Judd Apatow Warns ‘A Lot More Coming’ in Hollywood Sex Misconduct Scandal: ‘It’s Just the Beginning’

NEW YORK, NY - JUNE 17: Judd Apatow at ABC's Good Morning America in New York City on June
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Producer-director Judd Apatow says there’s “a lot more” that’s going to come out about Hollywood’s pervasive sexual misconduct scandal in the coming months, even as some of the industry’s top figures, including Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey, and Louis C.K., have already been caught up in it.

In an extensive interview with Deadline released Friday, the Golden Globe-nominated producer of comedies like Knocked Up and Pineapple Express discussed what could be done to end the entertainment industry’s mistreatment of women.

While Apatow proposed several reforms for the industry, he warned that it could be some time before the flood of allegations against prominent figures subsides.

“This has been happening since the creation of the movie business—watch the documentary about Marilyn Monroe,” Apatow told Deadline. “The old studio heads expected all these women to sleep with them, and some version of that type of abuse continues to this day. It might not be with studio heads, but producers and other actors or actresses. The other day online, someone put up an article from 1945 with Maureen O’Hara complaining about this, in 1945. So, it’s a good thing that it’s being discussed, but there’s a lot more coming.”

“You can feel that it’s just the beginning, because there are a lot of people who’ve been afraid to talk for a long time, and they feel like things are changing, and they can finally come forward,” he continued. “And I would assume this is going to happen through the summer.”

Apatow — who is set to be honored by the ACLU next month for his advocacy on behalf of women in the arts — has been vocal about the scandal currently sweeping through Hollywood. He has previously accused staffers at The Weinstein Company of knowing about movie mogul Harvey Weinstein’s alleged sexual abuses and failing to act, and has also slammed actresses for continuing to work with director Woody Allen.

“I think leaders in the industry should get together—the heads of the studios, the heads of the agencies, the heads of management companies, the heads of production companies—get together in a room, and share their experiences, and talk about how they manage their employees and their sets, and try to come up with constructive ways to approach this, going forward,” Apatow told Deadline. “That’s what you need.”

Apatow also said there are certain situations actresses and others should not put themselves in, including taking meetings in hotel rooms. He added that conditions will continue to improve in the film industry as more women and others who are underrepresented in the business receive more opportunities.

“I think people are just beginning to realize that they should speak up,” he said. “I’ll talk to agents, and they’ve known about Harvey forever. But you could tell that they never thought they were going to be the person to try to make the leap and sound the alarm. We need to find a way to make it possible for them to do that.”

Read Apatow’s full interview with Deadline here.

 

Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum

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