Sexist On 'Mad Men' Is Apparently A Jerk In Real Life, Reporter Says

A Buzzfeed reporter bravely wrote a frank account of her interview with actor Paul Johansson, who she says turned out to be just as much of a sexist jerk in real life as he is on Mad Men.

Paul Johansson is a guy who plays jerks. As Ferg Donnelly on Mad Men, he harasses Joan Harris (Christina Hendricks) so much that she quits her job, thus derailing her career. He also played a scumbag in One Tree Hill, and one of his first major gigs was playing a jerk in 90210.

When editorial assistant Susan Cheng met Johansson at Buzzfeed's Los Angeles office, she said it was for a photoshoot that was focusing on just how many times Johansson had been cast as a jerk, Buzzfeed reports.The piece is a series of reaction .gifs to workplace annoyances that can be found here. She said she met the actor and his publicist, Cheryl McClean, at the office's studio, where she was joined by three coworkers, all of whom happened to be women.

Johansson's weird behavior began when he asked one of the women why she was so tan, which parlayed into banter about playing tennis. Cheng said that Johansson ended up telling the woman he’d win by serving the ball “right down your throat” and something about taking the woman back to his cave and putting her on her back. Cheng noted that this happened before any cameras were rolling.

Cheng then said the actor put his arm around her while she was trying to talk to him about some of the things they'd be shooting. Later, while actually shooting, he noted that he was getting warm under the studio lights by saying, "I'm sweating like a rapist." That little quip did get caught on camera, Cheng said.

Later, she said Johansson asked her if she ever took people into particular room and made out with them while she escorted him out of the office.

While Cheng uncomfortably brushed this all off when it happened and even ended up publishing the first segment of her interview with Johansson, she later decided to speak out.

Her 'recent events' comment links to a story about Woody Allen.

Cheng ended up emailing Johansson's publicist, asking to talk to him about how he acted that day. She received a letter from the actor's lawyer, Andrew B. Brettler. Brettler denied that his client was inappropriate, though did not deny many of the things Cheng alleged he'd said. He also accused Cheng of trying to "exploit" the media buzz surrounding the finale of Mad Men. He said his other comments were taken out of context. We're not sure in what context saying you were "sweating like a rapist" would be appropriate.

Cheng went on to say that Johansson was far from the first man to make her feel uncomfortable in Hollywood. Kristen Stewart just called Hollywood 'disgustingly sexist.' Ellen Page said the sexism in Hollywood was 'constant.' However, Cheng also means just the simple act of being in Hollywood, not the film industry but the neighborhood in which she works.

Silence, she decided, was not the answer.