Please write a 250 words reviews for this article. Huffington and Katzenberg Say
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Please write a 250 words reviews for this article.
Huffington and Katzenberg Say Weinstein Behavior Is Systemic
Speaking at WSJ D.Live Technology Conference, executives Arianna Huffington and Jeffrey Katzenberg say Hollywood, Silicon Valley guilty of tolerating behavior of top performers
LAGUNA BEACH, Calif.—Harvey Weinstein’s pattern of alleged sexual-harassment is emblematic of a systemic problem in Hollywood and Silicon Valley of tolerating the behavior of top performers, executives Jeffrey Katzenberg and Arianna Huffington said Monday.
Mr. Weinstein’s behavior was characteristic of “casting couch” abuse that has long tainted Hollywood, Mr. Katzenberg, a show-business executive who has worked with Mr. Weinstein, said Monday at The Wall Street Journal’s WSJ D.Live technology conference.
Ms. Huffington, a member of the Uber Technologies Inc. board of directors, said Mr. Weinstein—the engine behind many Oscar wins and well-regarded television shows—generated results, allowing his behavior to be swept under the rug.
Uber, the ride-sharing firm, fell prey to “the worship at the altar of hypergrowth” in its co-founder Travis Kalanick, who resigned in June.
Mr. Katzenberg said Hollywood’s problems with how it treats women go well beyond Mr. Weinstein.
“He is not a lone actor in this,” he said. Asked if other men in Hollywood abused women, Mr. Katzenberg said “100%.”
“There’s a pack of wolves,” he said.
However, Mr. Katzenberg added that there are many heavyweights such as Steven Spielberg—“a man of great integrity”—who have produced many successes without scandal.
“The casting couch has been in Hollywood from the beginning,” Mr. Katzenberg said. “The complicity around the acceptance of it and silence about it is the crime. Harvey Weinstein, make no mistake about it, he is a monster.”
Mr. Weinstein has been fired and ostracized by Hollywood since news reports earlier this month detailed decades of sexual-assault allegations against the producer. His studio, Weinstein Co., on Monday announced it was exploring a possible sale.
A spokeswoman for Harvey Weinstein has previously said in a statement, “Any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr. Weinstein.”
Silicon Valley has had its own explosion of controversy this year over the treatment of women. Uber has been at the nexus of that debate since a female employee published a blog post on how women were treated at the company. Mr. Kalanick has since stepped down from the firm and Ms. Huffington has led an effort to improve conditions for women who work at Uber.
Messrs. Katzenberg and Weinstein, both longtime Hollywood power players, have crossed paths in their careers. Mr. Katzenberg was chairman of Walt Disney Co. when the company bought Mr. Weinstein’s Miramax studio in 1993.
As Mr. Weinstein’s boss, Mr. Katzenberg said, he took hundreds of meetings with the producer, including at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills, where Mr. Weinstein is alleged to have harassed several women.
Mr. Weinstein seemed to change his behavior on a dime, Mr. Katzenberg said.
“Literally not a single time had Harvey ever been abusive to somebody in my presence,” he said. “That’s why I said there were two Harvey’s. Somehow or another his behavior was masked from me by him.”
After selling his DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. studio for $3.8 billion last year, Mr. Katzenberg, 66 years old, founded WndrCo LLC, a firm that is building a subscription service of short-form mobile content that he calls “new TV.”
Explanation / Answer
The conference held brought out visibility of casting couch and individual perpective on sexual harassment in Hollywood. Huffington and Katzenberg have there own viewpoints shared on this , huffington pointed out the behavior of top performing artists and their behavior how they get privileged in terms of misusing their stardoms. Katzenberg claimed yes people misbehave women and are arrogant about it one of the producers was already fired from his position for one such inappropriate action earlier. Such controversies have been ever prevalent with different sides to eacch stories ,huffington did mentions how she is against it and wants working conditions at uber to be exteremely comfortable and friendly for there women employees.This sets an example of having clear and strict regulations towards such behavor at work due to which katzenberg did claim how his rules ensured a better working condition in his presence.