All Entertainment, Media Men Accused of Sexual Misconduct Post Weinstein

Sexual Harassment

The Harvey Weinstein scandal, which was exposed by early October reports published in The New York Times and The New Yorker, opened the floodgates for women, and men, to come forward and share their stories of sexual misconduct, harassment and assault.

Despite their claims being leveled against some of the most powerful figures in Hollywood and media — from celebrated stars to high-ranking agents and executives — the alleged victims have collectively claimed to be empowered by the changing tide, spirit of the #MeToo movement and of once-dismissed voices now being heard. 

The Hollywood Reporter takes a look at the most notable of the accused figures who have been hit with misconduct allegations in the wake of the Weinstein allegations, and what the response has been to the claims. This is

Cook Medical Wins First IVC Filter Bellwether Trial

IVC Filter

Cook Medical won a unanimous verdict November 9, following a three-week trial in a lawsuit blaming the company’s Celect IVC filter for a Florida woman’s injuries.

More than 3,000 lawsuits are still pending against Cook over the devices designed to catch blood clots. People claim the filters which are placed in the body’s largest vein, called the vena cava, can come loose or break and cause blood vessel or organ damage. Some of the lawsuits blame the devices for patients’ deaths.

Why Tobacco Companies Are Paying to Tell You Smoking Kills

Tobacco

The biggest tobacco companies in the United States will start running prime-time television commercials and full-page ads in national newspapers on Sunday — but the campaign is unlikely to spur enthusiasm for their products.

“More people,” one ad says, “die every year from smoking than murder, AIDS, suicide, drugs, car crashes, and alcohol, combined.” Another reads: “Cigarette companies intentionally designed cigarettes with enough nicotine to create and sustain addiction.”

Each ad starts by noting that Altria, R. J. Reynolds Tobacco, Lorillard and Philip Morris USA were ordered to make the statements by a federal court.

The messages stem from a lawsuit brought by the Justice Department in 1999. As part of the 2006 ruling in the suit, which sought to punish cigarette makers for decades of deceiving the public about the dangers of their product, the companies were ordered to disseminate “corrective statements” centered on the health risks and addictive nature of smoking. But until now, they resisted through appeals and by wrangling over wording.

“It’s both an important victory and a frustrating one,” said Matthew Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, who has worked on the case since 1999. The tobacco companies “have spent millions of dollars and a decade of time resisting a court order that simply requires them to publish truthful facts about their products and their behavior,” he said.

Mr. Myers said the ads would be less effective than originally intended because fewer people read newspapers and watch television today. The tobacco companies, he said, also negotiated to not include the phrase “here’s the truth” in the ads.