Palisadians Duke It Out Over the Verb ‘Weinsteining’

By JOHN HARLOW | Editor-in-Chief

One may be wearying of the litany of horrors that are now associated with the verb “to Weinstein,” as Palisadian Tom Hanks put it.

And you can be very certain there is no room for such ghastliness in your local paper, where you turn the pages to get away from such nightmares.

And, most of the time, you would be right.

And yet, what happens if key characters in this grim morality play walk among us? They pick up their cold brews at Starbucks and, one or two I know, quietly post on social media what restaurants they want to see at the Caruso project.

We are not talking about part-time Palisadian brahs Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, who have both condemned their former associate Harvey Weinstein in rich and slightly sweaty terms.

We at the Palisadian-Post have a “good neighbor policy” toward TMZ targets and leave them alone—unless they are at Comic-Con or have a new movie out.

But what about two professional champions of reputation and reparation who both happen to live in Pacific Palisades and yet, as fate would have it, will play this out on opposite sides?

Both are respected by peers, both are fascinating characters, both slightly larger than life.

Yet what they do now may actually influence the social and cultural fabric of the Western world for years to come. So, no pressure then.

On one side, Gloria Allred, Sunset resident, feminist champion and media-beloved attorney.

She is defending many of the 50-plus women accusing the film mogul of heinous sexual offenses dating back to the 1980s.

Yet, before we forget, for those who came to town for the hanging, there have been no legal charges or tested proof, never mind a conviction.

On the other, Michael Sitrick, who prefers to reside in our town’s upper, cooler slopes.
Mike is a past master of snatching Hollywood’s self-destructives from the fire.

Someone once compared him to fictional studio fixer Ray Donavan, sans the baseball bat. It might have been himself.

These adversaries may never meet, but they will nudge the narrative that will not only dictate the fate of one already-broken man but also future relationships across the world between the powerful and the vulnerable.

Both have been doing this for a long time.

Allred, once an idealistic teacher in Watts, first demonstrated her knack for smart stunts in 1981, when she presented a state senator trying to outlaw abortion with a chastity belt. Senator Schmitz denounced her, in a press release no less, as a “slick butch lawyeress.”

If that crudity shocks, it only proves that times (and manners) can change, and that is partially down to Allred.

Her high-profile wins are legion: the girl locked out of the Boy Scouts, the jiltee dumped after her fiancé Dodi felt he had a chance of marrying the late Princess of Wales, a New Jersey waitress sacked for not looking pretty enough.

And she has challenged a host of male celebrities accused of behaving badly (and gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman). Schwarzenegger, Cosby, Rob Lowe—she has held many well-manicured toes to the fire.

Her daughter, lawyer Lisa Bloom, was due to represent Weinstein when the storm broke. Bloom then said she did not know the whole story and stepped away—maybe taking on Mom was more than she signed up for.

While Allred rides the media train, maybe to get parodied again in “The Simpsons,” Sitrick will be working behind the curtains.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Sitrick is the “King of crisis PR.” He is not short of work.

Since founding Sitrick and Company in 1989, he has represented 1,000 high-worth individuals and institutions from the Catholic diocese in LA to Paris Hilton after she was released from jail.

He also represented convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, after a friendship with a British royal thrust the financier back into the spotlight: As lawyers say, even the most dubious deserve a fair hearing.

But, in PR, no good spin goes unpunished: It was last reported that Epstein had refused to pay Sitrick his $100,000 fee.

Allred’s measure of success is well established: public shame followed by a confidential out of court settlement. But what is the metric in aiding Weinstein? Is “not going to jail” a big win?

Sitrick appears to be playing a low-profile strategy, advising that smart, strong women act as Weinstein’s occasional mouthpiece (but not Donna Karan: she was a clumsy volunteer).

He is standing behind one clear line, which he repeated last week to the Post: “Any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr. Weinstein.”

This strategy may evolve if prosecutions follow in New York, London or Utah.

Then Sitrick will cater his message to those audiences while privately bolstering the support of professional peers yet to cut ties with the wounded titan.

But there are a few clear paths to redemption—because it’s an alleged pattern of behavior over decades, it cannot be ameliorated by a spell in exile (Mel Gibson) or charm on a late-night TV show (Hugh Grant). Or just apologizing (Palisadian Reese Witherspoon, after bullying a traffic cop).

There is a playbook here: identify the least-hostile media outlets, favor them with tidbits, sort out the serious threats from the wagon-jumpers, use one set to discredit the other. But, most importantly, keep the ebullient tycoon quiet until the right time. What can be enough?

Already Weinstein, as Hanks pointed out, is a synonym for awful behavior.

He is also a scapegoat for widespread social guilt about ignoring or belittling (“Can’t you take a joke?”) the issue of workplace abuse from time immemorial—and not just in the entertainment business.

There are similar cases against ballet companies, churches, diplomatic corps, legal firms, schools (a once-unthinkable number of female teachers betraying trust), construction companies, in government and the military, too—last week the Pentagon pledged to stamp out sexual harassment. Again.

It could be a generational change, where habits once thought “natural” (like smoking everywhere) become unacceptable.

Our two talented Palisadians will seek to shape the narrative with nudges and broadsides, explain and defend, spin and damn, in a chess-like struggle that might one day enter business school textbooks.

Meanwhile, lest we forget, any victims will continue to bleed.

But in the end, it is people like us who will judge what lessons we draw from bad behaviors in the workplace, or the home, and how far we are willing to modify our own behaviors and attitudes, what we will teach our children.

It’s a tangled web, what we can and can’t say and do, with people outside our peer group who may appear hypersensitive to suddenly fashionable micro-aggressions.

And, yet,  we should still interact with the same people in a healthy fashion. Society isn’t getting any simpler to navigate, but for some it’s either evolve or end up as a verb.