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5 Times Our Favorite Shows Tried To Tell Us About Hollywood's Sexual Harassment Problem

In case you’ve been living under a rock recently, sexual harassment has kind of been having a moment. I mean, if you talked to women ever you’d probably know that sexual harassment’s “moment” has lasted throughout all of human history, but whatever. While the rampant sexual abuse in the entertainment industry may have come as a surprise to men some people, for those of us who watch TV like it’s our fucking job, *points to self* it’s come as less of a surprise.

Some of our favorite TV shows, movies, and award shows were sounding the alarm about creeps like Harvey Weinstein for years, but nobody gave a fuck because like, sexual harassment wasn’t having its moment yet. So here’s a look back at five times Hollywood literally told us Harvey Weinstein was a fucking creep, and we just totally failed to notice it because we were too busy with other shit.

1. ’30 Rock’

30 Rock, aka one of the best, most binge-watchable comedies ever, came for Harvey in both their sixth and seventh seasons, wayyyyy back in 2012. (Ugh, 2012, I miss you. I want to go to there.) And who better to do it than one of the betchiest characters ever created, Jenna Maroney? In season six Jenna says, “I’m not afraid of anyone in show business, I turned down intercourse with Harvey Weinstein on no less than three occasions … out of five.” She then comes for Harvey again in season seven, with the fairly disturbing line, “Look, I get it. I know how former lovers can have a hold of you long after they’re gone. In some ways, I’m still pinned under a passed-out Harvey Weinstein and it’s Thanksgiving.”

So, first of all, yikes. Second of all, wow, I can’t believe nobody noticed this. In our defense, 30 Rock does have like, 25 jokes per second, so it’s hard to zone in on one and decide it’s real and not just some crazy shit Tina Fey came up with. Sidenote: Does this mean Mean Girls is real, too?

2. Seth McFarlane At The 2013 Oscars

In case you, like me, blocked out Seth McFarlane’s sad 2013 attempt at hosting the Oscars (he literally performed a song called “We Saw Your Boobs” directed at Hollywood actresses, because apparently the Oscars are middle school), you may have missed this joke he made while announcing the nominees for best supporting actress:

“Congratulations. You five ladies no longer have to pretend you’re attracted to Harvey Weinstein.”

Hmm…well that’s…fairly explicit. But again, these are comedians! Are we supposed to take everything this guy says seriously? He created Family Guy, for fuck’s sake. According to McFarlane, he wrote the joke after a friend of his confided in him about Weinstein’s behavior, and while he didn’t want to blow up her spot, he “couldn’t help but take a hard swing in [Harvey’s] direction.” He also added, “make no mistake, this joke came from a place of loathing and anger.”

Damn Seth, tell us how you really feel tho.

3. ‘Entourage’

This one is like, so explicit I’m almost embarrassed for not remembering it—but then again, I kind of turned my brain off any time I was watching Entourage, so who can blame me, really?

Entourage literally featured a character named Harvey Weingard (subtle), who was a giant, fat, mean monster played by Maury Chaykin. It is “widely believed” that this character was inspired by Weinstein. Um…yeah…ya think?

“Do you know who I am? You’re gonna beg to get back into the pizza business,” Weingard yells in one scene, because like, in addition to being a sexual predator, Harvey Weinstein was also just kind of an asshole.

4 Asia Argento’s ‘Scarlet Diva’

This one is legit sad and disturbing, so let me issue a trigger warning right here: sad and disturbing shit head. One of Harvey Weinstein’s accusers, actress/director/generally brave person Asia Argento, legitimately depicted her encounter with Weinstein in her film Scarlet Diva.

Asia tweeted out the scene (again, there’s trigger warning here) shortly after her allegations against Weinstein came to light, proving that this shit has been on the surface all along. 

5. ‘Girls’

Lol, y’all didn’t think I’d get through this list without a mention of Lena Dunham, did you? In this episode in the last season of Girls, Lena’s character meets with a writer she once greatly admired, but now has “disturbing allegations of sexual misconduct” surrounding him.

Disturbing allegations of sexual misconduct, you say? Who does that sound like?

And if you’re like, “Eh, that could be about any powerful man,” (sad but true, TBH) the director actually hid a clue to the character’s inspiration in the final shot. At the end of the episode, Lena (aka Hannah) walks right past Harvey Weinstein’s actual NYC apartment, as if to say “I know what you did, and I know where you live.” Damn. Savage. Not sure if Harvey Weinstein watches Girls but like, if he does, that must have been pretty shocking.

So there you have it. Turns out half the shit we binge watch while getting stoned on the couch was actually trying to signal very important messages to us.