Iāve struggled with this myself and have kept my thoughts to myself until today because of it.
I meanā¦ the #MeToo movement is about holding powerful people accountable for how theyāve treated others, for how theyāve sexually harassed and abused people who had little recourse and were bullied into silence for so many years. I knew Kazinsky had the whole dick pic incident in his past because heās spoken of it before. I believed what he said about it, butā¦ did I believe him just because I like him? How do I justify believing him when I fully believe victims that have come forward with their stories?
Itās entirely possible that Iām soft-soaping him because heās a favorite, and I didnāt want to do that. So I didnāt say anything because I didnāt want to sound like a hypocrite.
Now that heās issued his own public apology, though, Iām making myself look very closely at my motives here, and hereās what I think.
He was outed and humiliated for his actions AT THE TIME. He was suspended from and eventually left the #1 show in the UK because of it. It ruined his personal life and damn near destroyed his career. Heās said several times that it was stupid to send her a dick pic and he didnāt even know why he did it (never once acted like he HADNāT done it or tried to cover it up), but he heavily regretted it. He was ashamed of himself, ashamed that heād embarrassed his parents who were so proud of him, etc.
Isnāt that what the #MeToo movement is about? Making sure these abusers face consequences for what theyāve done to people?
Rob Kazinsky has spent a decade trying to rebuild his reputation and his career and hasnāt done anything like that since. He has done the work. And he definitely supports the outing of users and abusers and has for years. Heās been harassed by men in power positions himself, and heās standing with his girlfriend, Chloe Dykstra, while she tells her story about her abusive relationship.
I donāt want to soft-soap or erase what heās done, but he has paid greatly for it and has learned from it. Heās trying to support other people who have suffered from abuse.
And now, 11 years later, heās apologizing to the woman he wronged. Heās not making excuses. Heās not even pointing out that he already lived his consequences. Heās just plain apologizing.
I have to think thatās what the #MeToo movement is about. I have to think thatās the result we should be aiming for (although, for worse crimes like rape and physical abuse, there should absolutely be criminal consequences, like for Weinstein, Depp, et al.), right?
Or am I just rationalizing the situation because he seems like a sincere, genuine kind of guy and heās a nerd like us? I honestly donāt know.
But I THINKā¦ heās trying to do the right thing and has been for over a decade.
Or maybe I just want to think that. I honestly donāt know.
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