Nate Parker and Casey Affleck have something unpleasant in common: They have both been accused of sexual misconduct in their past. The difference is, only one of them is having it dredged up by the media — well, until recently.
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Both men have been tipped to win big at this year’s Oscars: Parker for The Birth of a Nation and Affleck for Manchester by the Sea, and with this comes closer scrutiny of their lives.
In September of 2010, Casey Affleck settled the sexual harassment cases against him, brought by two women who accused him of unwelcome advances during the filming of I’m Still Here. The women in question were producer Amanda White and cinematographer Magdalena Gorka, who claimed that working with Affleck had been hell as they were subjected to his sexual advances and harassing behavior. While Gorka claimed she endured a “barrage of sexual comments, innuendo and unwelcome advances” from the crew, encouraged by Affleck.
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Affleck completely denied the accusations made against him and threatened to countersue the women. However, mediation was held, which eventually resulted in a settlement. But this case is over, and Affleck has gone on to work in the entertainment industry (including making movies like Manchester by the Sea, Out of the Furnace and Interstellar) with relatively little backlash, a comment that Mashable recently made in an article questioning why there is an uproar against Nate Parker (who has been grilled about his past at every turn), but not Affleck.
Parker’s case is different. To start, his case was a criminal matter, not a civil one. When he was age 19, he and writer Jean Celestin were accused of raping a fellow Penn State student when she was unconscious and unable to consent. Parker was acquitted and Celestin’s conviction was later vacated, Mashable reports. But the allegations have been discussed in depth this year now that he’s promoting a new film, The Birth of a Nation.
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However, a lot of people feel there has been a double standard in the media with regard to Parker and Affleck.
https://<a href="https://oto.diwarta.com/tags/twitter/" id="auto-tag_twitter_1" data-tag="twitter">twitter</a>.com/Copper_Soul/status/775911358940450816
Wanna see if Casey Affleck, who has a film coming out that's getting Oscar Buzz gets the same treatment Nate Parker is getting now.
— v (@V_44115) August 17, 2016
People are calling for Affleck to be held accountable and face the same scrutiny that Parker has.
That story about Nate Parker stinks so bad. But FYI Casey Affleck also has a history with sexual assaults, I hope he faces backlash too.
— M (@mexlidz) August 16, 2016
https://twitter.com/JLDlite/status/775023368881844225
seriously do y'all not know that casey affleck was sued for sexual assault by two women or do you just ignore it and keep stanning
— romana (@iamnevertheone) September 14, 2016
Others note that this is an important conversation, and shouldn’t be swept under the rug.
https://twitter.com/yaypineapples/status/773579902796828672
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