Hollywood Dons Angel Wings for Sexual Harassment Commission

“Former Vice President Joe Biden is expressing regret over how he handled the 1991 hearing in which Anita Hill shared stories about alleged sexual harassment from her former boss Clarence Thomas who the Senate was preparing to confirm as a justice on the Supreme Court. "I believed Anita Hill. I voted against Clarence Thomas. And I insisted the next election — I campaigned for two women Senators on the condition that if they won they would come on the Judiciary Committee, so there would never be again all men making a judgement (sic) on this," Biden said in an interview published Wednesday by Teen Vogue.”

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“Biden chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee at the time of the hearings. Thomas was confirmed in a 52-48 vote. Hill alleged that Thomas had sexually harassed her when she worked in his office.  (CBS News) "And my one regret is that I wasn't able to tone down the attacks on her by some of my Republican friends. I mean, they really went after her. As much as I tried to intervene, I did not have the power to gavel them out of order. I tried to be like a judge and only allow a question that would be relevant to ask," he added.”

“The commission's formation, follows a cascade of sexual harassment allegations in Hollywood that began with accusations from dozens of women, against movie mogul, Harvey Weinstein. (CBS News) "This is by far the most aggressive step we've seen," Belloni said. "This is the one that they're going to put forth as a code of conduct for the industry to help combat this issue ... The accountability question is the key question here because it's all talk until there are consequences for this behavior," Belloni said. “Members of the new commission told CBS News they aren't doing interviews yet. But they plan to reconvene early next year and say more announcements will be coming.”

“Both men said at the event for the movie, which details The Washington Post’s publication of the Pentagon Papers in the 1970s, that attacks on the free press from the White House at the time are similar to assaults on the media now, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “There’s a lot of excitement when you talk about stolen papers and government secrets and an administration attacking the press to stop the truth from being told,” Spielberg said. “That all happened in 1971, but it’s kind of kind of evocative of things that are also part of the current landscape. And so we thought that was a story that couldn’t wait to be told,” he said. “Hanks, who plays Post editor Ben Bradlee in the film, also told the Reporter that the Nixon administration had launched “a full-frontal assault on the First Amendment by literally trying to stop the press from publishing.” “You can’t do that and still have the United States of America," Hanks said. "I think the current administration and their like-minded allies are waging a guerrilla war on the First Amendment.” “Spielberg's and Hanks’s comments come as President Trump repeatedly attacks the media for its coverage of his administration. “He once again attacked the press earlier this month after recent errors in reports about former and current Trump officials.”

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