Skip to content
Kate Leaver is a journalist who states she met another journalist, Rupert Myers – who until this week wrote for GQ, amongst other publications.
I’ll add at this point, that this post contains strong language, but it reflects what has been said online.
She tweeted on Thursday that she went out with him for a drink, assuming it would be “friendly”. She alleges she wasn’t interested in him, and that he said he didn’t want to be mates and continued, “I’d rather fuck you”.
She continues to allege that she believes this is his MO (modus operandi) and accuses that he has sexually harrassed other women and that his behaviour is an “open secret”.
Now I’m hearing that this sort of thing is his MO, that he has sexually harrssed many women and that his behaviour is an open secret.
— Kate Leaver (@kateileaver) October 19, 2017
We’re told, he subsequently sent her a message which said “I’m sorry” but we still have no idea as to how much of her allegations are correct.
However, when it comes to Twitter, the court of public opinion had already hung, drawn and quartered Rupert. As such, GQ fired him. Were there any credible grounds for GQ firing Rupert? Well, we don’t know. That’s what we need to know. We can’t assume. Unfortunately, a lot of Kate Leaver’s followers HAVE assumed.
While Kate gave her side of the story on on Emma Barnett‘s show on BBC Radio 5 Live, citing the recent #MeToo hashtag on Twitter, where women and men have identified that they been sexually harrassed. I understand Rupert Myers was offered a chance to give his side of the story , but declined. He has also closed his Twitter account. However, we cannot assume guilt from that, either.
Earlier in the day, activist and feminist Caroline Criado-Perez cited the case where singer Taylor Swift had spoken out about sexual abuse, and which had gone to court, and the man involved had lost his job at his radio station. Now, when someone – and it can be either a man or a woman – acts inappropriately, they need to be dealt with by the courts. I know the police and court system are far from perfect in any country, but it’s the only legal system we have.
Before I knew the Taylor Swift case had gone to court, I asked Caroline the question of whether it had gone before the police, or was Ms Swift just public shaming, like Kate Leaver?
Caroline replied: “a) irrelevant b) rape is no-crimed by police at 3x the overall no-crime rate so fuck off telling women to report.
when women the justice system isn’t stacked against women, maybe we’ll report. until then, we’ll deal with it our own way.”
Now, I don’t know what the stats are with relation to the police not looking into cases, and whether rape is treated more negatively by the police, but, firstly, telling me to “fuck off” is not a way to get your point across, and with her last words, electronic vigilante justice is not the answer.
This all comes in the light of the allegations relating to Harvey Weinstein, where a great number of actresses have accused him of either sexually inappropriate behaviour, or rape. Again, none of these have been to court, so we cannot make assumptions.
What we can say is that when one person attacks another in any way shape or form, they should be dealt with appropriately by the law. Those who have committed the most grievous of crimes are scum, and I have the utmost sympathy for the victim.
So, who’s right between Kate and Rupert? Without a court case, we don’t know. If he has done of what he’s been accused, then – and I know I’m repeating myself but I cannot express this any more plainly – he should be punished in a court of law, but based on Kate’s account alone, we cannot make assumptions.
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.