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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World

UNBELIEVABLE: Toxic media industry must face a reckoning | History Defined

Russell Brand
‘If the Russell Brand case has taught us anything it should be that those in power are equally culpable through inaction and refusal to upset the so-called “talent”.’ Photograph: Netflix/PA

Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett is correct when she talks about the toxic 1990s in the media industry (Why did it take so long to unmask Brand and Walliams? Because noughties culture told girls like me abuse was normal, 11 November). This abhorrent sexualised behaviour from celebrities and channel executives has been going on for much longer.

When I worked in the media as a makeup artist in the 1980s we were warned never to be alone if working with a certain Mr Savile or Mr Harris. Men like those two were the majority, not a minority. They were directly enabled by those managers and directors who sanctioned their behaviour through inaction. If you complained, you were seen as trouble and hounded out.

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