Chateau Marmont Hit By Multiple Lawsuits In Wake of Racial Discrimination, Sexual Misconduct Claims

HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

This past September, dozens of Chateau Marmont employees broke the hospitality industry’s code of silence. They alleged to The Hollywood Reporter that the landmark hotel, a fabled industry hangout, is rife with racial discrimination and sexual misconduct, perpetuated by complicit management and ownership.

Now two civil actions, both brought by actor-staffers who lost their jobs when the pandemic devastated the lodging sector, seek to make the case in court.  read more »

Huddle House Parent Co. Hit with Sexual Harassment Lawsuit

LEGAL READER

Samantha Williams, a former waitress at the Huddle House restaurant in Alexandria, Louisiana, has filed a federal lawsuit against an executive with D’Argent Companies, its parent company, alleging sexual harassment. The lawsuit names D’Argent Franchising, LLC, D’Argent Construction, LLC, D’Argent Companies, LLC, Justin Giallonardo, and the parties’ insurance providers. Williams was employed from April of 2019 to August of 2020, at which time she chose to resign.

Williams’s suit alleges at Huddle House, “Giallonardo engaged in a pattern of sexual harassment which includes making requests for dates, inappropriate nicknames, text messages, sexual advances and threats to keep the communications secret.” It continues, “Giallonardo repeatedly invited Williams to his home.  In one instance, Giallonardo allegedly tricked Williams into coming to his house for a barbeque for prospective managers, only for Williams to show up and find that no one else was invited. And Giallonardo attempted to engage in sexual interaction with Williams but she declined.  After the ‘fake barbeque’ incident, Giallonardo confided in her supervisor at the restaurant. Williams claims that Giallonardo told her supervisor, ‘If I can’t [explicit] that girl, I’m going to fire her.’” That statement, when Williams found out about it, caused her to resign. read more »

Ghislaine Maxwell said she learned of Epstein abuse claims in papers

THE GUARDIAN

A British woman, criminally charged with aiding Jeffrey Epstein in his sexual abuse of teenage girls, testified in 2016 that she had no memory of anything amiss on his properties in the 2000s despite the accusations from dozens of women and girls that they were sexually abused by Epstein.

Ghislaine Maxwell, 59, said during a July 2016 deposition for a defamation lawsuit that she learned about abuse claims “like everybody else, like the rest of the world, when it was announced in the papers." read more »

'They said I wasn't hot enough': Carey Mulligan hits out at magazine review

THE GUARDIAN

Carey Mulligan has said she was alarmed after a major publication ran a review of her new film questioning whether she was attractive enough for the role.

Variety magazine’s first review of “Promising Young Woman,” a black comedy in which Mulligan plays Cassie, a woman who fools men into believing she is too drunk to give consent for sex, read: “Mulligan, a fine actress, seems a bit of an odd choice as this admittedly many-layered apparent femme fatale – Margot Robbie is a producer here, and one can (perhaps too easily) imagine the role might once have been intended for her. Whereas with this star, Cassie wears her pickup-bait gear like bad drag; even her long blonde hair seems a put-on.”

“I think in criticizing or bemoaning a lack of attractiveness on my part in a character, it wasn’t a personal slight. It didn’t wound my ego, but it made me concerned that in such a big publication an actress’s appearance could be criticized and it could be accepted as completely reasonable criticism.” read more »