'Me, too'

But in this case it would require the director in question to come forward and file the suit, correct?

Or is that not?

I don't see the upside for the suit filer.

 

I would attribute the potentially libelous statements directly to Witherspoon. This is one of the scenarios where "allege" can be used appropriately, and not as a get-off-the-hook-from-libel card but as an accurate way to explain what's going on. It would need to be "Witherspoon alleged during a speech Monday night that a director assaulted her when she was 16."

I still prefer to avoid that word, though, and would simply attribute the potentially problematic statements to her with the tried, true and unobtrusive "Witherspoon said."

 

There probably is no upside at this point. But if his name is out there in the industry, like Weinstein's apparently was before all this broke publicly, and the accusation from Witherspoon results in him having difficulty finding work, that could change.

 

McKayla Maroney Says Larry Nassar Began Sexually Abusing Her When She Was 13 | HuffPost

Makayla Maroney's "Me too" this morning. "Says" in the headline, "revealed new allegations" in the lede, where she joins more than 100 other female gymnasts in accusing former US Olympic Gymnastic team doctor Larry Nassar.


“Dr. Nassar told me that I was receiving ‘medically necessary treatment that he had been performing on patients for over 30 years,‘” Maroney wrote. “It started when I was 13 years old, at one of my first National Team training camps, in Texas, and it didn’t end until I left the sport. It seemed whenever and wherever this man could find the chance, I was ‘treated.’”

Maroney wrote that Nassar sexually abused her twice while competing in the Summer 2012 Olympics, once before she won the gold medal and once before she won the silver.

One of the most harrowing parts of her story allegedly happened when she was 15 years old when Maroney says Nassar gave her a sleeping pill on a flight to Tokyo.

“For me, the scariest night of my life happened when I was 15 years old,” she wrote. “I had flown all day and night with the team to get to Tokyo. He’d given me a sleeping pill for the flight, and the next thing I know, I was all alone with him in his hotel room getting a ‘treatment.’ I thought I was going to die that night.”

 

Huff Post actually did it right on Witherspoon, as well.

Reese Witherspoon Says A Director Assaulted Her When She Was 16 | HuffPost

 

Maroney coming forward with the Nassar accusation is interesting. I can't imagine talking publicly about this kind of trauma and so I am in awe of the people who have been able to do it. Clearly the outpouring in the last few days has led to a lot of victims feeling empowered to share their stories.

What's interesting to me, though, about Maroney's accusation is that Nassar had been the subject of a major IndyStar investigative report a year or so ago that led to a large number of gymnasts coming forward. I believe he is now facing a string of criminal charges related to some of the accusations.

 

There's an upside if the allegation is false.

 

In 1992, Reese Witherspoon worked for director Andy Tennant on the TV movie “Desperate Choices.”

In 1993, she worked for director Mikael Salomon on “A Far Off Place” And director Marshall Herskovitz on “Jack the Bear.”

 

Director X: I know who Reese Witherspoon was referring to when she revealed () she was sexually assaulted at age 16 - it was me! But I totally didn't do it! Who do I sue?

 

This is why I tended to believe Witherspoon and most of the others. Witherspoon does not name anyone, she simply tells her story. I'm a little more skeptical of accusers naming someone because there is the possibility of someone with an axe to grind performing character assassination, but the non-specific "me too" seems to put a very personal thing out there for very little return. Sure, it could be copycat for the social approval... but that's a long way to go to approval seek.

I have no particular reason to believe Witherspoon or not. I just think that I'm willing to believe these in general unless disproved, and when a person simply tells her story without naming names I find it hard to see a reason other than simply joining the chorus to try to illustrate the size of the problem.

 

It doesn’t seem a reach that the three directors I listed would have a case.

 

Nassar has already pled guilty to multiple child pornography charges.