LOS ANGELES -- Dressed in white and accompanied by five fellow female artists, pop singer Kesha took the spotlight at the Grammys on Sunday to deliver a powerful ballad as part of the Time's Up movement to end workplace sexual harassment.
Kesha, 30, who has been battling her former record producer Dr. Luke for years in U.S. courts over allegations of emotional and sexual abuse, performed her defiant single "Praying" alongside Cyndi Lauper, Andra Day, Camila Cabello, Bebe Rexha and Julia Michaels and an all-female choir.
Dr. Luke has repeatedly denied Kesha's allegations.
Actress and musician Janelle Monae introduced Kesha, calling for the music industry as a whole to "create safe work environments, equal pay and access for all women."
"We come in peace but we mean business. And to those who would dare try to silence us, we offer you two words: Time's up," Monae said as the audience applauded.
The Time's Up movement was launched by more than 300 Hollywood industry figures earlier this month in response to sexual assault and harassment allegations against powerful men in entertainment, politics and other fields.
"It's not just going on in Hollywood or in Washington. It's right here in our industry as well. Just as we have the power to shape culture, we also have the power to undo the culture that does not serve us well," Monae said.
"Praying" is the lead single from "Rainbow," Kesha's first album in five years following her bitter legal fight over her record contract.
"You brought the flames and you put me through hell; I had to learn how to fight for myself," Kesha sang.
The singer broke down in tears at the end of her performance and hugged the artists accompanying her on stage. Host James Corden, with tears in his eyes, said, "Music often resonates more than the spoken word ever could."
Both "Praying" and "Rainbow" were nominated for Grammy awards this year but lost to Ed Sheeran's "Shape of You" song and "Divide" album in the pop categories.
The music industry showed its support for women's equality and freedom from sexual harassment by wearing or carrying white roses at Sunday's Grammy Awards in solidarity with Time's Up.
Lady Gaga spoke the words "time's up" when she performed her song "Joanne," and rapper Kendrick Lamar wore a white rose as he accepted his numerous accolades on stage.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
Woody Allen was thrust to the fore Wednesday of the sexual harassment watershed sweeping the United States when his daughter revived child molestation allegations against the famed director, asking the world to finally believe her.
Dylan Farrow's claim that the director touched her inappropriately as a seven-year-old first surfaced a quarter of a century ago in the wake of her mother's acrimonious split from Allen, who ran off in 1992 with his lover's adoptive daughter from a previous marriage, Soon-Yi Previn, 21 years old at the time.
But the legendary director of more than 50 movies, winner of four Oscars and showered with awards in Europe, has always denied the allegations. The claims were never proven and the 82-year-old director has continued to enjoy a glittering career.
But the sexual harassment firestorm that has brought down Hollywood titans such as Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey, and rocked industry, politics and the media, has fueled a growing backlash against Allen.
In the wake of the Time's Up movement launched by Hollywood women to counter sexual harassment and sexism, Allen's estranged, adopted daughter said it was time for the world to finally listen.
"Why shouldn't I want to bring him down? Why shouldn't I be angry? Why shouldn't I be hurt?" she told "CBS This Morning" in her first television interview, excerpts of which were broadcast on Wednesday. The full interview is to air Thursday.
"Why shouldn't I feel some sort of outrage that after all these years, being ignored and disbelieved and tossed aside?" Farrow added.
Asked why people should believe her now, she replied: "I suppose that's on them, but all I can do is speak my truth and hope, hope that somebody will believe me instead of just hearing."
The film director's agent did not immediately respond to an AFP request to comment.
It was a devastating exposé of alleged rape, assault and harassment published by Farrow's brother, Ronan, the biological son of Allen and Mia Farrow, in The New Yorker last October that helped end Weinstein's career.
'Must be re-examined'
Since then, a growing number of actresses, including Greta Gerwig, Rebecca Hall, Ellen Page and Mia Sorvino, have announced they regret working with Allen.
Hall, who appears in his upcoming movie "A Rainy Day in New York" and starred in his 2008 romantic comedy "Vicky Cristina Barcelona," announced on Instagram that she had donated her wage from his latest film to the Time's Up movement.
"After reading and re-reading Dylan Farrow's statements of a few days ago and going back and reading the older ones -- I see, not only how complicated this matter is, but that my actions have made another woman feel silenced and dismissed," she said.
Up-and-coming actor Timothee Chalamet, who also stars in "A Rainy Day in New York" followed suit and also announced he was donating his entire salary from the film to Time's Up, the LGBT Center in New York and anti-sexual violence organization RAINN.
"We are in a day and age when everything must be re-examined. This kind of abuse cannot be allowed to continue. If this means tearing down all the old gods, so be it," wrote Sorvino in an open letter to Farrow in HuffPost last week.
Actor Alec Baldwin, who won acclaim for portraying Donald Trump on Saturday Night Live, has been one of the few to publicly defend Allen, saying it was possible to support survivors of pedophilia and sexual assault, and also believe he was innocent.
Dylan Farrow detailed the alleged abuse for the first time in her own words in an open letter published on a New York Times blog in 2014.
In a follow-up New York Times op-ed, Allen repeated his denial and launched a furious attack on Mia Farrow, denouncing her as "more interested in her own festering anger than her daughter's well-being."
A New York judge who presided over the 1994 custody battle between Allen and Farrow ruled that the abuse allegations were inconclusive, but at the same time lambasted the director as "self-absorbed, untrustworthy and insensitive."
Allen remains with Soon-Yi and the couple have two children.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
LOS ANGELES - From flowing gowns to tailored tuxedos, Hollywood's film and television stars dressed in their finest black on the Golden Globes red carpet on Sunday in solidarity with the Time's Up campaign to fight sexual harassment in the workplace.
Jessica Chastain, Laura Dern and Natalie Portman led female and male nominees as well as attendees dressed in black at the awards show where the sexual harassment scandal roiling Hollywood is expected to dominate the conversation.
"We're here for the Time's Up movement. Octavia (Spencer) is my date -- girl power! We stand in solidarity against any abuse of power," Chastain, nominated for "Molly's Game" and wearing a black velvet gown with a silver sequined back, said in a televised interview with NBC on the red carpet.
"It's about people who are voiceless, and it's about empowerment," added Spencer, who is nominated for "Shape of Water."
In the week leading up to the awards ceremony, more than 300 Hollywood industry figures including actors, directors and writers, launched the Time's Up campaign to address workplace sexual harassment misconduct.
Portman, who joined Instagram in the past week to promote awareness of Time's Up, opted for a black velvet dress and accompanied a pregnant America Ferrera, wearing a black sequined dress with a tuxedo jacket, on the carpet.
"It's an incredible opportunity to get to go with a friend, an activist, someone who can have our voices together because we've been separated for so long ... and how much louder and stronger our voices can be when we come together," Portman said.
Dern, in a strapless black gown, was accompanied by Monica Ramirez, the co-founder and president of the National Farmworker Women's Alliance (Alianza Nacional De Campesinas), which represents more than 700,000 women working in the agricultural industry, fighting workplace sexual misconduct.
"It's time for us to make a difference," Dern said.
While black was the palette of choice on Sunday, stars spun their own twist with an array of textures and silhouettes.
"Black-ish" star Tracee Ellis Ross donned a black headwrap with her black satin Marc Jacobs halterneck dress, "The Crown" star Claire Foy opted for a black tuxedo suit, twinning with her co-star Matt Smith, and "Will and Grace" actress Debra Messing wore a black sequined Christian Siriano dress with trousers.
"Get Out" actress Allison Williams wore a strapless sequined Armani Prive black gown with a bold orange and silver bodice, while Mandy Moore opted for a black sleeveless halterneck Rosie Assoulin gown with a red sash.
Angelina Jolie, accompanied by her son Pax and nominated for her film "First They Killed My Father," wore a black gown with sheer sleeves embellished with black feathers.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
