{"id":87438,"date":"2017-10-24T16:30:50","date_gmt":"2017-10-24T20:30:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=87438"},"modified":"2017-10-24T16:30:50","modified_gmt":"2017-10-24T20:30:50","slug":"paper-200-more-women-accuse-filmmaker-toback-of-harassment-drudge-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=87438","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;PAPER: 200 more women accuse filmmaker Toback of harassment&#8230;&#8217;  &#8212; Drudge Report"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<h2>After 38 women accuse filmmaker James Toback of sexual harassment, 200 more reach out to share their stories<\/h2>\n<p>By GLENN WHIPP<br \/>\nLos Angeles Times<\/p>\n<p><iframe src='\/\/players.brightcove.net\/3690581438001\/HkhIMtvwW_default\/index.html?videoId=5622473649001' allowfullscreen frameborder=0><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div class=\"card collection-item \" data-type=\"raw_html\">\n<div class=\"card-content\">\n<div class=\"element element-rawhtml \">\n<p>Filmmaker\u00a0James Toback\u00a0has long had a bad reputation with women.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"card collection-item \" data-type=\"text\">\n<div class=\"card-content\">\n<p data-page=\"1\">Stories about the writer-director often referred to him as a womanizer, but what that actually meant did not become clear until the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.latimes.com\/entertainment\/la-et-mn-james-toback-sexual-harassment-allegations-20171018-story.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Los Angeles Times published an investigation Sunday in which 38 women accused the writer-director of sexual harassment.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"card collection-item \" data-type=\"text\">\n<div class=\"card-content\">\n<p>Within two days those numbers swelled as more than 200 additional women contacted The Times and, in emails and phone calls, recalled encounters with Toback similar to those detailed in the story. The majority of the new accounts, which have not been verified, told of Toback approaching women on the streets of Manhattan, offering them the chance at a part in an upcoming movie, and a wide range of unwanted sexual advances and behavior.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"card collection-item \" data-type=\"text\">\n<div class=\"card-content\">\n<p>&#8220;Today Show&#8221; anchor Natalie Morales, wrote on Twitter: &#8220;\u2026 add one more. Exact same playbook by James Toback when I encountered him near Central Park.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"card collection-item \" data-type=\"text\">\n<div class=\"card-content\">\n<p>&#8220;In all honesty, I thought he was just a creep hitting on me with the oldest line in the book,&#8221; Morales told The Times, after detailing her experience on &#8220;Access Hollywood.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div class=\"inline-ad-arrow \" data-ad-type=\"desktop-nativo\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"card collection-item \" data-type=\"text\">\n<div class=\"card-content\">\n<div class=\"inline-ad-arrow \" data-ad-type=\"desktop-nativo\"><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;Like I said on our show I was just lucky. I saw pretty quickly what he was up to,&#8221; she added.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 12px;\"><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Glenn add one more. Exact same playbook by James Toback when I encountered him near Central Park.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Natalie Morales (@nmoralestv) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/nmoralestv\/status\/922526948273700864?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 23, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<div class=\"card collection-item \" data-type=\"oembed_response\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"card collection-item \" data-type=\"raw_html\">\n<div class=\"card-content\">\n<div class=\"element element-rawhtml \">\n<p>The\u00a0Los Angeles Police Department\u00a0has fielded numerous phone calls related to Toback in the last few days, said LAPD Det. Danetta Menifee.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"card collection-item \" data-type=\"text\">\n<div class=\"card-content\">\n<p>She said the department&#8217;s special assault section of its Robbery-Homicide Division is currently sorting through the calls to determine the nature of the complaints and where the encounters occurred and if the LAPD is going to conduct an investigation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"card collection-item \" data-type=\"text\">\n<div class=\"card-content\">\n<p>A spokesperson for the Manhattan District Attorney&#8217;s office said women are being encouraged to call the office&#8217;s sex crimes hotline number in relation to Toback, who lives in New York. Several of the women included in The Times&#8217; investigation confirmed they had contacted the district attorney&#8217;s office<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>in the past week to file complaints.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"card collection-item \" data-type=\"text\">\n<div class=\"card-content\">\n<p>Meanwhile, Toback&#8217;s longtime agent, former ICM chief Jeff Berg, terminated his relationship with the filmmaker over the weekend, according to a spokesperson for Berg&#8217;s Los Angeles firm, Northside Services.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"card collection-item \" data-type=\"raw_html\">\n<div class=\"card-content\">\n<div class=\"element element-rawhtml \">\n<p>The Times\u2019 story detailed a pattern of behavior, carried out over four decades, in which Toback approached women in New York and Los Angeles, boasting of his movie credits and relationships with stars such as\u00a0Robert Downey Jr.\u00a0Then, under the pretext of meetings framed as interviews or auditions, he asked explicit questions about the women\u2019s sexual histories, often proposing that they remove their clothes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"card collection-item \" data-type=\"text\">\n<div class=\"card-content\">\n<p>The encounters often ended, according to many of the women interviewed, with Toback dry-humping them or masturbating in front of them, ejaculating into his pants or onto their bodies.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"card collection-item \" data-type=\"text\">\n<div class=\"card-content\">\n<p>Toback, 72, denied the allegations to The Times, saying he had never met the women or, if he did, it &#8220;was for five minutes and have no recollection.&#8221; He also repeatedly claimed that for the last 22 years it had been &#8220;biologically impossible&#8221; for him to engage in the behavior described by his accusers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"card collection-item \" data-type=\"text\">\n<div class=\"card-content\">\n<p>Reached Monday for response to the additional allegations, Toback declined to comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"card collection-item \" data-type=\"text\">\n<div class=\"card-content\">\n<p>Hollywood reacted to the allegations against Toback with blistering anger. &#8220;Guardians of the Galaxy&#8221; writer-director James Gunn posted a\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jgunn\/posts\/10154644838841157\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook screed<\/a>\u00a0in which he declared he had been warning about Toback&#8217;s sexual come-ons for years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"card collection-item \" data-type=\"text\">\n<div class=\"card-content\">\n<p>&#8220;He has done this to three girls I&#8217;ve dated, two of my very best friends, and a family member&#8230; twice. Yes, he came up to her twice with the same stupid line, not realizing she was the same person,&#8221; Gunn wrote. &#8220;This is in addition to many other women I&#8217;ve talked to at parties or dinners about their interactions with Toback.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>http:\/\/twitter.com\/JamesGunn\/status\/922179645319139328?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&#038;ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fentertainment%2Fmovies%2Fla-et-mn-toback-follow-up-20171023-story.html<\/p>\n<p>http:\/\/twitter.com\/scottderrickson\/status\/922139549286924290?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&#038;ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latimes.com%2Fentertainment%2Fmovies%2Fla-et-mn-toback-follow-up-20171023-story.html<\/p>\n<div class=\"card collection-item \" data-type=\"text\">\n<div class=\"card-content\">\n<p>Reactions from Hollywood&#8217;s guilds were less definitive.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"card collection-item \" data-type=\"raw_html\">\n<div class=\"card-content\">\n<div class=\"element element-rawhtml \">\n<p>Toback belongs to the\u00a0Writers Guild of America, East. A representative for the organization did not immediately respond to an inquiry about any potential action to revoke his membership.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"card collection-item \" data-type=\"raw_html\">\n<div class=\"card-content\">\n<div class=\"element element-rawhtml \">\n<p>Earlier this month, in the wake of the revelations of similar charges of sexual misconduct against film mogul\u00a0Harvey Weinstein, the group issued a statement calling his actions \u201cdeplorable\u201d and saying the guild \u201chas a role to play in moving our industry in the right direction.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"card collection-item \" data-type=\"text\">\n<div class=\"card-content\">\n<p>Toback, who has directed a dozen films, has not been a member of the Directors Guild of America since 2005. A representative for the DGA, which announced last week it had filed disciplinary charges against Weinstein, declined to discuss Toback&#8217;s history with the organization or whether any complaints had been lodged with them about his behavior.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"card collection-item \" data-type=\"text\">\n<div class=\"card-content\">\n<p>Toback told The Times last Friday that his Directors Guild membership lapsed because he didn&#8217;t pay his membership dues.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"card collection-item \" data-type=\"text\">\n<div class=\"card-content\">\n<p>Toback has not been a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for nearly a decade because he failed to pay his annual dues, an academy spokesperson said Monday. Toback had been nominated for a screenwriting Oscar for the 1991 film &#8220;Bugsy.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"card collection-item \" data-type=\"text\">\n<div class=\"card-content\">\n<p>The Screen Actors Guild maintains a hotline for its members to confidentially report what it refers to as &#8220;safety violations including harassment and inappropriate or aggressive behavior.&#8221; The guild declined to state whether it had received such complaints against Toback, citing privacy issues.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"card collection-item \" data-type=\"text\">\n<div class=\"card-content\">\n<p>Publisher Judith Regan told The Times Monday that allegations against Toback didn&#8217;t surprise her. She alleged that he threatened to &#8220;ruin her&#8221; after she filed a lawsuit against him in July for breach of contract, fraud and unjust enrichment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"card collection-item \" data-type=\"text\">\n<div class=\"card-content\">\n<p>Regan said Toback failed to deliver a Hollywood memoir she had paid him to write for her imprint, Regan Arts, four years ago. (Toback declined to comment.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"card collection-item \" data-type=\"text\">\n<div class=\"card-content\">\n<p>&#8220;He&#8217;s completely impossible,&#8221; Regan said. &#8220;I wish I had never met him and, from the looks of it, I don&#8217;t appear to be the only one.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"card collection-item \" data-type=\"text\">\n<div class=\"card-content\">\n<p><em>Times staff writer Josh Rottenberg contributed to this story.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>___<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/beta.latimes.com\/entertainment\/movies\/la-et-mn-toback-follow-up-20171023-story.html\">http:\/\/beta.latimes.com\/entertainment\/movies\/la-et-mn-toback-follow-up-20171023-story.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-87438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=87438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87438\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=87438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=87438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=87438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}