Creepy

Netnet Camomot

THE Pandora’s box that Harvey Weinstein’s case has opened continues to reveal more sexual harassers and assaulters.

Matt Lauer, Mario Batali, and Al Franken are the latest famous names to be revealed, and their cases continue to shock us. Is this how most men behave? I’m sure these have encouraged women to recall their own personal experiences, and they can now say that, yes, there were such instances, but at least they had the freedom to flee and run as far away as possible from those creepy men.

There are women who are not as lucky, with no freedom to flee, choosing to remain silent in order to save their lives.

Men don’t have to be famous in order to be creepy and touchy-feely. Famous or not, they all deserve this: Ewww. Yuck. Yikes.

Brrrrr. They make your skin crawl, and there you are, throwing up without the help of tequila.

These men, especially the moneyed and powerful ones who have control over the lives of their victims, believe they’re God’s gift to women. Gosh, how many times have I written about this? Feeling nila lovable sila. Feelingera. And because of that feeling, they’re convinced all women are attracted to them.

Women’s first impression of the men they meet is almost always correct. They meet a man, conclude he’s creepy, but decide to tolerate him anyway. They would then go home and stay under the shower for many hours to wash off all traces of him, and then, they block, block, block—from all phones to social media. And this is for situations that have not even reached sexual-harassment level yet, but with the potential of regressing to that point of no return. Better safe than sorry is the key to a woman’s survival with these creepy men.

Former “The Today Show” host Matt Lauer looks harmless. Still, that look has not fooled comedian Denis Leary who said in “The Talk” last Friday that he thought Lauer “was a creepy, douchey guy from the get-go.”

“You know, you get a vibe, and I just got a weird, weaselly vibe from the guy, and I said to my publicist, I said, ‘I don’t want to be interviewed by him any longer, I want to be interviewed by the girls,’” Leary added. “Go back and look at the videotape: I stopped being interviewed by him on the Today show about 10 years ago because he was so creepy.”

See? Even men can tell who among their fellow men are creepy.

The word “former” in the attachment to Lauer’s name is for the fact that NBC recently fired him when the sexual-harassment allegations began to crop up, prompting him to issue an apology starting with the “sorrow and regret for the pain I have caused.”

Celebrity chef and restaurateur Mario Batali doesn’t exactly look harmless but he seems cuddly even with his orange Crocs. His hands are always shown in his videos where he’s chopping, cutting, cooking. And you’ll now watch these videos in a new—but darker—light after realizing those same hands were involved in the sexual misconduct that he’s now accused of, unless he used his feet with the orange Crocs.

Batali has chosen to detach himself from his business interests for now while apologizing to those he has “hurt and disappointed.”

I had to take a second look when former “Saturday Night Live” (SNL) cast member Al Franken became a senator. I’ll always remember his “Daily Affirmations with Stuart Smalley,” especially this: “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me.” Despite the seriousness of that line, he was one of SNL’s funniest. So, for him to be a senator was the farthest thing I imagined his future to be. That is, if did imagine his future.

SNL’s cast members come and go—Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Kristen Wiig, Sarah Silverman, Eddie Murphy, Ben Stiller, Billy Crystal, Dana Carvey, Will Ferrell, Jimmy Fallon, Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, Jon Lovitz, Jim and John Belushi, Martin Short, Joan Cusack, Janeane Garofalo, Mike Myers, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, David Spade, Bill Murray, Rob Schneider, Chris Rock, Adam Sandler, still in there is Kate McKinnon, and so on and so forth, ad infinitum, ad nauseam. They’re now among the rich and famous in Hollywood. Based on that list, Al Franken is the last cast member one would expect to be accused of sexual misconduct, no thanks to the Pandora’s box that keeps going and going like… Oh, I can’t use the Energizer Bunny anymore for this. That bunny was my go-to description for the Marawi siege.

Franken has resigned from the Senate, and has delivered a speech where he mentioned two other powerful men: “I of all people am aware that there is some irony in the fact that I am leaving while a man who has bragged on tape about his history of sexual assault sits in the Oval Office, and a man who has repeatedly preyed on young girls campaigns for the Senate with the full support of his party.”

The one in the Oval Office is of course US President Donald Trump, and the campaigner is Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore.

Lauer, Batali, and Franken have proven that power and money can awaken more creepiness from the creepy. Tsk tsk.

Our Christmas wish-ko-lang is for the revelations to discourage sexual harassers and assaulters from committing more harassments and assaults. But have Tokhang and the alleged extrajudicial killings stopped the proliferation of drugs? Hmmm.