With the recent flood of allegations against Hollywood icons like Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey, Brett Ratner, Louis CK and many more, it can be difficult to keep track of who appears where and what movies you want to stay away from. However, a new website called Rotten Apples, now lets users find out if any members of the cast or crew have been accused of sexual harassment.
Rotten Apples, which is obviously a play on Rotten Tomatoes, operates as a search engine that allows users to type the name in for any movie. When there are no ties to any accusations it comes out as fresh, and when there are it’s rotten.
For example, if you type in Star Wars, it receives a fresh apple and the text says “This movie has no known affiliation to anyone with allegations of sexual misconduct against them.” When you enter something like The Usual Suspects, however, it comes off as rotten and lists “Cast: Kevin Spacey” and “Director / Producer: Bryan Singer” as the cause.
“The Rotten Apples is a searchable database that lets you know whether or not a film or television show is tied to a person who has been accused of sexual misconduct,” the Rotten Apples mission statement reads via Advocate. “In the case of this website, the ‘person’ is defined as a cast-member, screenwriter, executive producer or director. The goal of this site is to further drive awareness of just how pervasive sexual misconduct in film and televisions is and to help make ethical media consumption easier.”
While there’s good reasoning behind Rotten Apples, this has drawn people into arguments over whether a person should be able to separate the art from the artist and if an entire film — which has hundreds of contributors, actors, etc. — should be condemned because of one person’s crimes.
The statement does clarify that, “By no means is this site to serve as a condemnation of an entire project,” but that hasn’t stopped the internet from arguing about the matter.
Do you think you can separate the artist from the work? Does Rotten Apples make you feel bad for liking a work when there is an offender in the cast? Tell us below!