The Problem With Selena Gomez’s Huge Donation to “Time’s Up” Legal Fund

Selena Gomez cares about the “Times Up” and “Me Too” movement. She’s invested in it, and we know this because she made an Instagram statement about it. “It’s time to shift the balance in the workplace, from representing the few to representing us all. #TIMESUP @timesupnow,” she wrote. However, there’s seemed to be a disconnect between Selena’s concerned take on sexual harassment in the workplace and sexual harassment anywhere. And she’s not alone.

The complexity with this issue for Selena, at its core, is her involvement in the upcoming film directed by Woody Allen called A Rainy Day in New York. In 1992, Woody was investigated for accusations of child molestation by his adoptive daughter Dylan Farrow. While two different investigative agencies didn’t bring charges against Woody, the story has plagued his work and those who work with him.

Plenty of actors have regretted ever working with Woody, plenty of actors, however, stay silent. In a recent televised CBS interview, Dylan was asked: “Are you angry with the people, with the celebrities that are starring in his movies, that hold him in high regard and continue to compliment him?” Dylan replied “I’m not angry with them. I hope that, you know, especially since so many of them have been vocal advocates of this Me Too and Time’s Up movement that, um, they can acknowledge their complicity and maybe hold themselves accountable to how they have perpetuated this culture of – of silence in their industry.”

Recently, Greta Gerwig, director of Lady Bird, who starred in a 2012 Woody film, said: “If I had known then what I know now, I would not have acted in the film.”

Did Selena not know about the accusations against Woody, is that why she participated in A Rainy Day in New York? According to her own mother, Mandy Teefy, she did know.

In an Instagram post, Mandy replied to a commenter by saying: “No one can make Selena do anything she doesn’t want to. I had a long talk with her about not working with [Woody] and it didn’t click. Her team are amazing people. There is no fall person here. No one controls her. She makes all her own decisions. No matter how hard you try to advise. It falls on deaf ears.”

That’s a direct hit, and coming from her mother, I’m sure it stings even more.

That comment came on the same day that Selena’s co-stars from the upcoming Woody film, actors Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Hall and Griffin Newman all donated their salaries to charity. But again Selena remained silent. That is until now. According to People magazine Selena “‘made a significant donation anonymously‘ to the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund that ‘far exceeded her salary for the film.'”

The issue with this is simply with the word “anonymously.” How can it be anonymous and yet be public, and why can’t Selena just be public about it?  Silence is complicity, and not being completely honest and vocal about your stance is the same thing. Donating money, supposedly anonymously after your co-stars and your own mother basically threw you under the bus is a little too late in my book.

Justin Timberlake also starred in a Woody film just last year and yet he was at the Golden Globes wearing a Times Up pin. This is completely hypocritical.

We’ll just wait for that Selena apology that all actors make about working with Woody after the fact.