Just over a year into the #MeToo era, the wealthy, powerful men accused of sexual misconduct seem to be doing extremely, defiantly fine. This week, for instance, audio leaked of comedian Louis C.K.’s horrific December 16 set on Long Island, in which he bitterly derides, among others, gender-neutral individuals and Parkland shooting survivors as being the real thorns in society’s side (as opposed to, say, admitted sexual abusers being allowed to take up stage time that could go to, say, those who haven’t committed sexual abuse). Meanwhile, according to “Page Six”, another accused sexual assaulter, former CBS CEO Les Moonves, has been enjoying his post-accusation life on a $590 million megayacht in St. Barts.
Moonves was ousted from CBS in September, hours after The New Yorker published a bombshell report that detailed numerous allegations of sexual misconduct against him, including two women who accused Moonves of physically forcing them into performing oral sex, and staff at the Four Seasons Hotel in Washington, D.C., who said he regularly harassed massage therapists in the late 1990s and early 2000s. (In a statement to The New Yorker, Moonves acknowledged three of the alleged encounters, though he did not specify which, but insisted they were consensual.) Now, just a few months later, he is reportedly cruising around the Caribbean on Hollywood mogul David Geffen’s 495-foot yacht called the Rising Sun, which he flew out to after Christmas on a private jet, along with his wife, Julie Chen, and NBCUniversal vice chairman Ron Meyer, who “Page Six” notes “is not involved in a scandal.” Cool.
“Les isn’t hanging his head in shame; he’s living it up on a yacht in St. Barts,” one source told “Page Six.” “It seems that the Hollywood moguls look out for each other, no matter what.”
C.K. and Moonves are not the only accused abusers whose post-#MeToo lives are looking pretty okay. Former Today show host Matt Lauer, who reportedly spent the spring “soul-searching” on his multi-million dollar compound in the Hamptons, also took to the sea back in September, spending his Labor Day weekend aboard a boat called, amazingly, Resilient. He has also claimed he will be “back on TV.” Disgraced chef Mario Batali was reportedly considering a move to Italy’s beautiful Amalfi coast, and after taking some time to reflect at his own multi-million dollar property in Bellport, Long Island, former CBS host Charlie Rose accused his own accusers of “exploiting” the #MeToo movement.
My, what a reckoning.
