This Depressing Website Lets You Find Out Which Films Star Alleged Sexual Abusers
It's extremely extensive.
In one of the more depressingly necessary developments in this garbage fire year, a new website is giving you the power to check if anyone involved in the production of your favourite movies and/or TV shows has been accused of sexual harassment or assault.
Rotten Apples lets users search a film or show by title, and returns a rating of either ‘rotten’ or ‘fresh’ along with a list of any writers, directors, producers or cast members who have been accused of sexual misconduct. A search for The Usual Suspects turns up actor Kevin Spacey and director Bryan Singer. Type in Home Alone 2 and you get the name of the President of the United States. Each name is accompanied by a link to a news story detailing the relevant allegations.
“The goal of this site is to further drive awareness of just how pervasive sexual misconduct in film and television is and to help make ethical media consumption easier,” explains the About section on the site.
Users can also help grow the Rotten Apples database by submitting links to stories about accusations of inappropriate behaviour. The site is still in its early stages, and at this stage seems to be missing a number of notable names and titles. For example, there is no entry for Last Tango in Paris despite the historic abuse allegations against leading man Marlon Brando.
Additionally, the site does not appear to account for allegations of domestic abuse, with films starring Johnny Depp and Michael Fassbender categorised as ‘fresh’.
Despite the gaps, however, the site still manages to reflect — in fairly stark fashion — just how widespread the problem of sexual harassment and assault in the entertainment industry really is. If nothing else, it’s definitely worth having a look at it before you next log in to Netflix.
You can find Rotten Apples at www.therottenappl.es.