Filmmaker Cassie Jaye seems to have developed a weird affinity for bigots.
First, she cozied up to some of the most hateful figures in the Men’s Rights movement during the filming of her documentary The Red Pill.
Then, when her funding for the film ran out, she happily accepted financial assistance not only from the actual subjects of the film but also from a motley assortment of far-right ideologues — among them a notorious quasi-journalist who was famously tossed off of Twitter after his fans barraged Ghostbusters star Leslie Jones with racist abuse, and a delusional Trump superfan who literally believes he gave Hillary Clinton the flu with his mind. (After a big donation to Jaye, he got himself an associate producer credit on her film.)
Now she’s trying her best to drum up interest in her film, which has barely drawn any notice at all outside the overlapping spheres of alt-right lady haters and MRAs since it premiered at a New York theater earlier this month.
While The Red Pill got a glowing, if rambling, “review” from new pal/volunteer fundraiser Milo Yiannopoulos at Breitbart, and a somewhat less-enthusiastic thumbs-up from Cathy Young at the right-wing internet tabloid Heat Street, the two real film reviewers who’ve bothered to give it a look have panned it.
Katie Walsh at the Los Angeles Times took issue with the film’s “uncritical, lopsided” argument, complaining that Jaye “twists herself in knots to justify the movement’s misogynist rhetoric.” The Village Voice’s Alan Scherstuhl dismissed Jaye as an inept “propagandist” and warned potential viewers that, as the headline to his piece put it, “You Can’t Unsee ‘The Red Pill,’ the Documentary About a Filmmaker Who Learns to Love MRAs.” (His review of what he described as an “agonizing” film caused much wailing and gnashing of teeth amongst the MRA crowd.)
With little hope of attracting positive attention from film critics, and apparently desperate for any publicity she could get, Jaye agreed to appear on the podcast of an internet-famous bigot who has been described by one critic, not without reason, as “THE MOST WARPED USELESS PEICE OF SH*T THAT I HAVE EVER HAD THE DISPLEASURE TO ENCOUNTER [on the] INTERNET OR ELSEWHERE.”
I am talking, of course, about the rape-excusing, abuse-encouraging, lady-hating, gay-baiting white supremacist Matt Forney — he’s the one on the left in the photo below.
https://twitter.com/basedmattforney/status/787198238575120384
She didn’t just give Forney a couple of minutes of her time; she sat down with him for roughly three-quarters of an hour for his podcast “This Alt-Right Life.” It’s a singularly unedifying discussion. At one point she mentions that she used to get into arguments with her boyfriend every month about nothing, something she now jokingly blames not on PMS but on her (former) feminism.
Badump-tsssh!
She also expressed sympathy when Forney mentioned that he himself had been the victim of a “false” rape accusation. (Imagine that, the author of a blog post titled “Why Girls Rarely Mean No When They Say No” being accused of rape!)
Not that long ago, Jaye was by all appearances a staunch opponent of pretty much everything Forney and his alt-right pals stand for.
In 2012, she released a documentary titled “The Right to Love,” which, according to its description on IMDb, is the portrait of a “Californian married gay couple and their two adopted children,” fighting against the forces of “discrimination, ignorance and hate” who would deny them their right to marry and raise children.
Now she’s appearing on the podcast of a guy who is a virtual embodiment of this ignorance and hate.
It’s not as if evidence of Forney’s despicable views is hard to find, and not just in the WHTM archives. The name of his podcast contains the phrase “alt-right.” In the list of “popular posts” highlighted in the sidebar of his blog one finds such lovely titles as “How to Crush a Girl’s Self-Esteem” and “Why Fat Girls Don’t Deserve to Be Loved.” (Neither title is meant ironically.)
And then there is the endless stream of racist, misogynist and homophobic abuse that is his Twitter account. Some highlights from the last several days:
https://twitter.com/basedmattforney/status/790064680907792386
https://twitter.com/basedmattforney/status/790364983171354625
https://twitter.com/basedmattforney/status/790367816360857601
https://twitter.com/basedmattforney/status/790050589598162944
https://twitter.com/basedmattforney/status/789976518596362240
https://twitter.com/basedmattforney/status/789633067791122432
That last tweet — a reference to Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet’s practice of murdering people by throwing them from helicopters — is technically a death threat, aimed at a National Review writer who has gotten many such threats from Forney’s colleagues in the alt-right, including photoshopped images of his 7-year-old daughter being gassed in a Nazi death camp.
Are these really the sorts of people Jaye wants to align herself with?
In his “review” of The Red Pill, Milo claimed, without evidence, that a virtual army of feminists was “scrambling to stop Cassie Jaye” and her film. In fact, feminists have mostly ignored The Red Pill. And the person who has done the most to damage Jaye’s credibility is, well, Jaye herself.
Meh, regardless of how he looks his inner ugly leaks out and makes himself unwatchable. And Vox Day. Same with Roosh, who is objectively not a bad-looking guy, but I can hardly stand to even look at photos of him. And while we’re at it, while Trump is no rock-hard stud, it isn’t the fact that his blinkered idea of what a virile older man makes him look like the result of an unholy orgy between Jabba the Hutt, a yam, and a shag rug that makes him repulsive (though it doesn’t help, I have to admit). It’s his aura of constipated entitled smugness when things are going his way, and constipated entitled petulance when it isn’t. The ugly just leaks out of all of them and is smeared all over the place so you just can’t stand to LOOK at these men.
Who had that Roald Dahl image about how ugly thoughts turn you hideous, while you could have imperfect features but if you’re a lovely person you’re beautiful anyways? It seems applicable in this situation.
No, it’s not okay. It’s shallow and mean to criticise appearance, period. I was going to point out how it would make me feel if I had eyebrows like his, but then I’d only be criticising the splash damage and that’s not the point. The point is not to make fun of appearance, ever.
While I’m not sure I’m truly getting it, I’m gonna police myself better with this stuff since it clearly makes people I like and care about uncomfortable. Sorry, everyone.
EDIT: I deleted a stupid sentence. Turns out I couldn’t even type this apology without saying another thing that warranted an apology. Jebus, this will take some work.
@Fruitloopsie, that’s so sweet :3 I hope Misty stays adorable and well-behaved, and that allergies don’t rear up in the future. That allergic reaction (apparently) comes from marking glands which may not yet have activated in her. Hopefully that’s not the case and you just don’t have a problem with her! I hope we can see pics sometime. Kitties!
As for Forney and the whole is-it-okay-to-mention-appearance-thing, I’m personally not comfortable with talking about someones’ appearance, but am very much okay with talking about body language and expression. (The pictures I posted before were about his pretentiousness, not about ha-ha-he-looks-like-babby). That sort of thing can speak novels about the sort of person someone is, and isn’t based on appearance.
Where did this sudden argument over whether or not it’s okay to make fun of Forney for looking like a baby come from? It seems strange to me after hearing so many jabs at Trump for his orangey color go by without a hitch.
@Petal
No, you aren’t. You’re still excusing it. And, no, you didn’t make fun of his “shitty views”. I read the offending comment, no mention of his views anywhere. You only brought up his shittery after being called out. Try again
We’ll do this again in a few months… ?
*sighs until I run outta fuckin air*
@ banananana dakry
I won’t bring it up again after this but, like, I’m pretty sure he’s compared people to animals for a variety of different reasons, which is also abstract, so I’m pretty sure that’s not the higher ground here.
I brought it up because I’m really tired of reading such comments. I’ve typed up lots of comments which I just never posted, I just got the confidence (and annoyed enough) to finally bring it up.
Like, you don’t know all the comments I’ve thought of posting but just didn’t because I brush stuff off.
Did I do it? Can anyone see Misty?
Personally, as someone who has had lots of body image issues, it seems like appearance nitpicking is absolutely a gendered weapon used against women. I’m sick of the double standard. It’s absolutely fine in our culture to be an average looking or kind of schlubby looking man but it’s okay for those same men to turn around and deem conventionally attractive women ugly for absurdly small reasons. I’ve been seeing men do this my whole life. To me, turning their weapon around on them highlights this double standard. Extremely rigid beauty standards are used to oppress women and have harmed me personally and I think anger at those double standards and pointing out those standards is justified. White dudes are not oppressed for being average looking. It’s a little like getting mad at someone for calling white people crackers. I respect the difference of opinion here, but the lectures being handed out are a bit tone policing.
@BritterSweet
Quite true. And his hair. And all the stuff about greasy unshaved Roosh and his unwiped ass. I think it’s clear that there are certain types of looks-based insults that make people more uncomfortable than others. And that’s fine, I guess, but of course it’s completely arbitrary. I suppose some would say they don’t like the comments about Donald’s tan either, and I’d applaud their internal consistency and lack of hypocrisy. But I don’t think I have quite that level of ideological purity in me yet. That is not a jab – it’s sincere. There are always improvements to be done, and even when we intellectually agree that we’re being hypocritical it can be difficult to avoid.
@BritterSweet
I see comments about Trump being orange to be unproductive but not enough to speak up against because rather than shaming his appearance they shame his choice to use tanning spray. I don’t like comments about his hair except when they’re directed specifically at his insistence that his hair is natural, but I haven’t spoken up on it. I probably should have, and probably should have spoken up about the orange thing, too, because fashion shouldn’t be something we’re making fun of people for, either.
@Axe
With all due respect, I think Forney’s shitty views are well known around here. I didn’t think they needed to be rehashed.
FWIW, I think there’s merit to what wwth is saying.
@Fruitloopsie
No, I don’t think so. 🙁
@Axe, Jack, kupo
I respect and appreciate your honesty and willingness to challenge me and others on this topic. I think you’re more right than I am. I just can’t bring myself to truly care about this, tbh.
@FruitLoopsie
I wish you and your new kitty much happiness. I know you’ll be a terrific kitty mom.
@Axe:
Thank you.
@WWTH
As someone deeply hurt by appearance shaming myself I don’t see this as a positive thing. I see shit like “and his eyebrows are ugly, too!” and I wonder what people are saying about my eyebrows. I know what they think about my belly and my thighs and my ass. They’ve never been shy about their feelings on those.
I think it’s funny when we joke about making a movie that fails the reverse Bechdel test because that is something truly ridiculous that only women experience and flipping expectations like that is funny and empowering. But, while not as bad as people perceived as women, people perceived as men get teased and policed for their appearance, too. That makes it not funny and in fact harmful.
@ scildfreja
To just chat about this in the abstract, the potential problems with body language and expression is that there can be background circumstances that mean judgements aren’t always reliable.
Some people may not express facial expressions in the same way as others and body language is subject to all sorts of cultural factors. For example, in the ‘bench book’ supplied to judges it highlights that whilst in English culture not looking someone in the eye is seen as shifty and evasive, in other cultures looking a higher status person in the eye is seen as disrespectful. So people risk adverse inferences about their credibility merely for being polite.
Having said all that I’m not going to suggest you’re wrong about Forney.
@Petal
And you didn’t. That’s wasn’t your goal. Don’t pretend etc etc
@WWTH
To whom? Who here is unaware of this? Why highlight it in this way? It seems more like exploiting the double standard to get your digs in than highlighting it. I mean, I suppose you’re doing both…
@EJ
You’re welcome I guess? I’ll take it
About appearance shaming I don’t mind people pointing out the hypocrisy and lack of awarness of men/boys shaming women’s/girls bodies. Like Matt saying fat women don’t deserve love when he’s fat himself.
Men and boys are taught to love themselves and be confident even when they’re ugly and don’t have hardly any good qualities and when pretty much anything women and girls do is wrong no matter what. Body shaming hurts women/girls more and is used to opress us. I used to be fat and it was nightmare and now that I’m skinny people make fun of me for that too. No matter what we women do we are wrong.
But I don’t think it’s ok to shame them (ex he’s fat, neck beard, he’s a virgin, he’s mentally ill, he’s such a baby/kid, he lives with his parents, etc) everytime a guy is being a misognyist it just shows we don’t take Misogyny seriously but it’s indeed not the same as shaming women and girls. It’s like getting upset when a non white person calls a white person a cracker like WWTH said.
Imaginary petal
Aww poo ?
Kat
Thanks ☺️
OT
Is Scott Adams so desperate for attention that he looks forward to a visit from . . . the Secret Service?!
Baffling.
“Dilbert” creator Scott Adams vows to kill Donald Trump if he becomes too “Hitler-ish”
After calling Trump a “clown genius,” the cartoonist is now promising to join an armed resistance to kill him
http://www.salon.com/2016/10/24/dilbert-creator-scott-adams-vows-to-kill-donald-trump-if-he-becomes-acts-too-hitler-ish/
@WWTH
I understand your justification, although I disagree for several reasons. If you wanna bring up people’s appearances, you can, and I can’t stop you, like, at all. But I can see how that would make you feel better and understand how it does highlight double standards. I still don’t like it.
I, admittedly, brought it up now because I haven’t been having the greatest day and it was just something that’s been bothering me for a while that has come to a head. If you feel the need to do what you do for your own reasons, you keep doing what you want, and I won’t bring it up again.
But, like, it’s not tone policing. I mean, I’m female-presenting right now myself, I’ve been called shit for my apperance by cis men who didn’t look much better than I do, so, like, I don’t know where the tone policing thing come from. I don’t even think it’s even tone policing because, like, it’s not like I’m telling you to not to say that someone looks like a baby when you’re describing something the person has done to you or when you’re trying to explain how you feel about someone or something. I mean, the man has done shit things and I can understand how that would upset people, but, also, this article isn’t about him? It’s about Cassie Jaye who happened to be on his podcast. He doesn’t need to be brought up in depth because it’s Cassie Jaye’s behavior being highlighted. How is it tone policing?
@Axe
Okay, dude. You know what my goal was better than I do. 😉
Seriously though, you’re gonna have to trust that I meant what I meant, or not. It doesn’t make much of a difference. I’ll refer back to my apology. It’s fine that you disagree with me, and your comments have been noted.