Things didn’t go well for comedian Sarah Silverman when she went on Monday’s “The Howard Stern Show” to say her dealings with comedian Louis C.K. – a public figure trying to resurrect his career after being disgraced by the #MeToo movement – had always been positive.
Silverman quickly found herself offering an apology to one of the “Lucky Louie” star’s victims who came forward on social media, assuring that woman C.K.’s harassment of her was “not OK.”
But high-profile lawyer Arthur Aidala, who has defended celebrities against sexual misconduct charges, offers no apologies for his eagerness to go to the mats for powerful men swept up in the #MeToo movement who want their livelihoods back.
His most recent #MeToo client, radio personality Joe Benigno, returned to his job last month.
“I just hope the pendulum is going to swing a little more to give the other side a chance to be heard,” Aidala said.
“The situation not that long ago was that the accusation was the conviction; all you had to do was say someone did something and that was it,” Aidala said. “There was zero time, opportunity or effort put into looking into it at all.”
In addition to working with WFAN sportscaster Benigno, who was placed on leave after a civil lawsuit that accused him of sexually harassing a former CBS Radio co-worker, the 50-year-old legal eagle has represented the late Fox News boss Roger Ailes, fallen political star Anthony Weiner and New York Giants legend Lawrence Taylor.
The issue of #MeToo subjects returning to the public eye has come into sharp focus in recent months with the quiet comebacks of C.K and fellow comedian Aziz Ansari, who’s also accused of sexual misconduct. While C.K. performed at the Comedy Cellar in August, Ansari popped up for a few standup shows in New York in May.
Aidala believes the explosive momentum of the #MeToo movement, which started a year ago when actresses Alyssa Milano and Rose McGowan used the hashtag as they accused media mogul Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault, has leveled off. He also thinks the public may be more willing to listen to the accused celebrities’ defenses.
“The vast majority of the time, (victimized) women say things happen — they did happen. But there are also people in our society who are targeted, usually for financial purposes, and those people need to not be extorted, not be intimidated and not be blacklisted or blackmailed,” he said.
He goes further: “I do think from being ‘a man on the street,’ people are getting a little uncomfortable with 20-, 30-, 40-year-old accusations wrecking peoples careers or their lives.
“There’s no statute of limitations in the court of public opinion.”
The outspoken attorney isn’t alone in wanting to make sure all the voices of the #MeToo movement are heard.
Filipina-Italian model Ambra Battilana Gutierrez, who accused Weinstein of groping her in 2015, launched a podcast last month intending to give time to men who claim they’ve been wrongly blamed.
“Some people use #MeToo in the wrong way,” the 26-year-old catwalker said before launching “In Our Words.”
“I feel that #MeToo is for the collective benefit. Somebody speaking bad about someone else to ruin their careers is not good.”
Human rights advocate and Model Alliance founder Sara Ziff voiced similar concerns in March.
“We should be concerned about the dismissal of due process,” said Ziff. “We cannot be careless about conducting investigations and verifying accounts. The immediate response has been a rush to expulsion, and in some cases, when there have been multiple accounts of misconduct, that may be justified. But in other cases, there may be very different points of view about what transpired.”
“Now with the internet, forget about it,” Aidala said. “There is nowhere to go to get your reputation back. You just have to keep fighting.”
In Benigno’s case, Aidala says he argued to radio executives that the 64-year-old talk radio host had been maligned by an ad exec claiming “flagrant sexual harassment” and his side of the story was an afterthought.
“Joe Benigno said ‘I never did any of this stuff, this is all garbage,’” according to Aidala, who believed him.
When Benigno returned to the air, he declined to comment on specifics of his case, but thanked his wife, his legal team and sports agent Mark Lepselter, who introduced him to Aidala. Lepselter also brought Taylor and fellow Giant Tiki Barber to Aidala when they needed legal help.
“Ninety per cent of people who are arrested plead guilty to something because, thank God, we live in a country where law enforcement, the majority of times, they’re correct,” Aidala conceded.
“Look, sometimes there is no other side of the story,” Aidala said. “Probably more often than not there is no other side of the story. People do things they shouldn’t have done that are possibly illegal and probably inappropriate.”
One highly prominent damage control expert who reps A-list actors, professional athletes and top executives says it’s a “new day in Hollywood” and that’s a good thing. But the fixer worries that #MeToo accusations are instantly impactful while defending against them is complicated.
“A lot of people haven’t apologized, particularly in a way that people want them to apologize because their lawyers won’t let them,” said that fixer, speaking anonymously as to stay out of the “cross hairs” of the controversy. “If they apologize, they may set themselves up for a court case.”