Quick Links

After literally decades of quiet whispers, people in Hollywood have found the courage to start screaming about a problem moviegoers around the world had hoped was just a rumor. From the top of the industry to the bottom, producers, actors, directors, and probably even stagehands have been abusing their power to get both men and women within the industry to do things they didn’t want to do. For some of the alleged abusers, mere coercion wasn’t enough. They went so far as to grope, sexually harass, or in some cases, rape their victims, followed by using their sway over the media to have any reports of this behavior covered up. That is, until now.

The fact of the matter is that plenty of people within the movie industry were well aware that the Harvey Weinsteins, Andy Dicks, and Steven Seagals of the world had been up to no good for a long time now. On the other hand, most regular folk are genuinely shocked to learn that even the Kevin Spaceys and Bill Cosbys have long been complicit in the same behavior, if not worse. Maybe everyone in Hollywood did know that certain men were abusing their power in an awful way, but the sheer extent of the problem is indeed a surprise, even to those closest to the industry.

It’s hard to find any sort of positives in the ongoing revelations, but if there’s any upside at all, it’s the fact this sort of activity might be coming to an end. Even the supposed good guys who nobody thought could do any harm are getting outed for what they’ve done, and no matter how many times they smiled on camera or how many fans they made beforehand, their careers are rightfully getting killed for it. Keep reading to discover 8 Hollywood D-Bags No One Saw Coming And 7 We All Secretly Knew About.

Total Shock: Dustin Hoffman

Over 50 years after the release of The Graduate, many movie fans still see Dustin Hoffman’s portrayal of lead character Benjamin Braddock as the preeminent face of boyish innocence in film. Of course, that was hardly the only iconic role Hoffman played, as the man appeared in countless classic films throughout his career, including two that earned him Academy Awards (Kramer vs. Kramer and Rain Man). For his contributions to acting, Hoffman also received recognition from the Kennedy Center Honors in 2012. In short, the guy is one of the most respected actors of all time and always seemed like a charming fellow, but unfortunately, it would turn out that it isn’t quite the case. There have actually been complaints about Hoffman’s behavior around women dating as far back as 1979, when no less a source than Meryl Streep accused him of groping her during an audition. Recently, two more women came forward with stories of abuse from 1985 and 1991, suggesting the behavior has been serial.

Not Surprised: Bill O’Reilly

Existing in that strange crossover between Hollywood and Washington, D.C., Bill O’Reilly was the biggest star of the Fox News network since his program The O’Reilly Factor made its debut in 1996 to its cancelation in 2017. O’Reilly came to fame entirely due to his stringently conservative views. Despite the fact said views, including the typical focus on family values, it still wasn’t surprising to learn O’Reilly was genuinely a jerk considering his attitude on the air. One of O’Reilly’s trademarks was cutting the microphones of any guests who dared to disagreed with him, and as it would turn out, he’s essentially been accused of doing the same thing to at least six women, including former Fox News coworker Lis Wiehl. The only difference is, instead of making an argument too strong for O’Reilly to bark back at, these women all accused him of sexual harassment, and his tens of millions of dollars played the role of his microphone silencer.

Total Shock: Ben Affleck

When accusations against Harvey Weinstein first started gaining traction, one of the first men to speak out in defence of his accusers was Ben Affleck. The actor/director/Batman worked with Weinstein many times before, yet he was still quick to say the reports about abuse made him sick, angry, and saddened, harshly denouncing the producer for what he had done. However, it was only mere hours after Affleck posted a public message about Weinstein to his Facebook account that actress Hilarie Burton came forward with a reminder that Affleck himself had sexually harassed her live on a 2003 episode of MTV TRL. It’s also worth noting that Affleck never gave any sort of recognition whatsoever to the fact his brother, Academy Award winner Casey Affleck, had similarly been accused of sexual harassment in 2010 through two law suits he settled out of court. To his credit, Ben Affleck did apologize to Burton after being confronted with what he did to her, but that hardly undoes the harassment, and the issue with his brother is still unresolved.

Not Surprised: Andy Dick

While most of the people on both sides of this list did absolutely whatever it took to ensure the public at large didn’t know about their worst behaviors, Andy Dick made a career out of being a total creep on live television. In 2005, the actor/comedian made headlines by performing a “comedy routine” that ended with him flashing the audience, and the next year, his “roast” of William Shatner mostly consisted of licking the faces of everyone on the dais, presumably without their permission or warning. When mere licking wasn’t enough, he also made such a show of legitimately groping Ivanka Trump on Jimmy Kimmel Live! that security had to drag him off the set kicking and screaming. The awful behavior finally caught up to Dick in 2017, when he was fired from two upcoming films, Raising Buchanan and Vampire Dad for treating the cast and crew in a similar manner.

Total Shock: Chris Savino

Chances are, most people reading this list don’t know who Chris Savino is, and listing off his credits may not do much to change that. His greatest and most recent claim to fame has been creating Nickelodeon’s The Loud House. Prior to that, Savino was a show runner for Cartoon Network classics Dexter’s Laboratory and The Powerpuff Girls, followed by a stint as a writer on My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Basically, the guy was a downright entrepreneur when it came to producing TV shows for children, and his programs in particular were generally fairly progressive when it came to teaching kids positive life lessons. This is why it was such a shock to learn Nickelodeon first suspended and then fired Savino from The Loud House in 2017. Apparently, Savino had been using his sway as a Nickelodeon bigwig to sexually harass women he worked with for “at least a decade,” as more than a dozen women came forward with their tales of abuse. Savino has since acknowledged the complaints and apologized, but that didn’t get his job back, nor will it earn him the public’s forgiveness.

Not Surprised: Steven Seagal

An actor who can’t act, a director who can’t direct, a writer who can’t write, a guitarist who can’t play guitar, and an alleged martial artist who looks to be in worse shape than the average pro bowler, Steven Seagal has truly tried and failed at it all. Despite this overwhelming lack of talent, Seagal nonetheless became extremely popular in the early 1990s due to his intimidating presence in films like Above the Law and Under Siege. It wasn’t long before the novelty wore off, though, and Seagal’s career quickly plummeted from major blockbusters to direct-to-video movies where he was the primary auteur. It was apparently during this period in his career where the harassment started, as several women have recently come forward about borderline terrifying at-home “auditions” where Seagal would allegedly make sexual advances and ask them to undress. Included amongst Seagal’s accusers are actresses Jenny McCarthy, Portia de Rossi, Eva LaRue, and even his ex-wife, Kelly LeBrock.

Total Shock: George Takei

Sometimes, all it takes is one standout role for an actor to forever remain in the popular consciousness. George Takei knows this well, a feeling he shares with pretty much everyone else on the cast of the original Star Trek, except for William Shatner, of course. That isn’t to say Takei hasn’t done a little bit to ingratiate himself to the public since, making many high-profile appearances on The Howard Stern Show presenting him in a comedic light. Takei has also earned a new generation of fans entirely for his posts on social media, where he shares popular memes and liberal leaning opinions to tens of millions of fans. That number might start dropping in the near future, though, because Takei was recently accused of drugging and undressing actor and model Scott Brunton in 1981 without his consent. Though he denied any memory of the Brunton incident, Takei himself admitted on Stern earlier that year that he had previously grabbed other men by their genitals to “persuade” them into sex. We’re guessing that news didn’t get too many likes on his Facebook page.

Not Surprised: Charlie Sheen

Ironically, it was the moment he proudly announced to the world that he was “Winning!” that everyone suddenly realized what a giant loser Charlie Sheen had always been. Of course, those who recognize not all art is separated from life might have had a few clues in Sheen’s latest character at the time. Concurrent to his boasts about victory, Sheen was portraying the serially philandering, alcoholic, drug addict Charlie Harper on Two and a Half Men, who definitely harassed a few women for laughs. Neither Harper nor the tiger-blood-inspired outburst were the beginning, though, as Sheen faced accusations of abuse since as early as 1994 when a UCLA student said he attacked her for refusing to sleep with him. There was also his high-profile split with ex-wife Denise Richards, who said he threatened her life and accessed some very questionable web sites, to put it lightly. Only an insane person would call any of this “winning,” but knowing Charlie Sheen, he probably still would.

Total Shock: Jeffrey Tambor

Whether he was sitting on a couch saying “hey now” or sitting in jail for committing “light treason,” Jeffrey Tambor was often the funniest supporting player in every TV series he appeared on. After years gaining respect on The Larry Sanders Show and Arrested Development, Tambor earned his own leading vehicle as the star of Transparent, playing Maura Pfefferman, a transwoman who comes out to her family in her early 70s. Through that role, Tambor has earned acclaim for being an especially progressive actor shining a light on important socio-sexual issues in a positive light, a task that could be entirely invalidated by accusations of sexual harassment. The jury is still somewhat out on this one, but it looks like Tambor may be facing just that, as a former assistant of his named Van Barnes has accused him of inappropriate behavior while they worked together. Responding to the complaints, Tambor referred to her as a “disgruntled former employee,” but Amazon, the company producing Transgender, still decided to investigate. Their findings are currently unknown.

Not Surprised: Louis C.K.

Having slowly simmered as one of the most prolific and celebrated stand-up comedians in the world, Louis C.K. gradually asserted himself as one of the best writers, directors, and maybe even actors working in Hollywood today. In addition to his many landmark stand-up specials, C.K. achieved his status by producing and starring in his own FX series Louie, followed by co-creating Better Things and Baskets and co-starring in films like American Hustle and Blue Jasmine. C.K. has won six Emmys for his stand-up and TV shows and two Best Comedy Album Grammys, but his entire career had long been marred since he was accused of sexually assaulting two women at the 2003 Aspen U.S. Comedy Arts Festival. In 2017, The New York Times finally investigated these claims and learned that an additional three women had also made similar claims about C.K. forcing them to watch him perform sexual acts against their will. Once the quiet allegations could no longer be ignored, C.K. admitted it was all true, losing his job with FX in the process.

Total Shock: Jimmy Savile

Technically speaking, Jimmy Savile didn’t spend a whole lot of time in Hollywood, but he was nonetheless one of the biggest stars ever in the British equivalent. As the host of the BBC’s Jim’ll Fix It, Savile became a hero to children all across the UK, who wrote in to his show asking for him to “grant their wishes.” Older audiences were also familiar with Savile as the host of Top of the Pops, the long-running and extremely popular music countdown show. On top of it all, viewers of all ages were well aware of Savile’s charitable efforts, donating millions of dollars to various hospitals. What the public at large didn’t know is that behind the scenes, Savile was one of the most prolific and predatory sex offenders in British history. After his death in 2011, hundreds of accusers came forward with stories of Savile sexually abusing them during tapings of Jim’ll Fix It or, even worse, when he was visiting them in the hospital. The vast majority were young children at the time of his attacks.

Not Surprised: Woody Allen

In 1979, Academy Award winning director Woody Allen released one of his most celebrated movies of all with Manhattan. Considered by some to be film’s greatest love letter to the city of New York, there’s no denying Manhattan is beautifully directed like almost all of Allen’s work, but a disturbing fact gets overlooked in all the acclaim. The film’s main character, naturally played by Woody himself, is a 42-year-old man dating a 17-year-old girl. And not a single character in the entire movie seems to think this is even a little bit odd. About 10 years later, Allen, then in his early 50s, began dating his young stepdaughter Soon-Yi Previn, who soon became his wife, and for whatever bizarre reason, much of Hollywood continued to treat this as if it wasn't totally weird. Even when Allen’s other stepdaughter, Dylan Farrow, accused him of sexually abusing her as a child, many in the industry still refused to believe her. Allen, in particular, harshly denies the allegations, but his life story and films make it hard to take that at face value.

Total Shock: Kevin Spacey

Beginning with a darkly charismatic role in the '80s TV drama Wiseguy, Kevin Spacey slowly built his way from the bottom to his more recent status as one of the most respected actors in Hollywood. Spacey’s latest major role was appearing on House of Cards, a role that won him a Golden Globe — hardly his first major accolade. Spacey also earned an Academy Awards for The Usual Suspects and American Beauty, amongst dozens of other achievements for his incredible acting ability. His appearances on talk shows also long presented Spacey as a charming, affable guy, making it all the more shocking when actor Anthony Rapp accused Spacey of making a sexual advance on him in 1986. This was a pretty big deal, considering Rapp was only 14 at the time. Since then, dozens of others have come forward with stories of Spacey acting inappropriately with them, including many of the crew who worked on House of Cards. Spacey was immediately fired in light of what he had done, and the future of his career remains unclear.

Not Surprised: Harvey Weinstein

Way back in 1998, Gwyneth Paltrow and David Letterman yukked it up on the latter’s Late Show about how Hollywood mega producer Harvey Weinstein was a “known coercer.” Just under twenty years later, Paltrow made similar remarks to The New York Times, only this time, she wasn’t awkwardly laughing through it. She wasn’t alone, either, as Paltrow was merely one of at least 77 women, thus far, who have accused Weinstein of some truly horrific acts behind the scenes of his many, many films. Perhaps loudest of all has been Rose McGowan, who claims she had tried reporting the fact Weinstein raped her to plenty of others within the industry, only to be told to keep quiet. Now that she and so many others are refusing to do so, many in Hollywood, both male and female, are admitting they knew a whole lot more about Weinstein’s behavior than they had ever let on. Not only was Paltrow hinting at it for over 20 years, but just about everyone in Hollywood made jokes about fat-cat producers and their casting couches. So to learn that such a human actually existed all along shouldn’t be that big a shock, no matter how horrible it is to accept.

Total Shock: Bill Cosby

To this day, no stand-up comedian has dominated the “family friendly” market more so than Bill Cosby. From his landmark six Grammy Awards for Best Comedy Album in a row to his starring roles in TV shows like The Cosby Show, Cosby, and Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, Cosby gradually developed a persona as America’s number-one father figure, making all his children laugh at his goofy dad jokes. Cosby also prided himself as a great example to the African American community, castigating modern society for failing to instill sound moral values in the youth of today. This is despite allegations that he himself had been sexually abusing, drugging, and/or raping dozens of women the entire time he was joking about his brother, Russell, whom he slept with. At this point, over 60 women have accused Cosby of some sort of sexual misconduct, each further invalidating anything positive he attempted to do in his career. Gone are the days audiences around the country are happy to learn from Cliff Huxtable, replaced by a new generation who fear and despise an alleged monster.