Jane Fonda: Sexual Predators Shouldn’t Try To Come Back Unless They’ve ‘Done The Work’
“F**k it! Sweep the floor at Starbucks until you learn! If you can’t learn, you don’t belong in the boardroom”
~Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda has some advice for powerful men who have admitted to, or been accused of, sexual abuse: Don’t bother trying to return to the spotlight unless you can demonstrate you’ve actually learned from your mistakes.
“Oh, poor top-paid executives who can’t get his job back,” the actress and activist said Thursday at an event promoting her upcoming HBO documentary, “Jane Fonda in Five Acts,” as Vanity Fair reported. “Fuck it! Sweep the floor at Starbucks until you learn! If you can’t learn, you don’t belong in the boardroom. And there are plenty of women who do belong in the boardroom.”
Former TV hosts Charlie Rose and Matt Lauer, who have denied allegations that they harassed women at their workplaces, have reportedly mulled returning to television. Actor and comic Louis C.K., who admitted to masturbating in front of female comedians, recently performed at the Comedy Cellar, a storied New York club.
Fonda specifically cited Rose ― who has been accused of sexually harassing scores of women, including staffers at his shows ― as someone who hasn’t “done the work.”
“It doesn’t matter how much time. It depends on what the guy is doing,” Fonda said, when asked how long men who have been accused of sexual misconduct should take to attempt a comeback, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “Men are trained not to be empathic, not to be emotional. So it’s not easy what they’re trying to do, but they have to try to do it. So it doesn’t matter if it takes two weeks or a year, two years. It depends on what kind of changes they’ve gone through.”