Why Justin Timberlake was criticised for this controversial #TimesUp post

People


Why Justin Timberlake was criticised for this controversial #TimesUp post

By Kayleigh Dray

8 years ago

Justin Timberlake shared a #TimesUp post shortly before attending the 75th Golden Globes – but he has been heavily criticised for it online.

Both men and women decided to wear black to this year’s Golden Globes as part of the Time’s Up movement, in a bid to protest sexual harassment and show support to the victims and the “silence breakers”.

“This is a moment of solidarity, not a fashion moment,” Eva Longoria shared with the New York Times.

“For years, we’ve sold these awards shows as women, with our gowns and colours and our beautiful faces and our glamour. This time the industry can’t expect us to go up and twirl around. That’s not what this moment is about.”

Taking to Twitter, Justin Timberlake revealed that he and his wife, Jessica Biel, had decided to follow suit in matching black outfits. The Mirrors singer shared a selfie of the pair of them, with his Time’s Up pin (commissioned by Reese Witherspoon) prominently attached to the lapel of his tuxedo.

“Here we come,” he wrote, adding: “And DAMN, my wife is hot!”

The post already felt pretty tone-deaf thanks to Timberlake seemingly failing to acknowledge one of the Time’s Up movement’s most important aims: to stop women being objectified on the red carpet.

However, others have since criticised it for being piece of “pure performative fraud”, primarily because Timberlake is set to star in Woody Allen’s next movie.

Timberlake stars alongside Kate Winslet in Allen’s upcoming film, Wonder Wheel.

Speaking about how he got the role, Timberlake previously said: “It felt like classic Hollywood. They would send the script to an actor and go, ‘We really want you for the part. Will you accept the part?’

“I was like, I think he’s forgetting that he’s Woody Allen and that I’d love to work with him, honestly. So yeah, I read the script and didn’t even make a joke to play coy. I said, ‘Yeah, I’m in.’”

In the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, however, Dylan Farrow penned a powerful piece for the Los Angeles Times about Hollywood’s double standards on sexual assault – and criticised the likes of Winslet and Blake Lively for supporting the #MeToo movement while refusing to condemn her adoptive father (and alleged abuser), Allen.

Farrow wrote: “Discussing Weinstein, Wonder Wheel star Kate Winslet said, ‘The fact that these women are starting to speak out about the gross misconduct of one of our most important and well-regarded film producers, is incredibly brave and has been deeply shocking to hear.

“Of Allen, she said, ‘I didn’t know Woody and I don’t know anything about that family…Having thought it all through, you put it to one side and just work with the person. Woody Allen is an incredible director’.”

Farrow continued: “It isn’t just power that allows men accused of sexual abuse to keep their careers and their secrets. It is also our collective choice to see simple situations as complicated and obvious conclusions as a matter of ‘who can say’?

“The system worked for Harvey Weinstein for decades. It works for Woody Allen still.”

Allen has always vehemently denied Farrow’s claims that he assaulted her in 1992. He was investigated over the accusation and a state prosecutor said he had “probable cause” to prosecute in 1993 but did not file charges, due to the fragility of the “child victim”.

Timberlake has yet to respond to the criticism of his Golden Globes post.

Images: Rex Features

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