Despite the #MeToo movement, there are still a lot of hoops for women to jump through when it comes to accusing men of sexual harassment and assault. Matlock seems to be changing the narrative, and it offers hope for those who need to come forward with accusations.
In a world of he said, she said, there is often the stance of “let’s not rock the boat.” It leads to women not coming forward with reports, and in the end, people get away with the bad things they’ve done. Leah Lewis made a brave decision to come forward with claims, and Matlock swiftly looked into it all.
David Del Rio has been fired from Matlock
As many will have heard, David Del Rio has been fired from Matlock. Deadline was one of the publications to report the news, but I’m not here to rehash those details. I want to touch on the time frame, and the fact that these female-led shows are so important to help change the culture in the world of TV and movies.
The incident reportedly happened in Lewis’s trailer on Friday, Sept. 26. It was then reported on Thursday, Oct. 2. There may be some who question why it took Lewis a week to report something, but the truth is, it takes strength to do something like that. There are questions of whether people will believe you, and that can lead to questions of whether it’s even worth reporting. We have no idea if she talked with someone in that week, making the decision of whether it was worthy of being reported or not.
Whatever the reason, she reported it on Oct. 2, and the whole situation was handled on that day. Del Rio was investigated and removed from the set on that day. Usually, these sorts of investigations take weeks, and there’s often a lot of pressure to drop the accusations or discussions about the severity of it.
Clearly, if those in charge decided to fire Del Rio on that same day, it suggests that the accusations were valid and serious. In fact, executive producer Eric Christian Olsen escorted Del Rio off the premises, making it clear that he stands with Lewis.
There’s hopefully a change coming
With so many stories of women jumping through hoops and then being forced to remain silent, I’m so happy that Lewis didn’t have to do that. I can’t help but think that it’s because Matlock is a female-led show. Kathy Bates comes from a time when sexual harassment was just accepted, but that doesn’t mean she liked it or wanted that culture to continue.
She’s not the only one bringing change, though. Let me comment again that Olsen was the one to escort Del Rio off the premises. We need the men to stand up for what’s right, and Olsen is one who is doing that.
Also, nobody has held back on what happened and why he was fired. This hasn’t been brushed under the rug in the hope that it can be avoided or a career can be protected, and it’s time that this change happened as it’s the only way to make it clear that we can’t stand for sexual harassment in any workplace. Hopefully, Matlock can continue to bring this change.
Matlock airs on Thursdays at 9/8c on CBS.
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