Noel Clarke sexual harassment allegations, suspended by BAFTA

[Cwenthryth]

www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/apr/29/actor-noel-clarke-accused-of-groping-harassment-and-bullying-by-20-women

🤬🤬🤬

Especially galling that BAFTA was seemingly made aware of this before giving him his very recent honour. I watched his acceptance speech and found it really moving in terms of celebrating a working class black man’s success in a historically white industry. Turns out he’s an (alleged) sexual abuser. Fucking great.

@HumousWhereTheHeartIs

But the media get it wrong too like they did with Cliff Richard - although the BBC was tipped off by the cops directly on that one

One innocent example out of many guilty ones, and he more than managed to clear his name. You wouldn't assume there were no burglars in the world just because one had been falsely accused?

These women didn't simply turn up at The Guardian offices, say "Oi, we've got a story for you," tell their stories do a journo who wrote it all down and said, "Well, this is exciting, let's put it out in the next edition and bang it up online right now!" It was investigated (remember investigative journalism?), it would have had lawyers all over it before it went to press, going through every single line (yes, papers do this) and it was found there was enough evidence to run this. There is a case to answer here and hopefully it will be investigated by police and he should not be working until cleared.

Also, I find it really odd, that the general public know the entertainment industry is full of sexual predators that get away with this stuff all the time - everyone knows the jokes about cast in couches and plenty of actors have talked about the sexual harassment and assaults they have suffered when younger and more vulnerable (Brendan Frasier comes to mind). But if anyone stands up for themselves and points to an abuser, every one seems so shocked and automatically questions their motives. Men in entertainment have been allowed to get away with too much, for too long. The fact that they are being held accountable now is not because they are now rich and famous and 'worth' going after but because the culture of society is changing. This behaviour was never acceptable but only now are we prepared to listen to victims and treat them seriously.

@ancientgran obviously you believe Saville is innocent and his 200 victims are lying, yes?

@bonfireheart

The Guardian has done a follow up piece www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/apr/30/how-bafta-spent-two-weeks-grappling-with-noel-clarke-dilemma?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

Quite a conspiracy going on for a while if these women are lying as some on here believe...

"Akindude, who is Black, tussled internally about taking forward allegations against Clarke, a Black man of working-class origins, because she knows how much harder it is for people of colour to succeed in the industry."

Also I couldn't understand why he was so lauded. I saw him first in Dr Who and thought he was an absolutely shit actor.

@DentonsFringeArnottsWaistcoat

But that is exactly what I was saying .

The system needs change . Of course victims should be able to report and be taken seriously . That is what I am saying .

If we need or accept trial by media we are not progressing .

If you had a son and two people came forward to a local paper and accused them of rape and named him but said they, were not willing to go to the police you would be screaming from the hills how wrong it was .
I am sorry it’s wrong and if it comes to trial which it should then the trial could collapse .

Campaign for changing the system . The media are not Gods .

What about the 20 women people here are happy to presume are liars - where's their presumption of innocence

21. Another actress has spoken up on twitter.

This should be the end of BAFTA.

Disgusting.

People will say: ‘Bafta knew, and didn’t do anything about it’. We’ve been trying to do something about it,” said Majumdar, adding moments later: “In the court of public opinion we are going to be … this will destroy us.”

Too fucking right. Morons.

@krustykittens

I don’t think people are questioning their motives are they .

I want them to take him to court .

They are accusing him of serious assault.
This should go through the courts l

@PronounssheRa

I don’t think anyone is saying they are liars .

They should go to court and get him put away .

It's highly likely that he's guilty. 20 people have come forward and it looks like the Guardian have done a lot of work on this.

However, I feel very uncomfortable with the trial by media thing that happens. Someone's entire life and the lives of their close family can be destroyed in a matter of hours. Let the police investigate and if (when) he's found guilty, let's hope he gets the punishment he deserves.

I’ve now read the whole article and I get the impression that there is something wrong with him. Aside from having no respect or moral compass and being abusive he seems to not be able to help himself and is fixated on sex. It seems like sex is on his mind all the time. Like he doesn’t seem to be able to have a normal conversation without talking about women’s bodies or sex. Quite odd.

[quote FrangipaniDeLaSqueegeeMop]@Timeisavirtue "innocent until proven guilty" only works in a world where fair credence is given to victims. Seeing as 99% of sexual predators get away with it, it doesn't apply here.

There's a reason people's name are out out before they're found guilty. Jon Worboys, who raped over 100 women in his taxi, would still be raping today had his name and face not been put out there and so many victims came forward. We need to live in a society that put women's safety, not men's reputations, first.[/quote]
But people get blamed when they are innocent. Cliff Richards went through a rough time, so did some politicians with that guy who made false allegations.

There was Christopher Jefferies who everyone seemed really willing to condemn as he seemed a bit off to them.

It isn't right if the guilty get off with it but it isn't OK for the innocent to get blamed either.

@DentonsFringeArnottsWaistcoat

I don’t have any problem with ( in special circumstances) someone being named so others can come forward ( although allegedly the problem was already known in the industry )

But it should just be

Xxxx is being questioned by the police ( or relevant body ) regarding xxxx crime

This is not about protecting the guilty it’s actually about protecting the victims and making sure there is a fair trial that does not collapse !

If you had a son and two people came forward to a local paper and accused them of rape and named him but said they, were not willing to go to the police you would be screaming from the hills how wrong it was

But that doesn't happen to normal people, that's not how local newspaper would ever operate. It's different and relevant for a powerful/famous man because he uses that power to abuse women. The papers are taking a huge risk making these allegations - but their lawyers believe that it's so very true that it's worth the financial risk because no one guilty would ever sue a paper about the crimes they've committed as it would only draw attention to what they've done, and it would be played out in a court room for the newspaper to win

Ugh. He's turned himself into the victim now. Saying he'll seek psychological help.

Psychological help: fine

Making a statement saying that he didn't know his behaviour was wrong and he needs to be helped/educated. Nope, not buying it.

[quote FrangipaniDeLaSqueegeeMop]@ancientgran obviously you believe Saville is innocent and his 200 victims are lying, yes?[/quote]
No but unfortunately for whatever reason people didn't deal with this while he was alive so he will never be convicted and he cannot defend himself. That doesn't mean it is OK for people to be convicted without due process.

@ancientgran

I don’t think it’s even about those who are innocent and are publicly tried by media .

It’s about changing the system so that victims can come forward and be believed .

That should be the aim .... not congratulating the papers .

Can you imagine posters here if their sons were even accused about sharing indecent photos and it was all over social media they would be up in arms whether guilty or innocent .

[quote Unsure33]@krustykittens

I don’t think people are questioning their motives are they .

I want them to take him to court .

They are accusing him of serious assault.
This should go through the courts l[/quote]
@Unsure33 do some research around just how hard it is to criminally convict a man who's raped a woman. Because the CPS only take cases to court likely to end in conviction and in a horrible twist of irony they have to weigh up of the jury would find a victim believable, even if it's as clear as day she is a victim. It's not unusual for a woman who reported rape, covered in bruises and scratches, DNA and text message evidence, to have the CPS tell her they won't be proceeding, because of certain factors like she's a sex worker, or she has a colourful history. It's grim, but it's true.

They may take him to civil court - which is what many women and men did with Weinstein, Spacey, Cosby...and we never hear about it because it settles out of court (because the predator is guilty as sin) and the terms of the settlement mean the victims can't go public.

@Ohchristmastreeohchristmastree

I also had the same feeling after reading that whole article.It’s an addiction to sex but in a very extreme way. I’m trying to understand it but can’t. It’s awful but also intriguing.

Doesn’t sound subtle enough for him to have got away with it. I’m sorry but I’ve worked in industries similar to this in many respects. He sounds like a proper perv. Not a clever manipulator. It’s extraordinary that he got away with this.

@ancientgran

“Whatever reason”

Yeah, they were just too busy RECOVERING FROM A FUCKING ABUSER.

@ByTheStarryNight

Agreed . Take him to court and shut down the reporting .

Why is he getting psychological help if he's done nothing wrong?

@FrangipaniDeLaSqueegeeMop

If you had a son and two people came forward to a local paper and accused them of rape and named him but said they, were not willing to go to the police you would be screaming from the hills how wrong it was

But that doesn't happen to normal people, that's not how local newspaper would ever operate. It's different and relevant for a powerful/famous man because he uses that power to abuse women. The papers are taking a huge risk making these allegations - but their lawyers believe that it's so very true that it's worth the financial risk because no one guilty would ever sue a paper about the crimes they've committed as it would only draw attention to what they've done, and it would be played out in a court room for the newspaper to win

It can. I know a teacher, well not personally but he was local, he upset some girls at school and they decided to make allegations. I remember people saying, "Well it must have happened, it's not just one girl complaining." Another woman with a child in his class said, "They were told off that day for misbehaving and they've cooked this up."

They were 10 year olds and in the end it came out it was all lies. He had been suspended and under suspicion for months while this all went on and by the time his name was cleared he was so unwell he couldn't go back to teaching and took early retirement.

It might be rare, I've no idea, but it can happen.

My husband was a police officer, he would never give DDs friends a lift home, I always had to do it. He said it was too risky and I think he was probably right.

[quote Doomsdayiscoming]@ancientgran

“Whatever reason”

Yeah, they were just too busy RECOVERING FROM A FUCKING ABUSER.[/quote]
Stop shouting. You don't know all of them so you don't know why they waited, they might have been scared, they might have been embarrassed, they might have thought they were the only one.