The #MeToo movement, which triggered a series of sexual misconduct allegations in Hollywood and beyond, is back in the spotlight with several high-profile sexual assault trials rocking the entertainment industry.
Five years after allegations against movie mogul Harvey Weinstein triggered a wave of sexual misconduct claims, he and That '70s Show actor Danny Masterson are fighting criminal rape charges in Los Angeles.
Sexual assault lawsuits against two Oscar winers, actor Kevin Spacey and screenwriter-director Paul Haggis, are underway in adjacent New York courthouses, where Spacey's defence rested Wednesday while lawyers for Haggis and his accuser gave opening statements. All of the men deny the allegations.
A forcible touching case against another Academy Award winner, actor Cuba Gooding Jr, wrapped up in New York last week with a guilty plea to a non-criminal harassment violation and no jail time, to the dismay of at least some of his accusers.
The confluence is a coincidence, but a striking one, amid a cultural movement that has demanded visibility and accountability.
“We're still very early on in this time of reckoning,” said Debra Katz, a Washington-based lawyer who has represented many sexual assault accusers. She isn't involved in the Haggis, Masterson, Spacey or Weinstein trials.
Besides their #MeToo reverberations, both Haggis’ case and Masterson’s have become forums for scrutinising the Church of Scientology, though from different perspectives.
In the case against Haggis, publicist Haleigh Breest claims that the Crash and Million Dollar Baby screenwriter forced her to perform oral sex and raped her after she reluctantly agreed to a drink in his apartment after a 2013 movie premiere. She's seeking unspecified damages.
She didn't go public until the allegations against Weinstein burst into view in 2017 and Haggis condemned him.
“The hypocrisy of it made her blood boil,” lawyer Zoe Salzman said in her opening statement.
Jurors will also hear from four other women who told Breest's lawyers that Haggis sexually assaulted them, or attempted to do so, in separate encounters between 1996 and 2015.
Haggis maintains that his encounter with Breest was consensual, and his lawyers have said he never raped anyone. Attorney Priya Chaudhry told jurors that he's “relieved that he finally gets his day in court.”
Both sides are pointing to what Breest texted to a friend the day after the alleged attack.
Her lawyer emphasised that Breest wrote “he was so rough and aggressive. Never, ever again ... And I kept saying no”.
Haggis’ attorney, meanwhile, said Breest added “lol” for “laughing out loud” when she mentioned performing oral sex, and that she told the friend she wanted to be alone with Haggis again to “see what happens”.
