Director Terry Gilliam Describes #MeToo as a ‘Witch Hunt’

Director Terry Gilliam went on the offensive against the #MeToo movement because he’s convinced that white men are being victimized. 

During a conversation with The Independent, Gilliam described the movement as a “witch hunt” created by people who refuse to take accountability for their own actions. 

“Yeah, I said #MeToo is a witch hunt,” he said. “I really feel there were a lot of people, decent people, or mildly irritating people, who were getting hammered. That’s wrong. I don’t like mob mentality. These were ambitious adults.”

Gilliam went on to directly address the allegations surrounding Harvey Weinstein. Although he admits to hating Weinstein, he does consider him a “pioneer” of female-led films. Gilliam thinks that Weinstein’s abuse was rooted in his position and power, not his gender or sexuality. Still, Gilliam believes that some of Weinstein’s victims had a choice.

“There are many victims in Harvey’s life and I feel sympathy for them, but then, Hollywood is full of very ambitious people who are adults and they make choices. We all make choices, and I could tell you who did make the choice and who didn’t,” he continued. “I hate Harvey. I had to work with him and I know the abuse, but I don’t want people saying that all men… Because on [the 1991 film] Fisher King, two producers were women. One was a really good producer, and the other was a neurotic bitch. It wasn’t about their sex. It was about the position of power and how people use it.”

Gilliam also rejects the idea of white male privilege. Instead, he believes that white men are being targeted by this movement by women who are seeking to gain the power they’ve earned. Additionally, he doesn’t adhere to the concept of race. 

“I don’t like the term black or white. I’m now referring to myself as a melanin-light male. I can’t stand the simplistic, tribalistic behavior that we’re going through at the moment,” he said with a smile. “I’m talking about being a man accused of all the wrong in the world because I’m white-skinned. So I better not be a man. I better not be white. OK, since I don’t find men sexually attractive, I’ve got to be a lesbian. What else can I be? I like girls. These are just logical steps. I’m just trying to make you start thinking. You see, this is the world I grew up in, and with Python, we could do this stuff, and we weren’t offending people. We were giving people a lot of laughter.”

He does insist that he believes in diversity. But to him, it’s not diverse to attack others for having an outside idea. This belief seemingly prompted him to start this dialogue for the mere sake of arguing because it’s something he’s in “love” with doing.

“I’m into diversity more than anybody but diversity in the way you think about the world, which means you can hate what I just said. That’s fine! No problem. I mean, you can believe whatever you want to believe, but fundamentalism always ends up being, ‘You have to attack other people who are not like you,’ and that’s what makes me crazy. Life is fantastic, it’s wonderful, it’s so complex. Enjoy it and play with it and have fun,” he says. 

“I just love arguing. And if you’ve got a point, you should be able to argue your thing. But I’m not going to hit you,” Gilliam joked.