Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Reflection on Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators by Ronan Farrow


               Ronan Farrow wrote a really good book about his efforts as an NBC reporter to investigate the sexual predation of Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein and the attempts to stop his reporting. The book is honestly very disturbing and contains graphic depictions of sexual assaults and rapes. Harvey Weinstein is a truly disgusting person. However, it’s not just him. Tons of other men are implicated as well not just for coving up Weinstein’s crimes but for their own horrible acts. One interesting thing is that NBC tried to stop the Weinstein reporting because Weinstein blackmailed them using information the National Enquirer had on Matt Lauer.
               The big point that Farrow makes in the book is that there are not just a few individuals acting badly in Hollywood, but that there is a whole network of people covering it all up. Actresses who have are raped are often told that no one will believe them if they have already done a sex scene. There were also major political connections, as Harvey Weinstein was connected with Bill and Hilary Clinton, Donald Trump, and Jeffery Epstein. Farrow touches on them, but I would love to read a whole book about those four. I was disappointed to learn that former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak connected Harvey Weinstein to Black Cube, a surveillance service run by Israeli ex-Mossad agents. That organization would do Weinstein’s dirty work and investigate Farrow. There are some heroes in the book, like Rich McHugh, an NBC producer who worked with Ronan Farrow and was eventually forced out of NBC due to his push to expose the truth. Anthony Bourdain was also very supportive of his own girlfriend’s allegations against Harvey Weinstein. Farrow also mentions his boyfriend Jon Lovett a lot, who I knew from the Pod Save America podcast.

Miscellaneous Facts:
  • Apparently Donald Trump and Melania sleep in separate bedrooms.


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