LOS ANGELES: The actress Ellen Barkin has hit back at Hollywood director Terry Gilliam after he said the #MeToo movement against sexual harassment and assault has morphed into “mob rule.”
“My hard-won advice: never get into an elevator alone with Terry Gilliam,” the American actress, 63, tweeted over the weekend.
Barkin worked with Gilliam in the 1998 film “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.”
On Monday, she wrote on Twitter that according to Gilliam, Harvey Weinstein was exposed as an alleged serial sexual predator “’because he is an asshole and made a lot of enemies,’ not because he molested or raped over 80” women.
“What is it you are defending when you attack a movement whose goal is to keep women safe?” Barkin wrote.
On Friday, Gilliam raised eyebrows by saying in an interview with AFP that the reaction against the wave of sexual abuse and harassment revelations had become ugly and “simplistic ... people are frightened to say things, to think things.”
He added: “I know enough girls who were in Harvey’s suites who were not victims and walked out.”
“It’s like when mob rule takes over,” Gilliam said.
Barkin reacted with a series of angry tweets against Gilliam but did not give any details about her allusion to “hard-won advice” about not riding alone in an elevator with the director.
Ellen Barkin hits back at Terry Gilliam over #MeToo comments
Ellen Barkin hits back at Terry Gilliam over #MeToo comments
Cambodia takes back looted historic artifacts handled by British art dealer
- The objects were returned under a 2020 agreement between the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts and the family of the late Douglas Latchford, a British art collector and dealer who allegedly had the items smuggled out of Cambodia
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: Cambodian officials on Friday received more than six dozen historic artifacts described as part of the country’s cultural heritage that had been looted during decades of war and instability.
At a ceremony attended by Deputy Prime Minister Hun Many, the 74 items were unveiled at the National Museum in Phnom Penh after their repatriation from the United Kingdom.
The objects were returned under a 2020 agreement between the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts and the family of the late Douglas Latchford, a British art collector and dealer who allegedly had the items smuggled out of Cambodia.
“This substantial restitution represents one of the most important returns of Khmer cultural heritage in recent years, following major repatriations in 2021 and 2023 from the same collection,” the Culture Ministry said in a statement. “It marks a significant step forward in Cambodia’s continued efforts to recover, preserve, and restore its ancestral legacy for future generations.”
The artifacts were described as dating from the pre-Angkorian period through the height of the Angkor Empire, including “monumental sandstone sculptures, refined bronze works, and significant ritual objects.” The Angkor Empire, which extended from the ninth to the 15th century, is best known for the Angkor Wat archaeological site, the nation’s biggest tourist attraction.
Latchford was a prominent antiquities dealer who allegedly orchestrated an operation to sell looted Cambodian sculptures on the international market.
From 1970 to the 1980s, during Cambodia’s civil wars and the communist Khmer Rouge ‘s brutal reign, organized looting networks sent artifacts to Latchford, who then sold them to Western collectors, dealers, and institutions. These pieces were often physically damaged, having been pried off temple walls or other structures by the looters.
Latchford was indicted in a New York federal court in 2019 on charges including wire fraud and conspiracy. He died in 2020, aged 88, before he could be extradited to face charges.
Cambodia, like neighboring Thailand, has benefited from a trend in recent decades involving the repatriation of art and archaeological treasures. These include ancient Asian artworks as well as pieces lost or stolen during turmoil in places such as Syria, Iraq and Nazi-occupied Europe. New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of the prominent institutions that has been returning illegally smuggled art, including to Cambodia.
“The ancient artifacts created and preserved by our ancestors are now being returned to Cambodia, bringing warmth and joy, following the country’s return to peace,” said Hun Many, who is the younger brother of Prime Minister Hun Manet.
