This CW Series Now Swirling With Sexual Assault Claims

The CW was created as a neverending teen Eyes Wide Shut party for pervy execs looking to get their rocks off all over the faces of young starlets, so the fact that female One Tree Hill castmates are accusing showrunner Mark Schwahn of being a gropey mess should shock no one. Writer Audrey Wauchope took to Twitter to share a lengthy account of inappropriate behavior from an unnamed showrunner, but Sophia Bush and a bunch of women no one’s ever heard of came in with dicks swinging by actually naming Schwahn as the main perpetrator in a joint statement. This is just a snippet, and you can read the whole thing here:

To use terminology that has become familiar as thesystemic reality of sexual harassment and assault has come more and more to light, Mark Schwahn’s behavior over the duration of the filming of One Tree Hill was something of an “open secret.” Many of us were, to varying degrees, manipulated psychologically and emotionally. More than one of us is still in treatment for post-traumatic stress. Many of us were put in uncomfortable positions and had to swiftly learn to fight back, sometimes physically, because it was made clear to us that the supervisors in the room were not the protectors they were supposed to be. Many of us were spoken to in ways that ran the spectrum from deeply upsetting, to traumatizing, to downright illegal. And a few of us were put in positions where we felt physically unsafe. More than one woman on our show had her career trajectory threatened.  

Men sending in their résumés to work on a network that films half of its scenes in high school locker rooms aren’t really playing coy. Their desired job title might as well be “Teen Taint Inspector.” James Van Der Beek siphoned attention away from Weinstein victims early on in the game when he vaguely admitted to getting the Kevin Spacey red carpet treatment on the set of an unnamed show. Dawson’s Reacharound much? And just to make 100% certain that I get credit for calling this one out – last time I swear – here’s what exec Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa said about casting Archie comics-inspired series Riverdale: 

Of course, they are all beautiful to look at, but for me, what I wanted more was a sense that the characters had a ripe sexuality. Like they were all kind of on the cusp of transitioning from teenagers to young adults. It’s almost like the 1950s pinup girls, or the guys that were, like, a little bit like Physique Pictorial. There was a sexual energy to them that I look for, more than, like, Oh my God, is this kid TV pretty.

These guys, much like Louis C.K., aren’t even trying to hide their sexual proclivities, making Hollywood’s supposed shock and awe over its own seedy underbelly all the more eye roll-inducing.

According to Wauchope’s tweets, one of the many lines that Schwahn crossed was showing off nude pictures of his girlfriend to the ladies on set. My psychotic cousin showed me nude pictures of his fake Eastern European Snapchat girlfriend at the last wedding I was at, and I remember thinking that it was hilarious and that I couldn’t wait to tell everyone I knew. This kind of behavior falls into a gray area between accidentally winking at someone and murdering them to have sex with their corpse, but actions are magnified in a professional setting, especially when there’s an imbalance of power. Execs are horned up and overly confident of their permanence in the industry. Mix in the fact that the CW is a masturbatory aid for both viewers and creators alike who haven’t heard of Tumblr porn, and you have years of revelations ahead that are bound to be juicier than show and tell nude pic time in the One Tree Hill writers room. Archie’s going to have some stories.

The second still from One Tree Hill in the gallery tells all.

^{Photo Credit: Mr. Skin}