One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Selma Blair, Rachel McAdams Accuse James Toback Of Sexual Harassment
Rachel McAdams, left, and Selma Blair, right. (Photos by Photo by Brian de Rivera Simon/Getty Images, Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for Baby2Baby)
Actresses Selma Blair and Rachel McAdams are the latest in a long line of women to accuse director James Toback of sexual harassment. Blair and McAdams spoke out in a Vanity Fair article on Thursday, sharing similar details of their respective encounters with Toback; Toback allegedly lured both actresses to hotel rooms early on in their careers to discuss a role in his 2001 movie Harvard Man, then sexually harassed them.
An L.A. Times investigation published last Sunday featured the stories of 38 women who claimed Toback sexually harassed them in meetings and auditions dating back to the 1980s; by Monday, an additional 193 women had allegedly contacted L.A. Times reporter Glenn Whipp to talk about Toback.
Blair, who cooperated with the L.A. Times investigation published last week on the condition that her name would not be used, recounted a 1999 incident to Vanity Fair in which Toback allegedly coaxed her to take her clothes off and masturbated against her leg, saying, “You have to do this for me. You cannot leave until I have release.” Blair claims Toback then threatened her not to tell anyone, saying,
"There is a girl who went against me. She was going to talk about something I did. I am going to tell you, and this is a promise, if she ever tells anybody, no matter how much time she thinks went by, I have people who will pull up in a car, kidnap her, and throw her in the Hudson River with cement blocks on her feet. You understand what I’m talking about, right?”
McAdams told Vanity Fair her encounter with Toback took place when she was a 21-year-old theater student in Toronto, saying Toback invited her to his hotel room after she auditioned for him and allegedly told her:
"You know, I just have to tell you. I have masturbated countless times today thinking about you since we met at your audition.”
McAdams said Toback then questioned her about "how brave" she was and asked her to show him her pubic hair, adding, "I was very lucky that I left and he didn’t actually physically assault me in any way." Toback told Vanity Fair on Wednesday that he had no comment on any of the accusations leveled against him. Blair and McAdams are part of a wave of actors speaking out about their experiences with sexual misconduct in Hollywood; Julianne Moore revealed on Tuesday that Toback twice propositioned her in the 1980s, and actresses including Lupita Nyong'o, Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie have gone public about allegedly being sexually harassed by producer Harvey Weinstein.
One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
