Time’s Up is an awareness, action, and advocacy group originally founded by over 300 women in 2017 (founding members linked here: https://timesupnow.org/times-up-the-300-original-signatories/) dedicated to fighting sexual harassment and related abuses of power in the entertainment industry. In 2018, they launched the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund, under the National Women’s Law Center (linked here: https://nwlc.org/times-up-legal-defense-fund/).
In the wake of Andrew Cuomo’s resignation over numerous sexual harassment allegations, several high profile individuals also found themself caught in the crossfire, including none other than Time’s Up chief executive, Tina Tchen. Vice chair Roberta Kaplan also found herself caught in the matter. The two women were revealed to have guided and advised top Cuomo aides and confidantes on how to best handle the matter. They were found to have provided feedback on an unpublished article smearing Former Governor Cuomo’s first accuser, Lindsey Boylan. Ms. Kaplan, a lawyer, was also revealed to have consulted with a top Cuomo aide on how strongly her organization should respond to the Cuomo allegations, resulting in leader Ms. Tchen instructing colleagues to stand down from releasing any formal statements on the matter.
In the wake of these events that appear to stray incredibly far from the organization’s original mission, purpose, and intent, both Chief Executive Tchen and Vice Chair Kaplan stepped down from their leadership positions in the organization, with Monifa Bandele now at the helm. You can read the statement by Time’s Up’s governing board of directors on the matter here: https://timesupfoundation.org/newsroom/statement-from-the-times-up-governing-board-of-directors/.
But how does this happen? How does an organization with a core of helping and amplifying the voices of victims of harassment find it’s leaders entangled in the corruption of attempting to silence such survivors? Is it possible for an organization that has gone so against it’s core fundamental values at the highest level to come back from this with a simple leadership change? Or is it time’s up for Time’s Up?
More Info Found Here: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/26/business/times-up-tina-tchen.amp.html
Hey Tory! ,
I am so glad you included an article on the latest news about Andrew Cuomo he has honestly found himself in a terrible crossfire!
First off, I totally agree that it is definitely Time’s Up have their time up because in a situation like this to see that Time’s Up chief executive is a woman fighting for women’s rights and advocacies and she was one of the main women involved in this outrage is crazy. I definitely feel like their needs to be another executive in the works or just shut down the company completely..
To answer your question with how does an organization with helping the voices of victims get entangled in Cuomo’s encounters? I would say money and power is definitely a thing our country has always loved without it the people at the top will no longer really have a say so. Power rules are so toxic to our society yet that is how the people in charge get their take.
Hi Tory,
Thanks for clearing up in the article what people meant by Time’s Up members being entangled in the Cuomo scandal. When people said Time’s Up chief executive advised Andrew Cuomo I did not know it was talking about how she gave him tips on dealing with the situation in a manner that also criticized his accuser. I was quite shocked to hear this because as the chief executive of an organization to help women in the film industry deal and recover from sexual harassment, I did not know that even members of such an organization can go back to the roots of sexual harassment and end up blaming the victim themselves for what has happened to them. Even if the victim may not be the best of the person, that should not undermine their experience.
In regard to your question, I think an organization such as this would do the very things that they are fighting against in the first place because of society and how they train to make us view victims of sexual harassment and assault. In some areas, such as news broadcasting, there are some networks and article companies who publish things that slander the victims instead of the harasser / abuser based on characteristics that they tend to view as things that make it worthy of the victim being abused. This can go from their personality, their not so attractive appearance, and ideologies such as believing that this is a woman’s life and should just be dealt with. Even though we are trying to actively not think this way, there are some times where we catch ourselves thinking the same ideals that we are trying to go against. If society was raised in a different way of treating women who accuse someone of sexual harassment / abuse then I feel like these people in Time’s Up might have reacted differently to this scandal. I also feel like some sort of money issue could be involved because I think the chief executives and other workers thought that if they help an important political figure evade a huge scandal such as this then they could benefit financially from it.
hi, tory,
i was hoping someone would write about this topic, i couldn’t help but twist my face when i saw these individuals trying to maintain their positions even after the proof they went against their organization’s mission.
Much has happened since this post! Chris Cuomo’s firing, the dismantling of the entire TimesUp staff…. let’s see what happens next. Chris Cuomo is now without an income and without any severance pay. He misjudged the current climate.