This "Kirk Douglas is a rapist" outrage is utter BS

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

Last edited Mon Jan 8, 2018, 09:06 PM - Edit history (1)

So, last night at the Golden Globes, Kirk Douglas was honored with a standing ovation for his efforts in the 1950s to end the Hollywood blacklist.

Immediately after, people on Twitter went crazy, saying Hollywood was honoring "the man who raped Natalie Wood"

The frenzy was picked up by tabloid hack sites like Mediaite (https://www.mediaite.com/online/twitter-calls-out-golden-globes-for-honoring-kirk-douglas-accused-of-raping-natalie-wood-not-a-good-look/), as well as the NY Post, conservative radio and Rolling Stone (https://www.rollingstone.com/tv/news/times-up-golden-globes-2018-tackles-sexual-assault-with-mixed-results-w515097 - who curiously havent, to date, done a single report on the abuse allegations against their found Jann Wenner and continue to refuse to cover allegations against the music stars who grace their pages).

Link to tweet

The thing is, there is no recorded instance of Wood accusing Douglas of committing this act. She never even said she was raped by anyone. This is putting words in the mouth of someone who died 30+ years ago.

The story has its roots in a Gawker piece, in which a guy claiming to be Robert Downey Jr. was posting the story all over message boards a few years ago, claiming he heard it from Wood's daughter. Of course, the fact that the guy, who also doxxed Wood's daughter and gave out her home phone, turned out not be Downey and was a fraud isn't getting mentioned.
http://gawker.com/5893793/did-robert-downey-jr-really-just-accuse-kirk-douglas-of-a-brutal-rape

Prior to that, the only instance of the story was a tabloid book, in which the author said he heard it from anonymous family members that Wood was raped by an actor, but no one was identified. Instead, vague clues were given (he has a famous son, etc), but the writer would not go on record and name anyone. Other than that, it's on a handful of gossip blogs.

So this is the basis we're going to destroy people now? It's not even a matter of "believe all women>" Now, it's believe all unsourced rumors, third-hand gossip or blind items, regardless of whether an accusation was ever even made on record by a victim.

A quick scan of twitter shows hundreds of posts, claiming Douglas is "a known rapist" and other such outlandish hyperbole. Uninformed people on social media forming a lynch mob (many think it's a fact that Wood is on record with the claim) should not be the basis of reporting as "fact." Few, if any, are taking issue with the claims.

Douglas at 101, is not only a film icon, but has a lifetime of devoting himself to progressive and social justice causes. To see him smeared on such flimsy, unfounded grounds, especially when he's not really in a position or health to defend himself, is completely unfair and journalistic malpractice.

[democratisphere]

1. Character Assassination using the Twitter Sh'tter delivery mechanism.

Is everything a lie, fraud, sham or scam?!

[snooper2]

2. probably off topic, but people wear lingerie to the Golden Globes now?

[bettyellen]

5. Since Chers day and then Madonnas yes. Bustiers, slips as dresses, etc...

[lastlib]

11. showing off the golden globes...?

[maxsolomon]

17. "See-through" is a trend this year

And I welcome this trend.

[madaboutharry]

27. I was wondering that too.

Her dress doesn't look like actual clothes.

[LanternWaste]

29. 'bout the same time people began wearing flip-flops and cargo shorts in January.

'bout the same time people began wearing flip-flops and cargo shorts in January.

[kcr]

3. Facts don't matter to the Gawker sites.

They recently helped take down a good senator, too.

[cwydro]

6. Damn right.

Thank you.

[NCTraveler]

4. "people on Twitter went crazy"

Common occurrence in an asylum.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

7. And guess who is the Inmate in Chief. . . . . nt

[shelshaw]

8. I am Spartacus

EOM

[Floyd R. Turbo]

10. I am Spartacus!

[Ken Burch]

13. #IAMSPARTACUS

Might as well make it happen.

[Floyd R. Turbo]

15. 👍🏻

[IluvPitties]

9. Character assassination via Twitter.

[Ken Burch]

12. False accusations against a 101 year-old stroke survivor in a wheelchair?

[lostnfound]

22. Making America mean again?

Ugh

[maxsolomon]

16. This "Kirk Douglas is too old to run in 2020" Ageist Crap is utter BS!

So, you think 101 is too old to run?

THEN WHAT AGE IS YOUR CUT OFF, AGEIST?

[LanternWaste]

30. No one older than seventeen should be elected.

"THEN WHAT AGE IS YOUR CUT OFF, AGEIST?"

No one older than seventeen should be elected. We need the newest ideas, newer blood, and new bumper-stickers.

[mcar]

18. Thank you for clearing this up!

[ornotna]

19. Unfortunately the inmates are running the asylum

Kirk Douglas is an honorable man and these scumbags are disgusting.

[bpj62]

20. They were Expendable

In Otto Oremingers 1965 classic, Kirk Douglas plays a character who rapes a Navy Nurse. The nurse ends up killing herself but leaves a suicide note implicating his character. I bring this up because it may be how the gawker guy got the idea to accuse Kirk Douglas from.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

26. In Harms Way is the film you are describing.

[griloco]

21. OTOH 30+yo Reagan and 15yo Liz Taylor...

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/liz-taylor-had-sex-with-ronald-reagan-1376416

[WhiskeyGrinder]

23. This story was circulating years before Gawker or Crazy Days and Nights ever existed.

And she turned down an opportunity to act with him when she was about 20.

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

24. Yeah, circulated by a tabloid author

In one of the slew of unauthorized Wood bios that came from the cottage industry following her death.
Said author also didnt name the supposed perpetrator of this rape (which Wood never alluded to in life), lest he be sued into oblivion.
Instead, he gave vague clues, many of which dont even match up to Douglas' bio.
Lots of garbage makes it into books. Look no further than Ed Klein and Roger Stone, the people who think JFK killed Marilyn or people who still swear by the Richard Gere gerbil myth.
There is zero on-record accusation against Douglas (or anyone for that matter), and it's a piss-poor basis for a Twitter conviction.

[Atticus]

25. Those who repeat this vile nonsense make Trump voters seem intelligent. nt

[harun]

28. Well that's the problem with trial by press and rumors

A few of them are going to be BS and really hurt innocent people.

[Willie Pep]

31. This is why I don't really follow Twitter.

I think there is a reason for Twitter being the favorite communication platform for Trump. It lends itself to spreading outrageous claims whether solid evidence exists or not.

I find it funny to see people who would never in a million years read a supermarket tabloid but believe anything they read on Twitter, Facebook or some other Internet website or social media platform.