A now-infamous interview between Jimmy Kimmel, host of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and Megan Fox, actor, resurfaced in 2020. In the 2009 interview, Megan Fox tells Jimmy Kimmel how at only 15 she was an extra in Bad Boy 2 film. Fox tells Kimmel that she was dressed in a red cowboy hat and a 4th of July themed bikini with six-inch heels. Fox goes on to say that someone told Micheal Bay, director of the film, that he couldn’t have her at the bar because of her age so he decided to have her instead dance underneath a waterfall. As Fox reflects on this she says that “At 15. I was in tenth grade. So that’s a microcosm of how Bay’s mind works.” To which then Kimmel said, “Well that’s really a microcosm of how all our minds work, but some of us have the decency to repress those thoughts and pretend that they don’t exist.”
I made this blog post because the internet in 2009 gave Fox a lot of backlash for this interview and her statements on Micheal Bay as a director. She received so much backlash that she is very hesitant to share her other stories. In class, we talked about how women have to be perceived as the “innocent victim” to be listened to about sexual harassment and assault. Also, this interview happened before the #MeToo movement was at the level it is now. After the interview resurfaced Fox has gone on to say that Micheal Bay and Steven Spielberg have never assaulted or preyed upon her in a sexual manner. But Fox did say that many other people that deserve to be canceled by cancel culture. Fox did go back on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” to promote her upcoming movie, “Till Death”, but she talked to Arsenio Hall about it not Jimmy Kimmel.
Megan Fox Micheal Bay Steven Spielberg Jimmy Kimmel
Sources
the article discussed in this blog post –
Other articles on the topic:
-> https://www.buzzfeed.com/natashajokic1/megan-fox-jimmy-kimmel-interview
This is interesting, as it illustrates the spectrum of responses to this kind of (child) abuse. But also it illustrates the risk of coming forward. –Dr. Pearce
It’s interesting that when told he could not do the bar scene, Bay still found a way to do something in appropriate for a woman of Fox’s age. He found a way around the legal aspect of it, but still managed to use the make gaze to objectify the looks and body of a minor. I appreciate the clarification that Bay and Spielberg did not harass her in any way, but this still represents a problem of the mindset of society. “If you can get away with it—it’s fine”. This is the same mindset that led to more extreme cases like Weinstein. Even if it’s not “as bad”, it still reinforces a cycle of how we view women and young girls as sexual objects and exploits.
How do you think the general populace would react differently or similarly today if such an interview took place? Or if a movie with a similar scene came out? Would there be significantly more backlash? Would there be consequences?