If you thought Harvey Weinstein was the only person in Hollywood using his position to pressure women into sleeping with him, you’re probably the sort of person who thought Donald Trump was going to help the poor and not the rich when he was elected president. In a story that should shock no one, really, because it was reported over 20 years ago in Spy magazine, James Toback has been accused of sexual harassment by 38 women who talked to the Los Angeles Times.
Here’s what you need to know about James Toback in a nutshell; he hangs out in Central Park, tells women he’s a Hollywood director and says he can put them in a movie if they f**k him. That’s like, basically his whole move. Then when he gets them alone he humps their legs like a dog. I’m really not making that up.
Once in the suite, Kamin says, Toback asked her to take off her clothes. She protested. Toback berated her, saying that if she couldn’t reveal herself to him in the hotel room, how would she be able to act in a provocative sex scene in front of a movie crew? She gave in, removed her clothes. After commenting on her body, he knelt down before her and began to vigorously rub his groin against her.
“I felt really paralyzed,” Kamin recalled. “And I asked him, ‘Are you trying to get yourself off?’ And he said, ‘Absolutely.’” She jumped out of her chair, grabbed her clothes and ran.
That’s normal behavior, right? I mean, at least he probably doesn’t do that with everyone he meets.
Not all of the incidents in the women’s accounts occurred in private. Terri Conn was 23 and acting on the soap opera “As the World Turns” when, she says, Toback approached her on the street. She was intrigued by his credentials and dreamed of being in an edgy independent film. Toback asked her to meet him in Central Park to discuss his process. He took her to a somewhat secluded area — there were people yards away — and told her the best way to get to know someone is to see their soul. And the way you can see someone’s soul is to look into their eyes when they’re experiencing orgasm. And he knelt before her and began humping her leg, telling Conn to look into his eyes.
“I was shocked and frozen and didn’t know what to do,” Conn said. “I thought if I resisted, it could get worse. He could overpower me.” He quickly ejaculated into his khakis, got up and asked her to meet for dinner later to continue the process. Conn ignored his subsequent phone calls and never saw him again.
These just sort of keep piling up. It’s always something weirdly specific with these guys. Weinstein was always “oh, give me a massage, watch me take a shower, watch me jerk off into a potted plant,” and Toback is running around humping legs.
This woman asked to remain anonymous; she still feared for her safety 23 years after Toback humped her leg in his office until he ejaculated in his pants.
He also has a thing for having women pinch his nipples. There’s more than one story where that comes up.
In his trailer on the set of “Black and White,” Toback knelt in front of actress Echo Danon and, she says, put his hands on her thighs, telling her, “If you look into my eyes and pinch my nipples, I’m going to come in my pants right now.” She resisted. She felt helpless. Eventually he backed down.
Look, it can be hard to know where the line is sometimes, I get it. Sometimes flirting goes too far and someone is uncomfortable, but if you’re respectful it should be easily resolved. That being said, humping someone’s leg is always across the line and anyone with a brain should know that. In Toback’s case, his brain isn’t the problem, it’s a conscience he’s lacking.