Most years, the editors at The Hollywood Reporter could make an early, education guess in advance as to who should appear on their annual roundup of the "Most Powerful People" in the industry.
This is not most years.
As the worlds of TV, film and media continue to be rocked by one sexual misconduct scandal after another, power players are no longer able to rest on their laurels — a fact that's underscored by THR's 2018 "Powerful People" list .
Last week, we learned former CBS Chairman and CEO Les Moonves was not invited to the Emmy Awards after multiple women accused him of sexually harassing them; others said he seemed to have what Ronan Farrow described in his New Yorker expose as "a practiced routine" of "forcibly kissing or touching" women during business meetings.
In 2017, Moonves came in at No. 4 out of THR's 100 "Most Powerful People." In 2018, Moonves — who has denied all the accusations, was still helming CBS when the network earned 18 Emmy nominations and this month stepped down rather than being fired — appeared nowhere on the list. According to CNN however, that's only because the outlet's editorial director realized at the last minute he had to make a call about Moonves, who was slotted at No. 10.
The editors unanimously decided to strike Moonves and add Ronan Farrow on the principle that it was his expose detailing a dozen women's stories of being harassed or assaulted by Moonves that cause the former CBS exec to be removed.
As Page Six points out, Moonves is not alone. (The tab also notes that in an ironic, if unfortunate, twist, when THR asked Moonves as part of his 2017 interview whose job he'd most like to have for a day, his reply was Charlie Rose, who has since also been accused of sexual impropriety and let go.)
Producer Brett Ratner, former chief creative officer of Walt Disney Animation and Pixar John Lasseter and the former president of Amazon Studios, Roy Price, were also all scrapped in the 2018 list following sexual harassment scandals, according to Page Six. CNN reports Ratner denied the allegations lodged against him, Lasseter apologized before leaving Pixar and Price never commented publicly on those against him.
Farrow, meanwhile, made No. 100 on the list.
"The list reflects the profound change that Hollywood has undergone over the past year," THR edirorial director Matthew Belloni recently told CNN. "There were people who were on the list last year and are not this year specifically due to the #MeToo movement."
Asked about the ousted execs at a premiere for her new documentary last week, Jane Fonda offered this small piece of advice, according to Page Six: "Oh, poor top-paid executive who can't get his job back. F— it! Sweep the floor at Starbucks until you learn. If you can't learn, you don't belong in the boardroom … There are plenty of women who do belong in the boardroom."