Update On The Bill Murray Thing on "Being Mortal" Set

[Leo656]

So I thought this had its own thread but I couldn't find it, all I found was some speculation about it in one of the Ghostbusters threads. The gist was, the production of "Being Mortal" was shut down in Spring after allegations of "inappropriate conduct" by Bill Murray towards a female staffer. Now we finally have full details, as well as an update on the situation.

It's uh... well, I mean, I kinda see how HE might have thought it was "just a joke" but at the same time, in 2022 there's no f*cking way this kinda thing should have even been a thought in anyone's head. Like he's legit in his own world.

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/...193022593.html

New details emerge about Bill Murray's alleged misconduct on 'Being Mortal' set

The film, directed by Aziz Ansari, was shut down in April after a complaint was made against the comedic actor by an unidentified person working on the film. That same month, Murray said he had done "something I thought was funny, and it wasn't taken that way" and it was "a difference of opinion with a woman I'm working with." Now, details of what happened have emerged in a new report, including Murray reportedly making a $100,000 settlement.

Puck reports, via multiple sources, that Murray, 72, was "particularly friendly" with one "much younger" female production staffer. Murray, who felt she had been flirting with him, allegedly straddled her on a bed that was part of the production set. He kissed her on the mouth while they both had on masks, amid COVID protocols. Murray said he was joking, but the "horrified" woman, who was allegedly pinned down under Murray's weight, couldn't move and "interpreted his actions as entirely sexual."

The report noted that the person accusing Murray of inappropriate behavior was not actress Keke Palmer, as some speculated it was.

Ummmmmm.... yeah. Pinning a woman less than half your age down on a bed and dry-humping her and making kissy-face - in front of a bunch of people, no less - isn't even the kinda sh*t that would have flown 20 years ago, let alone Now. That's actually pretty bad and way, way worse than I was expecting. Other people on set apparently thought so, too, because the female staffer wasn't the only person on set to file a complaint about what he did, others did so as well.

Lots of people saying very dumb stuff like, "It's Bill Murray! If he wants to pin you down and dry hump you then you should take it as an honor!" Forget the fact that most 20-something women nowadays didn't grow up with a romantic love of the movie Ghostbusters; ask any woman you know if they'd be perfectly fine with some 70-something guy pinning them down on a bed "as a joke", I think most of them would say that's ground for calling the cops.

Regardless, to his credit Murray reportedly felt really bad about it, especially about all the people who lost their jobs when production was shut down, and he reached out to the woman for mediation. They agreed upon a $100,000 settlement and they both said they were willing and eager to resume production and put the incident behind them, which shows decent character from both of them.

Problem being, apparently, that regardless of the fact that the issue has been resolved to everyone's mutual satisfaction, they still can't resume production and finish the movie because of the circumstances. They're basically afraid that if they get things back on track, the internet will roast them for "letting Bill Murray commit sexual assault on a staffer and get away with it." Which... okay, YES, that's technically what happened, or at the very least some extreme sexual harassment. But they resolved it, they should all be allowed to move on regardless of what Twitter thinks.

My thoughts on the subject are basically, that was a REALLY stupid thing of him to do and it illustrates that he totally lives in his own, out-of-touch world. It's not the first time that he did something 100% out of line and inappropriate and indefensible, and generally people have always handwaved it by saying "Eh... Bill being Bill". And it's good that people are finally snapping out of that trance and being like "Wait, no, the truth is this guy is just a HUGE asshole sometimes and he does it because nobody ever stood up to him"; that's long overdue and I say that as a huge fan of the guy. Most of the "Funny Bill Murray Stories" floating around going back decades are actually not so much "funny" as they are "sh*t you'd legit punch someone in the face for doing if they were not This Specific Guy". This was definitely way offsides of him; it doesn't say if the woman was married or had a boyfriend, but if she did and I was that guy, I wouldn't care which Ghostbuster had my wife/girlfriend pinned down on a bed, I would've knocked his face to the back of his head, Real Talk.

BUT... if everyone involved in the incident says it's been resolved, they should be allowed to go back to work. It's very, very stupid that they can't finish the movie because they're afraid of the Twitter Mob being outraged on behalf of someone else, someone who's already agreed to let it go and move on. If she's willing to be on the set with Bill Murray again - and she's said she is perfectly fine with it - then that should be the end of it. I have no interest in the movie at all, but it's just very stupid not to allow production to resume just because "We don't wanna get yelled at by the internet".

Supposedly some old allegations against Aziz Ansari also have something to do with why production can't resume, but frankly I'm not convinced that anyone anywhere cares about that guy at all.

So anyways, that's what happened and that's where it is.