Huston, We Have A Problem

Look, I’m not here to shit on anyone’s faves. I think Anjelica Huston is a magnificent actor. She’s a striking presence on screen. (And featured in my very first Tank Top Tuesdays.) As people began to read her expansive Q&A in New York Magazine last week, they were delighted by her frankness and take-no-shit attitude. Quotes were shared on Twitter. Much of the interview was so great. But then I read further. And, well, hoo boy.

But this? NOT GREAT.

When asked about some of the famous men who have been rightly reviled in the #MeToo Movement things went terribly wrong.

You were in two Woody Allen films, Crimes and Misdemeanors, alongside Mia Farrow, and then Manhattan Murder Mystery. Woody Allen is basically unable to make films now because of the outcry about the molestation allegations.
I think that’s after two states investigated him, and neither of them prosecuted him.
Well, the industry seems to be treating him as though he’s guilty. Would you work with him again?
Yeah, in a second.
Jeffrey Tambor, whose girlfriend you played on seasons two and three of Transparent, was accused by his former assistant and an actress on the show of behaving inappropriately toward them. Did you know the two women?
I’ve met them both. At least insofar as I was concerned, nobody did or said anything inappropriate. I do think in this work we have to feel freedom. We have to feel as though we can say and do things that are not necessarily judged, particularly by the other people in the cast or crew.
So you think what happens on the set should stay on the set, and there are processes that make the rules of behavior a little different from what you might find at a corporate job?
That’s absolutely what I’m saying.
So would it be fair to say this is a defense of things that Jeffrey might have said that were possibly misinterpreted?
Yes, that is fair. He certainly never said or did anything inappropriate with me.
How did you come down on Polanski when people were signing petitions to have him readmitted to the U.S.?
My opinion is: He’s paid his price, and at the time that it happened, it was kind of unprecedented. This was not an unusual situation. You know that movie An Education with Carey Mulligan? That happened to me. It’s about a schoolgirl in England who falls in love with an older dude, Peter Sarsgaard. My first serious boyfriend I met when he was 42 and I was 18.
The photographer Bob Richardson. It wasn’t illegal though.
He was way older than me. I mean, old enough to know better. But these things happen, that’s what I’m saying. These things weren’t judged on the same basis that they’re judged on now. So you can’t compare them.

Here’s the thing, we can't change our culture if we keep letting bad men slide. Cultural mores may evolve, but wrong is wrong.

Drugging and raping a 13-year-old girl? Wrong.

Sexually abusing your 7-year-old daughter? Wrong.

Sexually harassing the trans actresses on your set? Wrong.

I’m not a fan of cancel culture, instead I’m a fan of genuine growth. So I my hope is that someone in Anjelica’s life looks at what she said about these unrepentant Bad Men and have a talk with her.

And that talk will include saying just because someone has never been personally mean, bullying, abusive, criminal and or sexually inappropriate with you, does not mean that person has not done any or all of those things to someone else.

So when you say about your “Transparent” co-star Jeffrey Tambor, “He certainly never said or did anything inappropriate with me,” that actually doesn’t prove one single thing. Instead it assumes your experience – as a rich, famous, respected, white woman – is universal. That since you, a person who has been famous for decades, was treated well by a co-worker, everyone will obviously be treated by said co-worker exactly the same way.

Just like being married to a woman does not inoculate a sexist man from being sexist, or just like having a black friend does not inoculate a racist from being racist, or just having a gay family member does not inoculate a homophobe from being homophobic. You can be nice and decent even to certain people, while still being horrible and monstrous to others.

Anyway, in life, always strive to be more empathetic – not less.