Corey Feldman lost his seat on SAG-AFTRA’s sexual harassment committee after being accused of sexual harassment. It’s a pretty good reason to stop being on a sexual harassment committee, but Feldman isn’t taking it lying down, saying the claims were false and not upheld by a police investigation.
IN A STRANGE TWIST I MUST ANNOUNCE AS A LIFELONG MEMBER OF @sagaftra & A FORMER MEMBER OF THE #SEXUALHARRASSMENTCOMITTEE I HAV LOST ALL FAITH IN R PRESIDENT @TheGabrielle_C AS I BELIEVE SHES TRYING 2 GASLIGHT ME, 2 IGNORE CHILDRENS RIGHTS N NEW CONTRACTS: https://t.co/t1Yu7knXXy
— Corey Feldman (@Corey_Feldman) July 21, 2020
There’s a big fight going on inside SAG-AFTRA right now because they didn’t make Matthew Modine president when they had the chance.
This is a little bit of inside baseball here, but this action again Feldman coincides with SAG-AFTRA members voting on a new contract that the national organization is asking members to vote yes on but Patricia Richardson’s LA local has recommended a no vote on. Richardson was part of Matthew Modine’s “Membership First” slate which ran in opposition to current president Gabrielle Carteris in last year’s leadership election.
What I’m saying is that it is possible the allegations against Feldman are being used by SAG-AFTRA leadership to score points in a contentious negotiation.
Feldman issued a statement on Monday that was reported by Variety and that, thankfully and unlike his Twitter account, is not in all caps.
“As a victim myself of sexual predators and an avid spokesperson on behalf of victims everywhere, I welcome an investigation. Beyond that, I don’t care to dignify the alleged claims of women who have been stalking me and harassing me endlessly for some time, for which I have contacted police.”
“My team and I have been tracking their movements for a very long time, and we have recordings and emails, along with eyewitnesses who will attest to the fact that this is all part of a covert operation to discredit, defame and ignore the claims I have been making for decades which have still not been investigated by LAPD or the DA of CA,” he added.
“The same girls made the same claims 2 years ago and it was investigated and I was cleared by both LAPD and the DA, and say I’m greatly disappointed and have lost complete faith in SAG leadership, that Gabrielle Carteris would abandon precious measures I was trying to implement for the future safety and protection of our children,” Feldman concluded.
Patricia Richardson, for her part, called it a “smear tactic” by the national leadership. Feldman says he spent his time seeking stronger protections for child actors, none of which the proposed contract leadership is pushing implements.
Now I don’t know the whole story here but the timing is incredibly suspect and points to Carteris’s actions being motivated by self-interest more than in the interest of Feldman’s alleged victims.