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Harry Knowles accused of sexual assault; AICN staffers leave
https://www.salon.com/2017/09/25/har...jasmine-baker/
Ain’t It Cool News’ Harry Knowles accused of sexual assault Knowles’ name surfaces in the ongoing sexual-assault controversy within Austin’s film community RACHEL LEAH 09.25.2017•2:11 PM •0 COMMENTS Ain't It Cool News founder Harry Knowles has been accused of sexual assault by former Alamo Drafthouse employee Jasmine Baker, Indiewire reported. Baker alleges the assaults took place in 1999 and 2000 at Alamo Drafthouse events. But she told Indiewire, "I cannot just stay silent. I am not interested in remaining silent." "Harry Knowles groped me, opportunistically, on more than one occasion," Baker said, and the first time the alleged assault took place, Knowles "rubbed up against her buttocks and legs" and "on at least one occasion, she said he also put his hand under her shirt," Indiewire wrote. Knowles responded to Indiewire and Baker's claims saying: "I categorically deny it." Even though the assault happened nearly two decades ago, Baker sees a societal shift in hearing and believing the victims of sexual assault. "Twenty years ago, 18 years ago, women routinely were encouraged to just watch their own behavior," she said, "and other people who wanted to do inappropriate things or say inappropriate things and be inappropriate and leer and be lecherous without your permission, without your consent, the air in the room was more on the side of, ‘Well, you should watch what you do,’ not, ‘Don’t touch people without their consent. No means no.'” Baker said she shared the alleged assault with Alamo Drafthouse founders Tim and Karrie League when it first happened, and although they "thought it was horrifying," she said, they "also didn’t know what to do." On top of founding the highly influential and popular movie-and-television news and criticism website, Ain't It Cool News, Knowles has become one of this era's more recognizable film commentators. He has also guest hosted "Siskel & Ebert & the Movies" and is noted for his participation in various film festivals and for supporting various filmmakers. In response to this report, several Ain't It Cool News staffers — including Eric Vespe and Steve Prokopy have left the organization. pic.twitter.com/FvK5HqM7ry — Eric Vespe (@EricVespe) September 25, 2017 An announcement about my leaving Ain't It Cool News. pic.twitter.com/4vyJIhMycQ — Steve Prokopy (@SteveProkopy) September 25, 2017 Indiewire reported last week that Harry Knowles wouldn't be attending the "Fantastic Fest," the Austin festival he co-founded, and also that Ain't It Cool News was no longer a sponsor. Knowles' absence, as well as Drafthouse founder Tim League's, are hooked to the scandal surrounding former Birth.Movies.Death editor-in-chief Devin Faraci and his quiet rehiring by League after he was accused of sexual assault last year. Nonetheless, Baker believes the Faraci controversy is bringing about necessary change within the Austin film community. "I’m not saying that the Leagues have done things correctly, or always done the right thing when problems or improprieties were brought to their attention," Baker said. "However, it appears that they are really trying to do something now, the right way." She continued, "They have told me that they are listening now and they’re ready to take action. They’re ready to do the right thing. So I look forward to seeing what that right thing is like." The fact that the Drafthouse owners knew about it and did nothing is also troubling. What a fiasco all around. Also I hate to link to AICN but this situation prompted a lot of people to bring up Knowles’s review of Blade 2, which was freakish even when it was first published but is absolutely grotesque now: http://www.aintitcool.com/node/11793 |
Re: Harry Knowles accused of sexual assault; AICN staffers leave
Weird. I was the head protectionist for SXSW in 1999 and 2000 and worked at the Dobie Theater and moved movies to the original Drafthouse weekly, so I'm fairly certain I ran into her at some point. Knowles was always at the Dobie since it's where we screened a lot of stuff and Tarantino held his fest there, so I ran into him a lot. Wonder what really went down during those times. I never cared for him myself, even before the wheelchair.
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Re: Harry Knowles accused of sexual assault; AICN staffers leave
-popcorn-
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Re: Harry Knowles accused of sexual assault; AICN staffers leave
I can't believe it!
*Looks at a photo of Knowles* Nevermind, makes total sense. |
Re: Harry Knowles accused of sexual assault; AICN staffers leave
Fuck Knowles.
Fuck Faraci. Fuck League. Fuck all these Geek Culture elitists who masquerade as white knights, championing women's causes and celebrating diversity and all the while they're scumbags. Knowles has always been a starfucker. Faraci is a competent writer but also a dickish piece of shit. League risked his own integrity to cover THAT guy? Christ. |
Re: Harry Knowles accused of sexual assault; AICN staffers leave
Yikes, I couldn't even finish that Blade 2 review.
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Re: Harry Knowles accused of sexual assault; AICN staffers leave
Originally Posted by Supermallet
(Post 13164874)
Also I hate to link to AICN but this situation prompted a lot of people to bring up Knowles’s review of Blade 2, which was freakish even when it was first published but is absolutely grotesque now: http://www.aintitcool.com/node/11793
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Re: Harry Knowles accused of sexual assault; AICN staffers leave
Whenever I feel nostalgic for the internet of the 90s it's good to know I can stop by AICN and remind myself exactly what websites looked like back then.
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Re: Harry Knowles accused of sexual assault; AICN staffers leave
Originally Posted by GoldenJCJ
(Post 13164914)
I can't believe it!
*Looks at a photo of Knowles* Nevermind, makes total sense. Why does this surprise anybody? |
Re: Harry Knowles accused of sexual assault; AICN staffers leave
Originally Posted by Abob Teff
(Post 13165031)
Despite all my time on the internet and as a movie fanatic, I wouldn't know Harry Knowles if he brushed up against my buttocks and fondled me. I have no clue what he looks like and won't bother to go find out.
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Re: Harry Knowles accused of sexual assault; AICN staffers leave
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Re: Harry Knowles accused of sexual assault; AICN staffers leave
I thought he died a few years ago like Ebert and rerun
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Re: Harry Knowles accused of sexual assault; AICN staffers leave
Originally Posted by Supermallet
(Post 13164874)
Also I hate to link to AICN but this situation prompted a lot of people to bring up Knowles’s review of Blade 2, which was freakish even when it was first published but is absolutely grotesque now: http://www.aintitcool.com/node/11793
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Re: Harry Knowles accused of sexual assault; AICN staffers leave
That ain't so cool.
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Re: Harry Knowles accused of sexual assault; AICN staffers leave
Poor Harry. And now, actual video has surfaced of him groping another woman:
Spoiler:
This is not looking good at all. |
Re: Harry Knowles accused of sexual assault; AICN staffers leave
Saw this guy done up like a zombie, rolling around in a wheelchair. He actually looked better as a zombie.
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Re: Harry Knowles accused of sexual assault; AICN staffers leave
Never understood how this guy got to where he's at.
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Re: Harry Knowles accused of sexual assault; AICN staffers leave
Originally Posted by RichC2
(Post 13165308)
Never understood how this guy got to where he's at.
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Re: Harry Knowles accused of sexual assault; AICN staffers leave
Originally Posted by stingermck
(Post 13165342)
Same. Shitty dude, shitty reviews, shitty site. Only got famous as the first person to try to stick it to Hollywood with bad reviews online. A one man Rotten Tomatoes.
Which is ironic, because he then became a studio shill. |
Re: Harry Knowles accused of sexual assault; AICN staffers leave
Knowing how the world is nowadays, i don't understand this bit of groping here and there
You know you are gonna get caught and painted as a sex offender |
Re: Harry Knowles accused of sexual assault; AICN staffers leave
Originally Posted by Original Desmond
(Post 13165380)
Knowing how the world is nowadays, i don't understand this bit of groping here and there
You know you are gonna get caught and painted as a sex offender |
Re: Harry Knowles accused of sexual assault; AICN staffers leave
Originally Posted by Original Desmond
(Post 13165380)
Knowing how the world is nowadays, i don't understand this bit of groping here and there
You know you are gonna get caught and painted as a sex offender AICN reviews are the worst. And they inspired a whole legion of lame writing, where the writer spends most of the review talking about how he got to the theater, what he ate, what the guy sitting next to him said, how he got Fatburger afterward, etc. Anything but the movie. What the fuck is Legion? |
Re: Harry Knowles accused of sexual assault; AICN staffers leave
While the first woman to talk about this said her incident happened in the late 90's, there have been more that were as recent as a few months ago. I saw something about him sending messages to a woman about his Vienna sausage or some gross bullshit.
Honestly, I just don't get the behavior at all, and it's really disappointing that someone like Tim League, who seems genuinely concerned about this kind of stuff, had no idea what to do about it, so chose not to cut ties until the shit really hit the fan. AICN was garbage anyway. |
Re: Harry Knowles accused of sexual assault; AICN staffers leave
I cannot believe I am about to defend the guy, but is this a he said / she said situation? Tarring someone as a sex offender if they are not is one of the worst things you can do to a person, as it totally wrecks their life.
There was a brief period of time prior to and after the Blade 2 review where AICN was actually a fun site to hit for reviews and news (including tv / dvd/blu news). For the most part, Harry's reviews were never the reason to hit the site, as plenty of other staffers put up articles/reviews/interviews that were enjoyable and oftentimes informative reads, and Harry's reviews were the worst of the crop of articles that would pop up on any given day. He always denied that his reviews were influenced by the treatment/access a studio provided him, but of course they were and fans of the site just rolled their eyes and read his articles with their eyes wide open. Exhibit one is his infamous Godzilla 1998 review, and while he tried to explain that he got caught up in the excitement of the special screening he was at, he never did live that one down (also wow, next year is the 20th anniversary of the Emmerich Godzilla, time flies). I remember attending a panel he was on at maybe a LosCon or Wondercon convention, and it was indeed an entertaining panel. Back to the assault allegations, I do hope there is a proper investigation as I am sure there are plenty of folks (male / female) who have an ax to grind against Harry Knowles. Edited to add: I noticed Dan's post after mine went up and no...sending someone texts/emails about your "vienna sausage" does not count as sexual assault, harassment yes (and a lame form at that, but it still counts), but it is not physically assaulting a person. |
Re: Harry Knowles accused of sexual assault; AICN staffers leave
Originally Posted by Inhumans99
(Post 13165450)
I cannot believe I am about to defend the guy, but is this a he said / she said situation? Tarring someone as a sex offender if they are not is one of the worst things you can do to a person, as it totally wrecks their life.
There was a brief period of time prior to and after the Blade 2 review where AICN was actually a fun site to hit for reviews and news (including tv / dvd/blu news). For the most part, Harry's reviews were never the reason to hit the site, as plenty of other staffers put up articles/reviews/interviews that were fun to read, and Harry's reviews were the worst of the crop of articles that would pop up on any given day. He always denied that his reviews were influenced by the treatment/access a studio provided him, but of course they were and fans of the site just rolled their eyes and rolled with it. Exhibit one is his infamous Godzilla 1998 review, and while he tried to explain that he got caught up in the excitement of the special screening he was at, he never did live that one down (also wow, next year is the 20th anniversary of the Emmerich Godzilla, time flies). I remember attending a panel he was on at maybe a LosCon or Wondercon convention, and it was indeed an entertaining panel. Back to the assault allegations, I do hope there is a proper investigation as I am sure there are plenty of folks (male / female) who have an ax to grind against Harry Knowles. What does the accuser have to gain here if it’s not the truth? She does not appear to be suing for money (a common accusation leveled against women dealing with sexual assault), and making an accusation against a major figure in her industry could easily have significant negative effects for the woman. I’m actually surprised it took this long for someone to suggest the woman is lying, even though a woman bringing up sexual assault usually faces harsh treatment from coworkers and peers. |
Re: Harry Knowles accused of sexual assault; AICN staffers leave
Originally Posted by Inhumans99
(Post 13165450)
Edited to add: I noticed Dan's post after mine went up and no...sending someone texts/emails about your "vienna sausage" does not count as sexual assault, harassment yes (and a lame form at that, but it still counts), but it is not physically assaulting a person.
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Re: Harry Knowles accused of sexual assault; AICN staffers leave
From being fanboy to becoming a media influencer, why am I not surprised at this now? And I wonder how his wife feels? Never did understand how he got married to begin with. And lots of his "reviews" are laced with sexual innuendo.
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Re: Harry Knowles accused of sexual assault; AICN staffers leave
All the comment sections on AICN have been disabled on the articles. I'm sure those charming and delightful folks were being their usual selves.
The site used to be interesting to read, and some of the articles were fun, but better sites came along and it got left behind. I hate these types of charges have to sit for so long, we need a society where, firstly: these types of things can be reported and investigated at once, and then secondly: these types of things stop happening. |
Re: Harry Knowles accused of sexual assault; AICN staffers leave
Originally Posted by Supermallet
(Post 13165458)
What does the accuser have to gain here if it’s not the truth?
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Re: Harry Knowles accused of sexual assault; AICN staffers leave
I <3 you guys but you movie folks are full of shit. :lol: If he was a Beloved Critic/Entertainment reporter you'd be calling the girl a whore and excusing any accusations of rape by him.
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Re: Harry Knowles accused of sexual assault; AICN staffers leave
Originally Posted by Nesbit
(Post 13165494)
Celebrity. This is her chance to make a big name for herself.
Originally Posted by Giantrobo
(Post 13165502)
I <3 you guys but you movie folks are full of shit. :lol: If he was a Beloved Critic/Entertainment reporter you'd be calling the girl a whore and excusing any accusations of rape by him.
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Re: Harry Knowles accused of sexual assault; AICN staffers leave
His wife may not care. There are a lot stories floating around on Twitter and Facebook. Tales of threesome requests at the Highball. Stories of him using a diaper in screenings so he didn’t have to get up. The diapers were later found on the bathroom floor.
It’s an ugly situation. I am not completely in love with the Drafthouse. In fact I have been critical of a lot of things over the years regarding food, theater design and the too cool for school attitude a lot of servers have. I continue to go back just for the phone policy. Although, it feels like I am probably just as disturbed by servers running food and drinks around. If you want to scroll through all the comments from locals you can see Tim League’s Facebook and his former Mondo employee Tim Doyle’s Facebook. |
Re: Harry Knowles accused of sexual assault; AICN staffers leave
Originally Posted by Nesbit
(Post 13165494)
Celebrity. This is her chance to make a big name for herself.
Don’t forget she told the owners of the Alamo Drafthouse about it when it happened. If she was really seeking celebrity, why not go public back then, when Knowles was actually hot shit? What a delusional comment. |
Re: Harry Knowles accused of sexual assault; AICN staffers leave
Originally Posted by MBoyd
(Post 13165508)
His wife may not care. There are a lot stories floating around on Twitter and Facebook. Tales of threesome requests at the Highball. Stories of him using a diaper in screenings so he didn’t have to get up. The diapers were later found on the bathroom floor.
It’s an ugly situation. I am not completely in love with the Drafthouse. In fact I have been critical of a lot of things over the years regarding food, theater design and the too cool for school attitude a lot of servers have. I continue to go back just for the phone policy. Although, it feels like I am probably just as disturbed by servers running food and drinks around. If you want to scroll through all the comments from locals you can see Tim League’s Facebook and his former Mondo employee Tim Doyle’s Facebook. I'm paying extra and some fuck with a tray is working the aisles? |
Re: Harry Knowles accused of sexual assault; AICN staffers leave
Originally Posted by Giantrobo
(Post 13165502)
I <3 you guys but you movie folks are full of shit. :lol: If he was a Beloved Critic/Entertainment reporter you'd be calling the girl a whore and excusing any accusations of rape by him.
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Re: Harry Knowles accused of sexual assault; AICN staffers leave
Originally Posted by Supermallet
(Post 13165519)
You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.
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Re: Harry Knowles accused of sexual assault; AICN staffers leave
Originally Posted by Dan
(Post 13165472)
I didn't say it was assault. But it's indicative of Knowles' behavior both online and offline. Plus, a prominent member of the film critic community sending that kind of message to anyone, let alone someone who is/was also in the community, is pretty fucked up. It's not forum members making jokes about banging hot actresses (Also gross, but whatever, this isn't about that), it's a message from one human to another; unwanted and unprovoked. Like I said... I just don't get what causes someone who isn't a 15 year old edgelord to do that kind of thing, but to brush it off as no big deal... I dunno man...
I can't help but think of Cosby and that he dealt with women who popped up to say he raped them many years ago...but proof was dug up to show it was not just a group of women who decided to randomly pick the last year or so to ruin Cosby's life. It was investigated and unfortunately he was indeed a creep that hid it well until a group of women decided to finally take back their agency. Unwanted sexual texts to a woman, agreed that is disgusting and nasty behavior towards women, but what does it say about those in the industry if they believe that Harry is actually guilty of what he is accused of and that perhaps they could have put a stop to his behavior. I do not buy that they never had a chance to help Harry course correct back in the day, and from what I have just read on this thread it seems like the folks at the Alamo Drafthouse could have intervened to put a stop to his behavior, which rightfully tarnishes the rep of a beloved theater house (chain?). |
Re: Harry Knowles accused of sexual assault; AICN staffers leave
Originally Posted by Mabuse
(Post 13165552)
I want to take a minute because this isn't brought up often enough. All these premium theaters with their $25 tickets and their fancy waiters, THE FUCKING WAITERS ARE THE BIGGEST DISTRACTION TO EVER ENTER A MOVIE AUDITORIUM!
I'm paying extra and some fuck with a tray is working the aisles? |
Re: Harry Knowles accused of sexual assault; AICN staffers leave
Originally Posted by Inhumans99
(Post 13165612)
Okay, it was dangerous for me to put up my post...but if this is closer to a Jared Fogle situation where the slug is clearly guilty than nail his hide to the wall. I just feel that the court of public opinion is not where this should play out. It is effed up if you think I am trying to trash the accuser, but whatever I have thick skin if that is what folks think I am doing.
But with Alamo cutting ties to him, the Austin Film Critics Association cutting ties, rumors about this stuff for years (yes, from other critics that aren't fond of him), it seems to me that we can trust that these things have happened. The thing with sexual harassment or assault is that it's damn near impossible to prove unless someone else witnessed it, and the guys who perpetrate it know this and use it to their advantage, and they know (and bet on) the women not being "perfect" victims. I can't help but think of Cosby and that he dealt with women who popped up to say he raped them many years ago...but proof was dug up to show it was not just a group of woman who decided to randomly pick the last year or so to ruin Cosby's life. It was investigated and unfortunately he was indeed a creep that hid it well until a group of women decided to finally take back their agency. Unwanted sexual texts to a woman, agreed that is disgusting and nasty behavior towards women, but what does it say about those in the industry if they believe that Harry actually is guilty of what he is accused of and they perhaps could have put a stop to his behavior. I do not buy that they never had a chance to help Harry course correct back in the day, and from what I have just read on this thread it seems like the folks at the Alamo Drafthouse could have intervened to put a stop to his behavior, which rightfully tarnishes the rep of a beloved theater house (chain?). It's really disappointing and frustrating because (generally, despite my complaints about their "Geek Culture for a profit" vibe) I kinda like the Drafthouse. I prefer it to every other theatre chain, hands down. But fuck... they need to get this shit figured out. At least the companies that run Comic Con and other comic expos seem to have their shit together with a zero tolerance policy on harassment. Then again, maybe they're just as bad underneath the floorboards as these guys, and it just hasn't been exposed yet. |
Re: Harry Knowles accused of sexual assault; AICN staffers leave
Originally Posted by Mabuse
(Post 13165552)
I want to take a minute because this isn't brought up often enough. All these premium theaters with their $25 tickets and their fancy waiters, THE FUCKING WAITERS ARE THE BIGGEST DISTRACTION TO EVER ENTER A MOVIE AUDITORIUM!
I'm paying extra and some fuck with a tray is working the aisles? |
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