Samantha Bee wasted little time in roasting Harvey Weinstein in her first episode of TBS’ Full Frontal since the recent stream of sexual harassment and assault allegations against the Hollywood mogul started making headlines last week.
On Wednesday night, Bee used her weekly show to dig into the Weinstein scandal, and the broader issue of sexual harassment, in a segment titled “Listen Up, Creeps.” Bee, who called Weinstein “White Cosby” in a reference to the assault allegations against actor Bill Cosby, skewered the statement Weinstein provided The New York Times last week in which the movie producer partly blamed his behavior on the fact that he “came of age in the ’60s and ’70s.”
“Don’t blame the ’60s and ’70s for your behavior, it’s serial sexual harassment not a Monkees tattoo,” Bee said.
Some late-night TV programs were criticized over the weekend for taking a few days to address the stream of sexual harassment allegations against Weinstein. But, Bee used her first show to air since the scandal broke to speak out against Weinstein and to tackle sexual harassment in the workplace. “Sexual harassment is rampant in every profession imaginable: medicine, finance, technology, academia, publishing, restaurants,” Bee said.
That being said, Bee issued a warning to sexual predators in the entertainment industry, pointing out that the growing list of women coming forward to speak out against allegedly inappropriate behavior of powerful men like Weinstein is indicative of the fact that such behavior will not necessarily go unchallenged. “Listen up, creeps of Hollywood. We know who you are . . . Women talk to each other. And we talk to journalists, and we talk to lawyers. It’s 2017. We don’t have to put up with this shit. We’re coming for you.”
Over the past week, the fallout for Weinstein has been relatively swift since the first allegations became public, including accusations from actresses such as Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie, Rose McGowan, and Ashley Judd. The Weinstein Company’s board fired Weinstein, the company’s co-founder, on Sunday, and police departments in London and New York City are reportedly now investigating sexual assault allegations against him.
Earlier this week, Weinstein’s spokesperson issued a statement in response to several of the allegations of sexual harassment and assault: “Any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr Weinstein.” Fortune contacted Weinstein’s spokeswoman, Sallie Hofmeister, on Thursday and we will update this article with any response.
