The report from Babe about Aziz Ansari spurred a lot of controversy over the weekend after The Atlantic and The New York Times published op-eds.
- An anonymous woman accused comedian Aziz Ansari of continually trying to have sex with her after a date in September 2017, though "she used verbal and non-verbal cues to indicate how uncomfortable and distressed" she was, according to a report in the publication Babe.
- Ansari said in a statement that from his perspective all indications were that the encounter was "completely consensual."
- The report sparked a lot of controversy over the weekend after The Atlantic and The New York Times published op-eds in defense of Ansari.
- Babe also got some criticism for publishing the account, but the editor-in-chief defended its decision.
Over the weekend, the publication Babe ran a detailed report featuring a claim, from an anonymous woman, that Golden Globe and Emmy winner Aziz Ansari repeatedly tried to get her to have sex with him, though "she used verbal and non-verbal cues to indicate how uncomfortable and distressed" she was. The account has since gone viral and drawn op-eds from major publications including The New York Times and The Atlantic, which have gotten both criticism and support for their defense of Ansari.
The story, titled "I went on a date with Aziz Ansari. It turned into the worst night of my life," is written in the third person, though the title suggests it's written in the first. The woman, a 23-year-old photographer, told Babe that Ansari continually tried to have sex with her, even though she gave cues she wasn't interested. She said that when she left the encounter she "felt violated" and used the term "sexual assault."
Ansari said in a statement that from his point of view, all indications were that the encounter was "completely consensual."
The 34-year-old comedian, who wore a "Time's Up" pin at the Golden Globes (where he won for best actor in a comedy series for his work on "Master of None"), has received praise for his support of women in the past. One specific area of praise was for a season two episode of "Master of None," which shows the aftermath of sexual harassment allegations surfacing online. In the episode, Ansari's character is shocked to find out his colleague and friend was capable of such behavior.
A lot has happened since the Ansari story surfaced on Saturday — from support of Ansari to debate over whether his actions constitute "sexual assault" — so we collected everything you need to know about it here.
On Saturday, the publication Babe posted a story detailing an anonymous woman's alleged disturbing sexual encounter with Ansari.
The woman, a 23-year-old photographer, met Ansari at the 2017 Emmy Awards. He gave her his number, and they flirted over text for about a week before going on a date in New York City.
The woman, named "Grace" in the story, told Babe that when they got back to Ansari's Tribeca apartment, he made his move while she was sitting on his kitchen counter. “I said something like, ‘Whoa, let’s relax for a sec, let’s chill.’" But Grace said that he continued kissing her, and performed oral sex on her. She performed oral sex on him as well. Grace also said that, throughout the night, Ansari moved her hand onto his penis multiple times. “He really kept doing it after I moved it away," she said.
Throughout the night, Ansari kept trying to have sex with her, she said. Grace eventually told Ansari she wanted to leave, and he got her an Uber that she took back to her Brooklyn apartment. She said she cried all the way home.
Grace told Babe that Ansari texted her the next day, letting her know he had fun on the date. Grace replied that he'd upset her with his advances, in a text message exchange she showed to the publication. Ansari allegedly replied that he was "sad to hear this" and that "it would never be my intention to make you or anyone feel the way you described. Clearly I misread things in the moment and I'm truly sorry."
In a statement, Ansari addressed the accusation, saying that he thought it was consensual.
"In September of last year, I met a woman at a party. We exchanged numbers. We texted back and forth and eventually went on a date. We went out to dinner, and afterwards we ended up engaging in sexual activity, which by all indications was completely consensual," Aziz wrote in a statement on Sunday.
"The next day, I got a text from her saying that although 'it may have seemed okay,' upon further reflection, she felt uncomfortable. It was true that everything did seem okay to me, so when I heard that it was not the case for her, I was surprised and concerned," Ansari's statement continued. "I took her words to heart and responded privately after taking the time to process what she had said."
The New York Times published an op-ed titled "Aziz Ansari Is Guilty. Of Not Being a Mind Reader," calling the accusation "the worst thing that has happened to the #MeToo movement."
In a Monday op-ed, The New York Times' Bari Weiss wrote that the report in Babe was "arguably the worst thing that has happened to the #MeToo movement."
Weiss, who is known for right-wing views, also wrote, "There is a useful term for what Grace experienced on her night with Mr. Ansari. It’s called 'bad sex.' It sucks."
The op-ed received a lot of backlash on Twitter, and was the top post on the front page of Reddit on Monday night:
But some agreed with the take:
The Atlantic also published an op-ed with a similar defense of Ansari, in which the writer called the story "revenge porn."
In the op-ed, writer Caitlin Flanagan speculated that “perhaps she [Ansari's accuser] hoped to maybe even become the famous man’s girlfriend," and suggested that the woman was bitter after a bad date.
Many people on Twitter were not happy:
But some came to Flangan's defense (and Ansari's):
In an open letter, HLN host Ashleigh Banfield said the woman who accused Ansari had "chipped away at a movement."
Speaking directly to Ansari's accuser on her HLN program, "Crime & Justice," Banfield said, "by your own clear description, this wasn't a rape, nor was it a sexual assault. By your description, your sexual encounter was unpleasant."
Banfield went on to say that Ansari's accuser "chiseled away at a movement that I, along with all of my sisters in the workplace, have been dreaming of for decades. A movement that has finally changed an oversexed professional environment that I, too, have struggled through at times over the last 30 years in broadcasting."
Banfield said that the "#MeToo movement has righted a lot of wrongs and it has made your career path much smoother ... what a gift. Yet, you looked that gift horse in the mouth and chiseled away at that powerful movement with your public accusation."
You can watch the video of Banfield's open letter below:
The story in Babe also got criticism for some of its editing choices.
The story in Babe has also stirred controversy for its own reporting. Ira Madison of The Daily Beast wrote on Twitter:
Others also questioned the editing of the piece, and pointed out that it didn't include any strictly illegal activity, and did not occur in the workplace.
Another point commenters latched onto was a particular anecdote about wine.
In the Babe piece, the reporter, Katie Way, quotes Ansari's accuser commenting on the wine they drank on the date: "'It was white,’ she said. 'I didn’t get to choose and I prefer red, but it was white wine.'"
In an op-ed for the Washington Post, Sonny Bunch wrote, "There’s no grander point about consent in this anecdote — if she had asked for white and he had laughed at her and said no and forced her to drink red, well, okay, maybe that would fit a piece like the one we are reading. This isn’t that. It’s simply out of place in a piece that should have immense gravity."
Another issue people struggled with in relation to the story was how to define Ansari's behavior.
In the Washington Post, Sonny Bunch wrote:
“The only issue with all this is that this story about Ansari is nothing like the ugly tales of sexual abuse that have wafted out of Hollywood over the past six months or so. Not really. From Harvey Weinstein’s decades of sexual assaults and use of blacklists to Kevin Spacey’s predatory behavior toward young men to Louis C.K.’s masturbating in front of people without asking, these were all stories that were both criminal in nature and involved an abuse of power over underlings. The #MeToo movement’s story has been a relatively straightforward one that garners support from both sides of the aisle and all decent people, because it is a tale of how powerful people humiliate and subjugate those who want nothing more than a chance to chase their dreams.”
While some debated whether the term "sexual assault," which was used in the Babe story, was appropriate given the situation, others showed their support of the term.
This tweet addressing that element of the story went viral over the weekend:
Despite criticism, the Babe editor-in-chief stood by the decision to publish the story.
Joshi Herrmann, who is the editor-in-chief of Babe's parent company, Tab Media, stood by the decision to publish the story, telling CNN Money, "We would publish this again tomorrow."
"It's newsworthy because of who he is and what he has said in his standup, what he has written in his book, what he has proclaimed on late night TV," Herrmann said. "Her account is pointing out a striking tension between those things and the way she says he treated her in private."
Some people have come to the accuser's defense, calling Ansari's behavior part of a problem in our culture.
A lot of the criticism of Ansari stems from his own image as a feminist, and the fact that he was wearing a "Time's Up" pin at the Golden Globes. An episode of his Netflix show, "Master of None," detailed fictional sexual harassment allegations and received high praise when it debuted.
Vox reporter Anna North wrote on Monday that the account revealed a "broken attitude" toward sex:
"Unlike many reports that have emerged in the wake of revelations about Harvey Weinstein, Grace’s story is not one of workplace harassment. But what she describes — a man repeatedly pushing sex without noticing (or without caring about) what she wants — is something many, many women have experienced in encounters with men. And while few men have committed the litany of misdeeds of which Weinstein has been accused, countless men have likely behaved as Grace says Ansari did — focusing on their own desires without recognizing what their partner wants. It is the sheer commonness of Grace’s experience that makes it so important to talk about."
The report from Babe about Aziz Ansari spurred a lot of controversy over the weekend after The Atlantic and The New York Times published op-eds. Read Full Story
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