This past Thursday, October 19th, Oscar-winning actress Lupita Nyong’o joined the ranks of women coming forward with stories of sexual harassment and abuse at the hands of movie mogul Harvey Weinstein. 

To say her story is deeply unsettling would be an understatement:

Lupita Nyong’o writes for NYT about her experience with Weinstein https://t.co/zvWKmaZxVc pic.twitter.com/ix145FjAhh

— Gideon Resnick (@GideonResnick) October 19, 2017

Lupita Nyong’o writes in @nytopinion: What Harvey Weinstein did to me https://t.co/9m5tKiQTPm pic.twitter.com/1GF0nYxhcn

— The New York Times (@nytimes) October 19, 2017

On Friday, Weinstein’s spokesperson gave a comment denying crucial parts of Nyong’o’s story:

Update: Weinstein has responded to Nyong’o’s claim, saying he “has a different recollection of the events” https://t.co/B3GlLjSI8E

— Vulture (@vulture) October 20, 2017

The world collectively reacted:

Okay Harvey pic.twitter.com/8plzrlqkru

— Erin Blakemore (@heroinebook) October 21, 2017

Weinstein himself even made a statement:

“Last year she sent a personal invitation 2 Mr. Weinstein 2 see her in her Broadway show ‘Eclipsed.’”-Passive aggressive victim blaming https://t.co/R84EZsD9SP

— Stephanie Parrott (@StephParrott) October 21, 2017

Twitter was not having it:

NO ONE WILL EVER BELIEVE YOU, HARVEY. DON’T YOU DARE TRY TO DISGRACE OUR FAVE GIRL.

— Chrissa 👻 (@chrissahardy) October 20, 2017

And many theorized why Weinstein would weigh in this time when he hadn’t before…

I find it bizarre that Lupita, the only black actress who has shared her harassment story of HW, he issues a response. But not 2 any others. https://t.co/dqiWegQGFH

— Melissa Silverstein (@melsil) October 21, 2017

“I’m cool with all these white women coming forward but I’ll be DAMNED IF A BLACK WOMAN DOES!!” https://t.co/yJxTsT7rMY

— D’Challa 🇯🇲 (@Dee_animated) October 21, 2017

Out of the 40+ accounts of sexual harassment and assault, he goes after Lupita. 🤔 https://t.co/wKxeGru8JE

— Chrissa 👻 (@chrissahardy) October 20, 2017

Sexual predator admitting that he preyed on white woman but denying that he preyed on a black woman. Shocking. https://t.co/ZeCZkPS6Ce

— generally dgaf ✌🏼 (@GHRealDeal) October 21, 2017

Even at what should be the lowest point in his life, he doesn’t want the world to believe that he tried to sexually assault a Black woman. https://t.co/OI7WLmUTkf

— Hannah Drake (@HannahDrake628) October 21, 2017

He probably didn’t like how her account showed her ways to remove his power over a situation. I’m sure her being a woc affects it too.

— Tim, Durdle Supreme (@timswar) October 20, 2017

This is just the latest in a longstanding pattern:

ALL women, don’t ignore Weinstein’s questioning of the woman of color. This is what WOC face everyday. We are discredited. #Weinstein https://t.co/uN6wfscCfQ

— mothermade (@mothermade) October 21, 2017

The masses stand with Nyong’o:

Think I’ll bet on Ms. Nyong’o’s version. https://t.co/xlLLk4wa21

— Russell La Claire (@RustyBrown47) October 21, 2017

I believe Lupita. Period. https://t.co/4jYheBHQQ4

— Beandrea July (@beandreadotcom) October 20, 2017

Weinstein has been fired from his job at the Weinstein company, expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, and is now being investigated for sexual assault by the LA Police Department. 

Harvey Weinstein is under investigation for an alleged sexual assault in LA in 2013, the @latimes reports. https://t.co/COaSZR7wkT

— Twitter Moments (@TwitterMoments) October 19, 2017

H/T – Twitter, Variety

The awful ubiquity of the #MeToo campaign and Harvey Weinstein’s fall from movie mogul to universally shunned abuser have encouraged the victims of other powerful abusers to come forward. 

Last week a young man posted his own ‘me too’ story. Without naming names, he described a talent agent who drugged and sexually assaulted him when he was  ten years old. Other victims put the pieces together and formed a quiet circle of support until the original abuser actually used the ‘poke’ function on Facebook in the creepiest way possible:

We  haven’t had any correspondence in a decade, and aren’t friends on FB, yet today, out of the blue, he “pokes” me. He must have been made aware  of the post by one of our many mutuals. Was his poke passive aggressive? An abuser making himself known, a quiet threat? An admission of guilt  with a smirky, ‘just try me’ ? I don’t know and I don’t care. It felt gross.

So that young man, Blaise Godbe, decided to go public: the agent’s name was Tyler Grasham, and he worked for APA Agency still representing child actors. 

Well, that was Monday. By Friday, two of Grasham’s clients, Stranger Things star Finn Wolfhard and Descendents star Cameron Boyce, both dropped him as their representation. By the end of Friday, the agency fired Grasham. 

Finn in particular earned praise for his rapid actions dumping the toxic agent. 

Smart kid, made the right choice. A small step towards progress

— smol 🐾 shandy (@iKerochu) October 21, 2017

Honestly @FinnSkata gives me hope for the future generations. https://t.co/o6JkWNPJ9m

— rachel leishman (@RachelLeishman) October 20, 2017

2017. When America’s moral compass is a 14-year old. https://t.co/lK9o0lr9y3

— Bill Weir (@BillWeirCNN) October 21, 2017

This has made me teary. The industry is changing. He is 14. ❤️ https://t.co/GImokldkd7

— Milly Thomas 🌈 (@missmillythomas) October 21, 2017

The Stranger Things kids are truly the change we wish to see in the world. https://t.co/VoPvG3iBmp

— Jamie K. White (@jamiekCNN) October 21, 2017

Let’s hope this signals a deep shift in the way these industries work. 

H/T: Twitter

As more details of the Harvey Weinstein sexual assault allegations come to light, people are asking how this could have gone on so long without anyone saying anything. What they may not know, or may have forgotten, is that people did speak up. One of those people was singer and actress Courtney Love.

She spoke up all the way back in 2005, on live TV in fact.

via GIPHY

GIPHY

It happened as she was walking the red carpet at Comedy Central’s roast of Pamela Anderson. Interviewer Natasha Leggero asked Courtney if she had any advice for young girls moving to Hollywood. Courtney, who had been smiling up to that point, turned away from Natasha and responded:

“Um… I’ll get libeled if I say it.”

Twitter Screenshot

After a moment she turned back to the camera and blurted out:

“If Harvey Weinstein invites you to a private party at the Four Seasons, don’t go.”

Courtney Love was WARNING about Harvey Weinstein in 2005!

“If Harvey Weinstein invites u to a private party at the Four Seasons, DON’T GO” pic.twitter.com/RK9Vruxy2T

— Chet Cannon (@Chet_Cannon) October 14, 2017

At the time, many people dismissed her comment as humor. She was, after all, speaking at a Comedy Central roast, where being edgy and controversial are par for the course. To some people, her reputation, her struggles with addiction and her obvious intoxication during the roast made her less than credible.

Even the interviewer herself had completely forgotten about the exchange.

I forgot that Courtney ❤️ told me to stay away from Harvey Weinstein 12 years ago https://t.co/A0150bit0X

— Natasha Leggero (@natashaleggero) October 14, 2017

Twitter had thoughts…

It’s all for not. She was such a basket case beforehand that she had no credibility. the 1 time she’s sober and makes sense no was listening

— Tronald (@BinksterD) October 14, 2017

I was as guilty as anyone disregarding what she said cause of drugs, yet shit like what Harvey did is why drug and alcohol addiction begin.

— Rebecca DiVerniero (@Deevs1369) October 16, 2017

I remember, but unfortunately she had such a big drug problem + a propensity for trash talking people, that I didn’t believe. sorry Court

— scrєamqυєєη 😱💀 (@mayqueeeen) October 15, 2017

If only Courtney’s words hadn’t fallen on deaf ears…

I can only imagine how many dismissed her as crazy and suffered for it.

— CommentaTRICKS (@ms_radorable) October 14, 2017

Well, not entirely deaf, perhaps. 

According to Courtney, she was banned from CAA and essentially forbidden from working in Hollywood as a result of her comment.

And she was banned from Creative Artists Agency as a result, example to others who thought of speaking up.

— DPeck (@multigun1) October 16, 2017

2/@Courtney says CAA blackballed her after she spoke out. Now it says👇. I’d like an expose on whether CAA/others covered for Weinstein. #NYT pic.twitter.com/tEuOyiluaI

— TheBethPenalty (@_thebethpenalty) October 15, 2017

Other celebrities are showing Courtney some love.

Like actress Asia Argento:

The great, brave @Courtney warned the world in 2005, NOBODY listened https://t.co/JEzq9efAwO

— Asia Argento (@AsiaArgento) October 15, 2017

And producer Judd Apatow:

Courtney warned everyone. https://t.co/TztCFfqYqw

— Judd Apatow (@JuddApatow) October 14, 2017

Whatever way people saw her back in 2005, this is how people are viewing her now:

Gutsy….12 years ahead of her time….no air cover, no boots on ground to back her up. Warrior. Rad street cred.

— Scott Slinker (@scott_slinker) October 15, 2017

People are so quick to discredit anything she says, but Courtney Love is as real as it gets. Love her!

— Cat (@QueerDucky69) October 14, 2017

H/T: Twitter

James Franco has a new show coming out on HBO. The Oscar nominee plays twin brothers Vincent and Frankie Martino in The Deuce, along with costars Maggie Gyllenhaal, Gbenga Akinnagbe and Gary Carr.

Set in 1970s New York, The Deuce delves into the rise of the pornography industry.

Us Magazine interviewed Franco about the upcoming series, and the conversation naturally drifted towards porn. 

Franco said he doesn’t watch porn anymore:

I don’t know if you believe me or not. I watched it in my day. I certainly watched it as research for this show. [But] I don’t watch porn.

Why he abstains is noteworthy: 

I have no moralistic stand against it by any means, but in unregulated capitalism, I think that’s one of the main points of our show. There’s always these people, a select few who sort of come out on top and the rest are just thrown under the bus. My friend Rashida Jones came out with a documentary called ‘Hot Girls Wanted’ a couple of years ago and I think the main point I took away from that film is that these young women [in porn] are not protected… It’s just completely unregulated. They go out to Florida and they’re just sort of ground up in a matter of months and just discarded, and nobody is there to protect them. There’s no laws to protect them and that is very much the case in our show as well.

Concern for the economic welfare of the women involved, class struggle, and disdain for the manipulation of the worker. Thoughtful and certainly admirable.

H/T:Indy 100, Us

Brazilian photographer Eduardo Martins stunned the world with his breathtaking photos taken all over the planet. But there was one big problem: they weren’t his photos.

“Eduardo Martins” was a well-known photographer, having amassed over 120,000 Instagram followers for his powerful photos of people in war-torn nations.

But things changed recently when a few journalists started to become suspicious.

Martins had claimed to be a U.N. photographer, telling BBC Brazil via WhatsApp in August: “I am a humanitarian (volunteer) in the United Nations (UN) field. I work in the organization of refugee camps,” a claim he had made for several years.

The detail was apparently just one of many in a made-up life in which Martins claimed to be a 32-year-old Brazilian photographer who had survived leukemia as a child before landing the U.N. gig.

Martins’ photos were widely used by publications such as The Wall Street Journal and The Telegraph for several years before a reporter with the BBC started doing some research.

Natasha Ribeiro says Martins approached BBC Brazil about using his images, even offering them for free, but was only available to communicate through WhatsApp.

Twitter: @natasharibeiro

Martins’ excuse for no phone contact was because he was currently in Mosul, Iraq.

Her suspicions now in full force, Ribeiro discovered that nobody had heard of Martins. No government, no reporters in Mosul. Even the U.N., Martins’ supposed employer, had no record of him.

So if Martins didn’t really exist, then where were the photos coming from? And was that even Martins in his pictures?

Well, the answers were a bit startling.

The man pictured in Martins’ Instagram photos was actually British surfer Max Hepworth-Povey, who is not Brazilian.

Lead Surf Coach, Yoga Teacher, Marketing Legend, Head of Hydration AND Photographer / Filmer. Over worked and under paid Bra TRRRUSST ME. #crymeariver #anotherdayinparadise #ttridecostarica #selfie #lifesgood

A post shared by Max Hepworth-Povey (@hepworth_max) on Feb 23, 2017 at 8:14am PST

As for the photos Martins’ allegedly took? Many of them belong to American photographer Daniel C. Britt.

At least nine of Britt’s photos had previously been stolen by Martins, according to the BBC, and had been sold to agencies like Getty and Zuma.

Martins had mirrored some photos or made minor changes using Photoshop to prevent anyone, including Britt, from doing a reverse image Google search to connect them back to the originals.

Screenshot from Martins’ now-deleted Instagram

After a Brazilian gallery expressed interest in doing an exhibit of Martins’ work, fellow photographer and journalist Fernando Costa Netto, who had an online friendship with Martins, unintentionally clued Martins into the investigation surrounding his authenticity.

Martins’ Instagram account was mysteriously deleted, and a final WhatsApp message from Martins’ said: “I’m in Australia, I made the decision to spend a year in a van running the world. I’ll cut everything, including internet, tb (also) I deleted the GI (Instagram). when I come back…Thanks, I’ll delete the zap [sic], stay with God.”

The number associated with Martins’ WhatsApp account has also since been deleted.

Twitter shared the shocking news:

Today in photojournalism scandals— a widely published photog who not only stole images, but may not exist at all https://t.co/PFH73K5ZOL

— John Beck (@JM_Beck) September 2, 2017

“Eduardo” appeared to be a surf-loving conflict photographer who claimed to have worked with UNHCR and other NGOs https://t.co/iNWDRZIkQD

— John Beck (@JM_Beck) September 2, 2017

#FakeBrazilian photographer #EduardoMartins stole images Here his trick, discovered by Ignacio Aronovich Full story:https://t.co/kyrCtkxFZo pic.twitter.com/V4iEwahrDp

— Beatriz Wagner (@BeaWagner) September 4, 2017

Some found it rather impressive:

I just want to meet the real mind behind “Eduardo Martins” and shake his hand for fooling the world. How did this happen guys 😂😂😂

— The WatermelonBandit (@Emerire) September 5, 2017

But also a bit unsettling:

First Edgar Martins and now Eduardo Martins. What is it about faked photographs and the last name Martins? https://t.co/IW234UNpwO

— Visual Culture Blog (@MarcoBohr) September 4, 2017

As for the true identity of Martins, we may never find out.

H/T: Indy 100, BBC Brazil, Twitter