Andrew Kreisberg susspended from The Flash following accusations of sexual harrassment

It was announced yesterday that The Flash showrunner Andrew Kreisberg has been suspended from his duties as showrunner of The Flash following accusations of "sexual harassment and inappropriate physical contact".
I know this was posted in The Flash thread, but I thought it might be better to give this a separate thread so it doesn't distract from the discussion of the show.

 

Thanks. The news also affects the other DC superhero shows, so it makes sense to have a separate thread.

 

This is shocking. I mean, it's clear by now that this sort of thing is pervasive in the industry and could crop up anywhere, but it hurts that it happened here, with someone so central to so many shows I love. And I never would've expected it from one of the showrunners of Supergirl, of all people.

Is he only suspended from The Flash, though? What about Supergirl?

 

At this rate we'll need a "X accused of _____" thread just like the shooting one.

 

The article on AVClub only mentions his showrunner duties for The Flash. How big of a job does he have on Supergirl?

 

He has executive producer credits on all the DC CW shows, but that's mainly due to his co-developing them all. I believe he's suspended by the studio, which would affect his work on all the shows. I just don't know how big his role is on the various properties.

 

He's at least nominally the co-showrunner, along with Ali Adler in the first two seasons and Jessica Queller & Robert Rovner in the current season. He was the sole credited writer on the season premiere. He also co-plotted the entire upcoming "Crisis on Earth-X" crossover with Marc Guggenheim. And he's one of the most active spokespeople for the Arrowverse in the press.

 

As mentioned in in the Supergirl thread, this is not a surprise in the larger sense that the entertainment business has always been filled with sexually abusive people who sell themselves as the most caring, thoughtful, and respectful (from the ideological left) who would "never" violate others in this way (while accusing everyone else of abusive acts/behavior).At tis point, no one knows where the Kreizberg story will end up in terms of destruction of victims' lives, charges, etc., but this places his series--often more social/political activism series than superhero fantasy--in a very dicey public-face position, considering the type of finger-pointing dialogue/plots used on the series so often.

 

How far along are they in filming this season of the DC CW shows?

 

I hope that Marc Guggenheim DOESN'T assume control of "The Flash".

 

Tood Helbing was the co-showrunner with Kreisberg so he will probably be the sole showrunner.

 

God, reading the excuses he gave in reponse make him come across as even worse. They remind me of the way I'd reply to my parents when caught doing something wrong. The difference being that was when I was a child.

 

The attitudes on this thread are refreshingly mature. I saw a report on this story on Facebook from a cinematic/TV page I follow and the comments were mostly from broflakes moaning about witch hunts, no man being safe, women looking for payouts etc.

I mean, everyone is entitled to the presumption of innocence and no doubt there will be the very odd false accusation among the tales that are surfacing. But if anyone chooses to believe the word of one man over numerous women, who have no reason to lie about a story like this...I really do wonder about their perspective.

 

Over at DC Comics, Eddie Berganza (Group Editor of the Superman titles) has been suspended over his own Sexual Misconduct Allegations.

 

^It finally happened.

 

Sometimes of late I feel like Ron Weasley in those scenes in 'The Deathly Hallows Part 1' where he's listening to the radio, hearing the names of Voldermort's victims, seeing if anyone close to him has been taken. In my case it's reading the names of those accused of sexual misconduct, wondering who's going to be next and whether it's someone who's played a character or been in something, possibly a franchise I'm a fan of.

 

Anyone who pretends that this sort of thing never happens in Hollywood is deluded or a liar. It's always been an open secret -- heck, for generations, it was considered business as usual. I recently saw an old news clipping of actress Maureen O'Hara complaining that Hollywood executives were spreading rumors that she was a cold fish and unfeminine because she wouldn't sit on their laps or let them make out with her or feel her up. For a long time, this was seen as normal, expected behavior for Hollywood executives, even as something they were entitled to. We Star Trek fans have long heard the stories about Gene Roddenberry's constant philandering and sleeping with actresses, and it's always been presented as something consensual, a matter of women finding him irresistible and Roddenberry just going along with it. But lately I'm compelled to admit that it was probably something more coercive and predatory than that, at least in some cases. It's something that a person in a position of authority should not be doing with the people whose careers he has power over. But it's something that the men in positions of authority in Hollywood (and in politics and industry and many other walks of life) have historically taken for granted as something they were entitled to do. And that presumption is still there to a large extent.

That's the thing -- most of these charges are about behaviors that have been open secrets in the industry for years, but that nobody's stood up and done anything about until now. Apparently Harvey Weinstein's actions and Brett Ratner's have been talked about in hushed tones for a long time now. I've been hearing stories for years about how well-known Eddie Berganza's abuses at DC were and how outrageous it was that DC refused to do anything about it. So anyone who claims these things don't happen has no credibility. Of course there are going to be some false accusations here and there. David Gerrold suggested on Facebook that at least one recent, uncorroborated charge might be the work of some right-wing troll trying to take advantage of the current climate to smear an innocent person. But if the producers of a lucrative entertainment franchise like the Arrowverse are willing to suspend one of the most important creators behind it, that indicates that they consider the charges credible enough to take seriously. It is hard to believe that so many different, unconnected people would conspire to fabricate charges against someone.

 

Again, not a surprise. The comics industry has suffered from sexual abuse charges for decades, including revelations that some creators were taking advantage of teenagers they would meet on the job and at comic conventions from the 70s-forward. Then, there's the culture of sexual harassment at conventions with convention-goer against convention-goer, and its not limited to the well-covered complaints of cosplayers, but random attendees.

But as far as DC is concerned, both its publishing and TV productions paint the overall brand as hypocritical for all of their socio-political statements running through their content (with a flood of judgement at selected public targets), yet they had abuse from within, and said nothing, even when allegations were first brought to light. Dark message.

 

Are you really trying to use this to invalidate the socio-political messages on Supergirl?

If anything, this shows why more of that stuff is needed.

 

Not to mention DC Comics Publishing Side hasn't really jumped on the social justice political angle like Marvel (the editors and talent's political opinions are a whole different kettle of fish altogether).