The Me Too Movement: What The Public Doesn’t See

Michael E. Weinsten, is an experienced trial attorney who handles complex litigation and arbitration at the state, federal and international level. In the area of sports and entertainment, Mr. Weinsten has represented some of the most prominent actors, musicians, athletes, directors, writers, producers, agents and managers, as well as cable companies, studios, record labels and video game companies. A frequent lecturer on key legal issues affecting the entertainment community, Mr. Weinsten will be talking about the Me Too movement and impact on both accuser and the accused.   

Mr Weinsten will bring a perspective on the MeToo Movement that is seldom reported in the media.  Specifically, how a handful of unscrupulous lawyers (and their clients) have successfully leveraged a climate of fear to extort large sums from celebrities and other public figures based on false claims of sexual harassment and abuse.  This will not be a criticism of the MeToo Movement, a Movement which is necessary and long overdue, but rather a sharing of true stories to demonstrate how the media and public are often too quick to judge when it comes to MeToo allegations.

The Me Too movement , with a large variety of local and international alternative names, is a movement against sexual harassment and sexual assault. The movement began to spread virally in October 2017 as a hashtag on social media in an attempt to demonstrate the widespread prevalence of sexual assault and harassment, especially in the workplace.

The phrase "Me too" was tweeted by Alyssa Milano around noon on October 15, 2017, and had been used more than 200,000 times by the end of the day, and tweeted more than 500,000 times by October 16. On Facebook, the hashtag was used by more than 4.7 million people in 12 million posts during the first 24 hours. The platform reported that 45% of users in the United States had a friend who had posted using the term.

Tens of thousands of people, including hundreds of celebrities, replied with #MeToo stories. Some men, such as actors Terry Crews and James Van Der Beek, have responded to the hashtag with their own experiences of harassment and abuse. In addition to Hollywood, "Me Too" declarations elicited discussion of sexual harassment and abuse in the music industry, sciences, academia, and politics.