Film

People Are Absolutely Slamming E! For Letting Ryan Seacrest Near The Oscars

#MeToo founder Tarana Burke, Roxane Gay, and Taraji P. Henson have all given him a piece of their minds.

by Sam Langford  5 March 2018
ryan seacrest

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#MeToo movement founder Tarana Burke has joined the hundreds of people slamming the E! network for keeping Ryan Seacrest on its Oscars red carpet coverage, saying it’s hugely inappropriate to be giving such a coveted platform to someone with live sexual harassment allegations against them.

Seacrest is on the red carpet interviewing stars for E!’s live broadcast, which is reportedly not so live this year. E! has apparently put the show on a 30-second tape delay, just in case people confront Seacrest about why the fuck he’s there.

Related
Ryan Seacrest Has Been Accused Of Sexual Misconduct By His Former Stylist

The allegations against Seacrest were brought to light by his former personal stylist, Suzie Hardy, last week. Hardy claims Seacrest groped and sexually harassed her while they worked together at E! from 2007-2013. And while the allegations haven’t been proven, as Burke put it this morning, “this is not about his guilt or innocence”. Seacrest has repeatedly denied the allegations.

Rather, she said, “it’s about there being an accusation that’s alive, and until they sort it out, it’s really on E! News and shouldn’t be on us.”

“We shouldn’t have to make those choices of, ‘Do we or don’t we?'”, she added, pointing out that Seacrest’s presence put actresses in a difficult position.

People took to social media during this morning’s red carpet broadcast to slam the presenter and E! And on the red carpet, too, people are seizing opportunities to roast him for being there. See for example this clip of actress Taraji P. Henson appearing to deliver a subtle roasting.

Anyway, it’s wild (and wildly depressing) that E! seems willing to go to such lengths to protect Seacrest. As more than a few people have pointed out on Twitter today, he’s pretty easily replaced. In fact, most replacements are likely to be an upgrade.