The initiative, which is called Time’s Up, was announced via a full-page advert printed in the New York Times.

The Hollywood project is described as a “unified call for change from women in entertainment for women everywhere”.

It comes in the wake of sexual abuse allegations by high-profile actresses against film producer Harvey Weinstein.

Legal funding

The campaign, which is backed by hundreds of actresses including Natalie Portman, Reese Witherspoon, Cate Blanchett, Eva Longoria and Emma Stone, has already raised more than $13m (£9.6m) of its $15m target.

The money raised will be used to fund legal support for both female and male victims of sexual harassment at work.

The project is aimed primarily at those who are unable to meet the payments to defend themselves, such as agricultural or factory workers, caretakers and waitresses.

In a “solidarity letter” published on its website, Time’s Up says the “struggle for women to break in, to rise up the ranks and to simply be heard” must end, adding: “Time’s up on this impenetrable monopoly.”

The letter, which is aimed at “every woman… who has had to fend off sexual advances”, goes on to say that such harassment can often continue because “perpetrators and employers never face any consequences”.

It also calls for “gender inequality and the imbalance of power” to be addressed, stressing the need for more women to gain positions of authority and parity of pay.

In December, Time magazine named “the Silence Breakers” – women and men who spoke out against sexual abuse and harassment – as its “Person of the Year” for 2017.

Last year also saw the rise of the #MeToo hashtag, which inspired a global movement of women and men to share their stories of sexual abuse and harassment.

The term gained momentum after actress Alyssa Milano took to Twitter to ask victims of sexual assault to come forward in a show of solidarity.

Between October and December 2017, the hashtag was used on Twitter and Facebook more than six million times.

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Source: BBC

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The march follows a torrent of assault and harassment allegations against public figures, set off by revelations about the movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.
The marchers started on Hollywood Boulevard and walked along the “Walk of Fame” to CNN’s headquarters.

They were predominantly women but many men attended.

Tara McNamarra, 21, of Los Angeles, told Reuters news agency that the march felt cleansing after years of not being taken seriously about abuse.
“I’ve been sexually assaulted multiple times throughout my life,” she said. “It’s affected me in every aspect of my life.”

The #MeToo hashtag was first used by social activist Tarana Burke and popularised by actress Alyssa Milano in the wake of the Weinstein allegations.

Ms Burke led Sunday’s march. “For every Harvey Weinstein, there’s a hundred more men in the neighborhood who are doing the exact same thing,” she wrote on Facebook ahead of the event.

“What we’re seeing, at least for now, is a unity of survivors, a community of survivors that have grown out of this #MeToo viral moment, that I’m just hoping and praying that we can sustain.”

The actor Kevin Spacey and comedian Louis CK are among the high-profile figures accused of sexual harassment over the past few weeks.
Louis CK published an apology on Friday, admitting after years of denials that the allegations were true.

“The power I had over these women is that they admired me. And I wielded that power irresponsibly,” he wrote.

The New York Times reported in October that Weinstein, 65, had settled out of court with eight women who had accused him of sexual harassment and unwanted physical contact.

Weinstein has also been accused of rape, but said through a spokesperson that he “unequivocally denied” any allegations of non-consensual sex.

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Source: BBC

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Streep told the Huffington Post she was “appalled” by the “disgraceful” news.

She went on to praise “the intrepid women who raised their voices to expose this abuse”, calling them “heroes”.

Dame Judi Dench also issued a statement saying she was “completely unaware” of the “horrifying” claims.

The British actress also praised those who had spoken up.

“I offer my sympathy to those who have suffered, and wholehearted support to those who have spoken out,” she said.

Meanwhile, another British actress – Romola Garai – says she felt “violated” after being asked to visit Weinstein in his hotel room when she was 18 so he could “approve” her for a role.

Garai told The Guardian he opened the door in his dressing gown. “It was humiliating for me,” she said, adding: “It was an abuse of power.”

Oscar-winner Kate Winslet has also praised those, like Garai, who spoke out, telling Variety they are “incredibly brave”, adding it had been “deeply shocking to hear”.

Emma Thompson, Mark Ruffalo and Seth Rogen are among other leading actors to express similar sentiments.

The Weinstein allegations have instigated a fierce debate about abuse of power in Hollywood and beyond.

Streep’s statement followed criticism that leading Hollywood figures had maintained a “deafening silence” in the wake of the allegations against Weinstein that surfaced in the New York Times on Friday.

Streep said she wanted to make it clear that “not everybody” had known about the allegations, including herself.

The three-time Oscar-winner said the news had “appalled those of us whose work [Weinstein] championed, and those whose good and worthy causes he supported.”

Streep worked with Weinstein on such films as The Iron Lady and August: Osage County and jokingly referred to him as “God” in a 2012 acceptance speech.

“Harvey supported the work fiercely, was exasperating but respectful with me in our working relationship, and with many others with whom he worked professionally,” Streep wrote about the allegations.

“I did not know about his financial settlements with actresses and colleagues; I did not know about his having meetings in his hotel room, his bathroom, or other inappropriate, coercive acts.

“And if everybody knew, I don’t believe that all the investigative reporters in the entertainment and the hard news media would have neglected for decades to write about it.”

She added: “The behaviour is inexcusable, but the abuse of power familiar. Each brave voice that is raised, heard and credited by our watchdog media will ultimately change the game.”

Weinstein was made an honorary CBE by the Queen in 2004 for his contribution to the British film industry.

A spokesman for Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May said she had expressed “concern” about the allegations, but said his CBE was not a matter for her office but for the Honours Forfeiture Committee, where each case is “considered on its merits”.

Speaking earlier on Monday, Britain’s Emma Thompson said she was pleased the story had come out and described Weinstein as “a predatory man”.

“Male predatory behaviour is everywhere, not just in the film industry,” the actress and screenwriter told the BBC.

“Let’s support those women who don’t have the confidence to speak out.”

Some male stars have also spoken out to denounce Weinstein and express support for the women he is alleged to have abused.

“What Harvey Weinstein did was a disgusting abuse of power,” tweeted Avengers actor Mark Ruffalo about the claims.

“I believe all the women coming forward about Harvey Weinstein’s sexual harassment,” wrote Seth Rogen.

Actress Rose McGowan, who the New York Times claimed had reached a legal settlement with Weinstein in 1997, has also been highly vocal.

“Ladies of Hollywood, your silence is deafening,” she tweeted on Saturday, going on to tell the Hollywood Reporter that “men in Hollywood need to change ASAP”.

When the claims were first reported in the New York Times, Weinstein issued a statement in which he apologised.

“I appreciate the way I’ve behaved with colleagues in the past has caused a lot of pain, and I sincerely apologise for it,” he wrote.

But he later disputed the article, with one of his legal team claiming the newspaper’s report was “saturated with false and defamatory statements”.

Mr Weinstein’s lawyer, Lisa Bloom, said in another statement that he denied many of the allegations against him as “patently false”.

Bloom later announced she had resigned as Mr Weinstein’s adviser.

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Source: BBC

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The article reported he had reached at least eight settlements with women.

Girls creator Lena Dunham thanked one of its writers “for pushing past [a] flimsy but firm veil of secrecy”.

Weinstein has disputed the newspaper report that claimed he harassed female employees over nearly three decades and is taking legal action.

‘Reckless reporting’
The co-founder of Miramax and The Weinstein Company released a statement on Thursday in which he expressed “regret [for] what happened”.

“I appreciate the way I’ve behaved with colleagues in the past has caused a lot of pain, and I sincerely apologise for it,” he wrote.

Weinstein, a married father of five, said he planned to take a leave of absence from his company and had hired therapists to deal with his issues.

Yet the producer of Shakespeare in Love, The King’s Speech and other Oscar winners later said he was taking legal action against the paper for its “reckless reporting”.

“This is a vendetta, and the next time I see [NYT executive editor] Dean Baquet it will be across a courtroom,” he is quoted as saying by the Page Six website.

The 65-year-old has been married since 2007 to fashion designer Georgina Rose Chapman, with whom he has two children.

‘I believe you’
Oscar-winner Brie Larson responded to the allegations by saying she stood “with the brave survivors of sexual assault and harassment… as always”.

“It’s not your fault. I believe you,” she wrote in a post that did not mention Weinstein by name.

Report
“The woman who chose to speak about their experience of harassment by Harvey Weinstein deserve our awe,” wrote Dunham in another post.
“It’s not fun or easy. It’s brave.”

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Source: BBC

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On Thursday, Cosby’s attorney Angela Agrusa argued to a Massachusetts judge why documents produced by Creative Artists Agency should be sealed in a defamation lawsuit brought by seven women.

The documents in question, according to court briefs, contain information about Cosby’s negotiated compensation for his performances, some of his contracts and also reflect the cancelation of business arrangements since the sexual assault firestorm.

The plaintiffs are objecting to the proposed sealing. One of the arguments being made by the women is that Cosby has no prospects in the entertainment business. Therefore, Cosby couldn’t experience harm from disclosure.

Agrusa disputes.

“Plaintiffs’ argument that Mr. Cosby has no basis to protect this information because he has no potential agreements or performances on the horizon is baseless,” she wrote in a brief filed with the court yesterday. “When Mr. Cosby is cleared from all liability and charges, and the impact of Plaintiffs’ defamatory conduct has subsided, he expects to resume his career, and there is no reason to believe otherwise. But disclosure of this type of financial and business information is irreversible. Even after his name is cleared, if released to the public, this information would improperly restrain his employment and tie his hands for renegotiation.”

CAA is no longer representing Cosby, whose most serious legal difficulty is in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, where he faces a charge of sexually assaulting former Temple University employee Andrea Constand.

Cosby is presently attempting to convince the judge in the criminal case to dismiss it as a violation of his due process rights. Cosby’s attorneys argue he has suffered prejudice from the long delay in the filing of charges. The 79-year-old entertainer also points to blindness and memory decline as preventing him from assisting in his defense.

Over in Massachusetts, where Cosby experienced a separate win earlier this week by getting a judge to order American International Group to pay his legal fees in the defamation suits, the suing women pointed to that issue of slipping eyesight as another reason why the resumption of his career is “highly improbable.”

This gets a retort as well.

Agrusa writes, “Mr. Cosby’s visual impairment that prejudicially impacts his ability to defend against decades-old allegations does not in the same way affect his ability to continue his career in entertainment, as there are many examples of highly successful, and visually impaired entertainers, e.g. Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles.”

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Source: The Hollywood Report

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Rahama Sadau was one of the top stars in the Hausa-language film industry based in northern Nigeria.

But industry leaders said she had repeatedly failed to adhere to the conservative values of the region, and said her performance in the music video with singer ClassiQ was the last straw.

The ban has been imposed by the Motion Pictures Practitioners Association of Nigeria (Moppan), and means Sadau will no longer be allowed to perform in any films made in Kannywood – the northern Nigerian film industry named after its base in the city of Kano.

The actress is yet to respond to the ban, and has not tweeted to her 52,000 followers since news of it emerged on Monday.

The music video shows cuddling and hand-holding that would be considered chaste by Western standards (YouTube/Finesse Entertainment)

But the industry body said this was ‘not the first time she has been doing these wayward things’ (YouTube/Finesse Entertainment)

The chairman of Moppan, Muhammadu Kabiru Maikaba, confirmed in an interview with the BBC Hausa service said the ban was “total”.

He said: “This is not the first time that she has been doing these wayward things. We have been warning her, but she still went ahead to dent our image.”

The video in question was released in late September and entitled “I love you”.

Sadau plays the role of a market stall worker who falls in love with the singer, ClassiQ, and the pair are shown holding hands and sitting together in scenes which would be described as chaste by Western standards.

Moppan is under pressure to protect Kannywood from the outrage of conservative Muslim clerics, however, who have accused the industry of being a negative influence on family values.

It said in a statement signed off by the Secretary of the association, Salisu Mohammed, that the music video was “immoral”, and warned other actors to adhere to the rules that come with being a Kannywood star.

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Source: Independent.co.uk

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A lump sum payment will be made while part of the compensation will be put into equity for perpetual use of the La people, Haruna Iddrisu, Minister of Trade and Industry announced on Friday when he inaugurated a nine-member board of the Ghana Trade Fair Company Limited.

The Minister expressed regret that due compensation had not been paid on the land all these years and gave the assurance that “this time the right thing will be done to ensure peaceful coexistence with the people.”

Mr Iddrisu led the board to swear the official oath and the oath of secrecy to usher the members into office.

The board is made up of its Chairperson, Hannah Brenda Anewenah Amoateng, a former Vice Chairperson of J P Morgan in USA, Nii Kpobi Tetteh Tsuru, La Mantse, Benita Sena Okity-Duah and Rosalind A. Kudoadzi.

The rest are, Comfort A. Adjei, Annie Letsu-Tetteh, Habiba A. Tanko, Joshua H. Akamba and Ebenezer Okpoti Koney.

The Trade Minister charged the Board to rise up to the occasion and address the challenges currently confronting the Trade Fair centre, which is not helping in its development.

He said their first task should be the initiation of a policy that would re-establish the Centre either under a public-private partnership or a government to government partnership; and turn the Centre into an international trade convention centre, with a shopping mall, a hotel facility, a recreation centre and a real estate as well as an exhibition centre.

“This is what his Excellency President John Mahama wishes the Centre to be,” Mr Iddrisu stated.

He noted that different investors from Paris, Brazil, and Dubai have expressed interest to partner Ghana to develop the Centre and urged the new Board, as a matter of urgency, assess these investors and select the best for the partnership.

He also tasked the Board to ensure that all issues concerning payment of compensation to various institutions is resolved amicably to avoid any payment of future judgment debts.

“The Board should clean-up any existing financial malfeasance at the Trade Fair Centre”, he emphasized.

Mr. Iddrisu asked the Board to protect the assets of the Trade Fair Centre jealously and ensure that all its debtors pay monies owned to the Centre for renting purposes and others.

He further charged the Board to deepen the promotion of regional trade and exhibitions as the main activities of the centre.

Ms Amoateng on behalf of the members of the Board thanked government for the trust reposed in them and said they will meet as a team and work diligently with the executive management to turn the Centre’s fortunes around.

“I bring to bear my rich experience in investment to work together with other members and ensure that the Centre becomes what we want it to be”, Ms Amoateng said.

Nii Kpobi Tetteh Tsuru, La Mantse said the people of La will this time give their support to the new Board to develop the Centre.

He expressed happiness about the compensation issue and said “this will really make the La people very happy”.

Source: GNA

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