Bill Maher saved his last “New Rule” for tonight realtime addressing sex in the workplace. His news was two workplace romances that have garnered a lot of media attention lately: that between Boston Celtics head coach Ime Udoka and an unnamed female subordinate, and the relationship between director Olivia Wilde and her don’t worry darling co-star Harry Styles.
Corresponding ESPN Today: “The power dynamics surrounding a supervisor’s inappropriate relationship with an employee was the primary finding and violation of policy” in the Udoka case. That led to his one-year ban, with questions about whether he’ll even return to the team.
It is, of course, this type of imbalance that has led to a multitude of exits in the highest echelons of Hollywood and American corporate America since the beginning of the #MeToo movement.
Maher objected to Udoka’s suspension with the caveat that “if it is found that he was violent or physically coerced, his case is unrelated to what I am about to say and he must face appropriate and severe punishment.”
But that aside, Maher called for a “review of our war on office romance,” as he put it.
“Who are we to tell other people they can’t have love because when they met they weren’t exactly equal?” asked the landlord. “People aren’t always attracted to their own kind. We are not robots. What we seem to be is lonely. There’s a loneliness epidemic out there.”
Sharing a photo of Wilde and Styles, Maher noted, “This couple has been in the news lately. Why don’t we freak out when a director dates one of her actors? power imbalance? Are you kidding? On a movie set, the director is God. But sometimes people fall in love with God. This is a very attractive position.”
He proceeded to restate the idea with some highly regarded examples, beginning with the most sacred.
“Under current guidelines, Michelle Robinson could never have dated Barack Obama, who was an associate at her law firm when they met over the summer,” he said of the former first couple.
“Wasn’t there a power imbalance when Joe Scarborough started dating Mika Brzezinski? I had to say yes because the name of the show was morning joe.
Maher then shared photos of a Mount Rushmore of Hollywood couple, who all met through work, to get his point across. These included Kate Capshaw and Steve Spielberg, Judd Apatow and Leslie Mann, Joel Coen and Frances McDormand, Taylor Hackford and Hellen Mirren, James Cameron and Linda Hamilton, and Helena Bonham Carter and Tim Burton.
“If loneliness destroys our health…criminalizing the pool of suitable mates that is the workplace just isn’t helpful,” Maher concluded. “What happened to ‘My body, my choice’? ”
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