One day in May 2023, stunt performer Devyn LaBella showed up to the Utah set of Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 2, the second part of the sprawling Western series from Kevin Costner, expecting to double for one of the film’s stars in some basic, fairly boring shots. Instead, she says, she was surprised by being subjected to an unscripted, brutal rape scene without proper notice, consent or the presence of a contractually mandated intimacy coordinator.
Now, LaBella is suing Costner and the film’s production companies for sexual discrimination, harassment and the creation of a hostile work environment. Moreover, the complaint alleges LaBella faced retaliation after she reported the incident by not being called back for subsequent work on the Horizon series and never being hired again by the film’s stunt coordinator, with whom she had worked previously
What’s the sexual discrimination here
Why are you allowed internet access?
Huh? I just thought sexual discrimination was stuff like not hiring women and stuff like that
It includes both discrimination based on gender and sexual as in sexual acts. These things tend to go hand in hand by nature.
So if you fire your employee or whatever for having the nerve to complain about being sexually assaulted it is sexual discrimination. If you treat them unfairly based on gender it is also sexual discrimination.
Semantically you could probably get away with separation of the two concepts into gender discrimination and sexual discrimination now but legally they both fall under the same terminology.
TIL. I had only seen it used for discrimination based on sex (or gender). That’s why I was confused on how that played into this (and got pretty shit reaction for it for some reason, but Lemmy is Lemmy)
Forget the civil suit for a minute. This is a crime. People belong in prison.
The defence that it was a rehearsal isn’t a defence. You still need clear boundaries, and to make both actors comfortable. There still should have been an intimacy coordinator.
This isn’t nice for male actors either, they could have been abused themselves. They could have heard it happening to a parent or sibling growing up. If the lawsuit is correct it’s just awful all round.
Uhh… Someone was literally raped on set, in front of an audience, and no one got arrested? Are you fucking serious?
No, it was a depiction of fictional rape for the film. Given the coercion, lack of protocol, and the way she was physically handled make it a sexual assault in my opinion, but legally-speaking I think she can only complain about the contract violation and retaliatory behavior causing financial damages.
Yeah, it’s pretty fucked that the male actor didn’t say something about the intimacy coordinator not being present, the fact there wasn’t prior notice, and so on. Definitely makes him complicit at best.
This is fucking disgusting and, as mentioned by others here, literally fucking crime
Moreover, given that Hunt and LaBella are members of the performers union SAG-AFTRA, their intimate scenes would also be subject to the labor group’s regulations, which call for prior notice, consent and a closed set.
…so for non-unionized talents the industry assumes it doesn’t need prior notice or consent?
