of punishment” as Franken puts it. And I’m not trying to support one side over the other. I think it’s something to talk about, though.

And of course Trump gets off scot free even though he’s practically a rapist. And the evangelicals praise him, even wondering if he’s part of God’s plan. Fucking hypocrites.

4226

To me the bigger issue on Franklin is rehabilitation/re-entry to public life. I think Franken should have resigned but I also feel like his offenses are of the nature and quality that he could in theory, over time, rehabilitate himself and re-enter public life but we don’t have any kind of process for that.

In my view, he abused his power and celebrity to grab womens’ asses during photo-ops, so he needs to show remorse over that, and then show he can treat women respectfully and not abuse his power. In an ideal world, there would be some sort of way for him to do that, to spend a certain amount of time and effort and then re-enter public life.

We’re just sort of making this up as we go along, so I’m open to the idea of his rehabilitation. But this recent spate of articles making it sound like he was ill-treated; that’s not convincing me at all.

4227

The more rape accusations there are against Trump, the less they evidently matter, because it’s a case of “eh, throw it on the pile, nothing new.” That is not a universal dynamic – exactly the opposite happened with Cosby – but in any case it’s maddening.

4228

It’s true he is no Weinstein, Cosby or dear gods this Epstein guy. He’s not in jail.

There are probably a million things he can do, but he says he wish he hadn’t resigned which makes it seem like that’s his biggest regret. How about this, take one of those millions of things he can still do, which all include not hiding in the shadows and having a public life but probably no prominence in DC. When he says public life, I think that’s what he means, and he lost that opportunity when he clearly, without a doubt, decided to treat women like objects instead of people to be respected and treated professionally. There is no place for him in DC. He can certainly try again somewhere else and maybe after years of proving himself capable of acting like a respectable member of society, maybe he can go back. There is life outside DC.

4229

This is a good point. If he really wanted to rehabilitate himself, he would get involved in some local work that benefits women, the Democratic party and liberal causes, even if it was just starting out as a phone lackey calling people on behalf of a local level female politician. Spend some time doing that, raise his profile gradually, show a pattern of respectful behavior towards women, and show a pattern of ability to use his power and position without abuse, and then eventually run for office again.

4230

Wait, did he do all that while he has been away?