Two New York moguls offer a pulse check for the #MeToo movement

It started with a viral tweet that swept the globe — but now, some are wondering if the #MeToo movement is in its dying days.

For the last two months, two separate trials in New York have offered a pulse check on the phenomenon, which exposed rife harassment and abuse in the entertainment industry and beyond.

Earlier this month, a jury convicted the man who catalysed the movement, filmmaker Harvey Weinstein, of one of the top charges in his sex crimes retrial. But it acquitted him of another and was unable to reach a verdict on a third.

It was a split result that both sides could paint as a win.

Now, a different New York jury is about to begin deliberating on the fate of rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs in his sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy case.

While the movie mogul started the movement, the charges against the music mogul are an indirect result of it.

And just up the road from the Weinstein retrial, crowds have gathered every morning over the past seven weeks for the Combs case.

Among them is a small number of #MeToo advocates like Andreea Gray.

As she spoke to the ABC outside the Manhattan court, a pro-Diddy TikToker yelled over the top of her, claiming the case was all a cash grab.

“I thought I would see more women and allies … here, just protesting the atrocious crimes committed against the survivors,” said the New Yorker, who has been following the case from day one.

In 2023, Combs’s former girlfriend Casandra Ventura took advantage of a new law, which gave alleged victims of sexual violence a 12-month window to file civil claims even after the statute of limitations had lapsed.

It was among several law changes sparked by #MeToo, and Ventura cited it when she sued Combs for years of alleged abuse. “With the expiration of New York’s Adult Survivors Act fast approaching it became clear that this was an opportunity to speak up,” she said.

The civil case was settled within 24 hours for $US20 million ($30 million).

Months later, surveillance video emerged showing Combs grabbing, shoving, dragging and kicking Ventura in a hotel hallway in California in 2016.

The rapper’s homes in Los Angeles and Miami were later raided, and police found guns and ammunition, drugs, and large amounts of baby oil and lubricant related to alleged days-long sex marathons dubbed “freak offs”.

Combs was charged with racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking. Prosecutors alleged that over almost two decades, he abused, threatened and coerced women “to fulfil his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct”.

Like many advocates, Gray fears a not guilty verdict would have a chilling effect on survivors and work to further suppress their voices.

The ‘original sinner’

When the long-whispered accusations about Weinstein were made public back in 2017 in a blockbuster investigation by The New York Times, a movement began that quickly took on a life of its own.

Days after the allegations were published, actor Alyssa Milano tweeted: “If you’ve been sexually harassed or assaulted write ‘me too’ as a reply to this tweet.”

When the hashtag went viral, no-one could have predicted the dam that would then burst.

Women were emboldened to come forward with stories of sexual harassment, abuse and assault. Powerful men fell. A system of tacit acceptance of misconduct was turned on its head.

But eight years later, as Weinstein faced a New York jury in the retrial of his rape and sexual abuse case, many of those gains had been lost.

And some women are left wondering if the #MeToo moment is over. Or if it even really happened at all.

As they closed their case earlier this month, Weinstein’s lawyers portrayed him as the falsely accused “poster boy, the original sinner, for the #MeToo movement”.

It’s true that the accusations against him helped spark the movement and opened the floodgates for a slew of allegations against powerful men in all corners of public life.

Within weeks of The New York Times report, actor Kevin Spacey was accused of sexual misconduct, and NBC fired TV host Matt Lauer over harassment accusations against him.

The following year, comedian Bill Cosby was jailed for drugging and assaulting Andrea Constand, one of his scores of accusers, and actor Amber Heard published an article in The Washington Post speaking out about domestic abuse.

But as quickly as it began, the movement soon began to unravel.

Lost gains

In 2021, the Philadelphia Supreme Court overturned Cosby’s conviction and freed him.

The following year, Heard lost a $US10 million defamation case to her ex-husband, Johnny Depp, in a trial widely seen as undermining the #MeToo movement.

The year after that, Spacey was acquitted of sexual assault charges in the UK.

And last year, Weinstein had his conviction overturned on appeal — hence the recent retrial.

Jennifer Mondino from the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund, an organisation launched in 2018 to support survivors who don’t have access to the media or the money to file a lawsuit, describes the retrial as “a travesty”.

“I think there was a serious error in legal judgment with the courts, and I wish that the survivors didn’t have to be telling their stories again,” she told the ABC.

Regardless of the retrial outcome in New York, Weinstein was always going to remain a convicted sex offender in California, where he was sentenced to 16 years in prison in 2022.

“It doesn’t change what has already happened here,” Mondino said.

“Which is that all of these very brave people spoke out about their experiences with harassment and abuse by Harvey Weinstein and a jury believed them — and people all across the country believed them.”

The politics of #MeToo

Accusations of sexual misconduct are no longer political kryptonite either.

Arguably the most powerful man in the world, who was once caught on tape bragging about grabbing women “by the pussy”, is back in the White House.

A year after Donald Trump was found liable for sexual abuse in a civil trial in 2023, the American people elected him for a second time.

In New York City, where the Weinstein retrial and Diddy trial took place, two of the contenders for mayor have faced accusations of sexual misconduct.

The incumbent, Eric Adams, was accused in a lawsuit of sexually assaulting a colleague in 1993.

In 2021, Scott Stringer was accused by two women of sexual harassment.

A third candidate, former governor Andrew Cuomo, who was just knocked out of the Democratic primary, resigned from office four years ago after an investigation found he sexually harassed 11 women.

All three men deny the accusations against them.

The end of the movement?

Advocates for the #MeToo movement argue it has brought about real change for survivors and say reports the movement is dead are grossly overstated.

Mondino says, since launching in 2018, the Time’s Up legal fund has supported 430 workplace harassment cases and connected more than 5,000 people to lawyers for similar matters.

“I would say that the MeToo movement is absolutely alive and well and going forward,” she said.

“And the reason that I know that to be true is because we have survivors coming to us every day, getting connected to attorneys in our legal network.”

Outside the court during the first week of the Combs trial, prominent #MeToo lawyer Gloria Allred said the case was another sign the movement was far from over.

“People keep saying to me the MeToo movement is dead,” she told the ABC.

“I don’t know why they say that. There’s no evidence of that and I say, to the contrary, it’s alive and well and living in this country and in many countries.”

Allred has represented accusers against Weinstein, Cosby and now Combs, and points out there are also many confidential settlements that are never made public.

“Women are coming forward. They’re … not going to be silenced anymore if they believe that they have been the victims of injustice … by rich, powerful famous men.”

However, the rate of criminal convictions following sexual assault accusations in the United States remains low.

For every 1,000 reported assaults, fewer than 30 people are convicted.

Mondino admits the movement has had some setbacks but believes that’s the nature of social change.

“It isn’t a perfect straight line. There is always going to be some victories and some losses and some blowback,” she said.

“When there is blowback like this, it means it’s working. It means that people are really paying attention.

“And so I take it not as a sign of the movement being dead, but the movement actually gaining traction.”