Usher and I used to be in a relationship. It was around 2007 and lasted for probably a year. My 5-year-old self was watching an MTV performance of Usher singing his hit song “Yeah!” and I was mesmerized. I thought he had the most beautiful voice and swaggiest dance moves.

“That’s my boyfriend,” I said with a straight face. My mom looked at me in disbelief. My dad, on the other hand, was fuming. “NO HE’S NOT. HE’S TOO OLD FOR YOU AND YOU DON’T NEED NO BOYFRIEND.” I argued with him for a good five minutes and my mom, who eventually thought the whole thing was hilarious, joined me in arguing against my dad. We came to the conclusion that Usher was indeed my man and my dad couldn't do anything to stop this reality.

This became a running joke in my family for years. Everytime Usher would release new music my mom would chuckle and say “Remember when you swore he was your boyfriend?” And I would proudly say “Yep!” because what girl didn’t have a crush on their favorite celebrity?

A decade later my dream boyfriend was accused of sexual battery and fraud. At this point, I was 12 years old and celebrities being accused of sexual misconduct was not surprising. If anything, it was normalized since our own president was being called out for his inappropriate actions. Quantasia Sharpton accused Usher claimed that he knowingly had sex with her despite having the incurable disease, herpes. Sharpton dropped her case in 2019, but in 2012 he paid an unnamed woman $1.1 million for a similar allegation.

In 2021, I took an interest in the entertainment industry. I moved to Los Angeles for college and was ready to experience the Hollywood I saw in movies. I wanted to be a red-carpet journalist who got invited to high profile events and could ask celebrities about their work. And I did that.

In 2021, I took an interest in the entertainment industry. I moved to Los Angeles for college and was ready to experience the Hollywood I saw in movies. I wanted to be a red-carpet journalist who got invited to high profile events and could ask celebrities about their work. And I did that.

Fashion Week 2024

I started going to smaller red carpet events and networking with artists, producers, filmmakers or anyone that would talk to me. But then I started to see the environment that I put myself in. Men would leer and brush their hands on my body. They would feel the need to compliment my physique and not my work ethic. It was uncomfortable and disappointing. Yet, I saw women facing the same treatment that would continue to interact with these men because of the potential opportunity it could bring. I realized that this is what Hollywood really is. It’s a battle between pushing your boundaries and making connections.

Inappropriate conduct is something that has existed in the entertainment industry since its creation. Dozens upon dozens have come forward throughout the years accusing their coworkers of assault, harassment and various crimes. As a result, a social movement for sexual abuse awareness gained traction and became a nationwide phenomenon. Yet, many are still afraid to come forward with their story out of fear it will jeopardize their lives and dreams. The question stands if future generations of artists will suffer from the same hostile environment.

A 21 year old singer/songwriter and model agreed to speak with me anonymously about her experience in the industry. Her connection to music and art started when she was a child. Her career kicked off when she came to Los Angeles where she’s released several songs and modeled for various designers including at LA Fashion Week.

As a young woman in the industry, she said she has experienced the sexism that comes with trying to find success in a male-dominated field. Networking proved to be difficult when others seemed to only see her as an object.

“There [were] some instances where I've been invited to places [that] I assumed was off of my merit of being a musician,” the singer said. “Then realiz[ed] that I [was] only there to fit the purpose of being an attractive woman in a space for more aesthetic purposes.”

She recounts a time in 2023 where a man came to her under the pretenses of a business deal. She went to an LA music industry event and this man approached her for a potential job collaboration. They decided to swap information and the man proceeded to text her.

However, the messages quickly went from business opportunity to weird. She showed me screenshots of the thread where one text read “I’m very attracted to you.” Months later he asked her out on a date and then the messages grew more inappropriate as time went on. He alluded to performing sexual acts on himself to thoughts of her and even asked her for sex in exchange for money. The singer said she never responded to a single message.

“It's my main goal to try and make inner industry changes,” the singer said. “There's been so many times when I've had a bad experience and I've wanted to completely get out of both industries and just quit, because it's so flawed. But I have to remind myself of the good experiences that I have, and that if I quit, then that means that I can't change it.”

Courtesy/Robert Borg

Robert “Bobby” Borg is a man of many accolades. He’s a music industry professor at USC, founder of Bobby Borg Consulting, and an author of several published books about music business and marketing. But before all of this, he was an artist. Borg was a drummer for more than 25 years, most notably for the glam metal band “Warrant.”

For Borg, music was his whole life. He grew up surrounded by music and art because of his father who was a fashion designer making custom tailored suits for businesspeople. His dad always played music around the house which attracted the attention of young Bobby who entertained himself by trying to keep the beats and rhythms.

“At a very young age, I decided that I wanted to be a professional drummer of all things,” Borg said, who was living in Princeton, New Jersey at the time. Famous musicians like Blondie, The Ramones and Bruce Springsteen often performed in local clubs and bars in Jersey and Borg attributes many of his morals and values as a musician to these artists. “They kind of brought me [into] this innocent understanding of the music industry,” he said. “Like, just practice and get really good and just love your craft [and] it’s all gonna fall into place.”

It was that mindset that got him through years of studying music and preparing to face the industry. Borg thought he was ready for the big leagues — until he moved to New York. “There were times when I sort of felt that you were playing a game, you know?” Borg said. “And [the] more willing you are to play the game, [maybe more] opportunities would present themselves.”

Borg described experiences that he labels as “nothing horrible,” but also recognizes as uncomfortable situations similar to what many women talk about. He describes how older women who worked in senior positions of his record label would constantly make comments about his appearance. Sometimes these comments were paired with touching his body in some way. For example, one woman encouraged another to feel Borg’s legs and exclaimed “he’s [been] working out”.

Another instance was how he felt that a particular group of female journalists was dangling opportunities of magazine shoots and positive publicity in his face as long as he was receptive to their advances. Specifically, he was recruited for a shoot where they requested him to take his shirt off and do poses that he believed were more for their enjoyment and not for the magazine. A reporter was not able to verify the claim.

Borg explained how in his generation, guys would play off the blatant objectification as a joke and not let it bother them as much. If anything they would try to use the attention in their favor. Now, he realizes how inappropriate the situation really was and people in the industry would use their power to target newer artists that just wanted to succeed.

“You know, people prey on people that are desperate,” Borg said.

Imbalanced power dynamics is a common script for sexual harassment cases. In fact, 72% involve a harasser that holds a more senior position. One case that depicts this is Kesha v Dr. Luke. Kesha accused him of sexual assault and abuse in 2014. Dr. Luke discovered the singer in 2005 and signed her to his record label in September. A month later is when the alleged rape happened at birthday party in Hollywood Hills. According to the lawsuit, Luke gave Kesha GHB, a date-rape drug that, when mixed with alcohol, can cause nausea, vomitting, difficulty breathing and make people lose consciousness. Both parties reached a settlement in 2023 for a sum that has not been disclosed to the public.

Joe Poindexter knows a lot about how the industry can leech off of that desperation. After all, the artists who are being accused were once new to the industry too.

“What I try to tell people is ‘Do you know what you’re signing up for?’” he said. Poindexter works as the chief communications officer and executive vice president of digital at PULSE Music Group. The company offers publishing, management and music services and lists a lengthy roster of high profile clients.

“Sometimes people just aren't able to embrace fame and understand what fame is, and feel like they have to pretend to look a certain way or to do a certain thing, because they feel like they've developed that expectation,” he said. “And in those instances, the vulnerability of somebody not being prepared for whatever that is can come out negative.”

Poindexter said that he experienced a time where misogyny was at its highest level. He describes the executives that ran this era of the industry as “megalomaniacs and sociopaths…below-type people”. He witnessed a client hire people to give out backstage passes to women in the audience. Each pass would have a color: orange, red and yellow. These people would find “good-looking” girls and bring them to green rooms where artists would take their picks.

“The band would literally, like, look through a glass and kind of point out girls. Like, I like this one. I want this one. This one. This one. And so there was a sense of these very young, innocent girls. I don't know if they were underage, but regardless, you know, they became picked, selected…The guys weren't there to just say hello and take pictures with everyone.”

For Poindexter, crisis management plays a major role. Artists make mistakes like anyone else. But, because of their fame, their mistakes pack a heavier punch. “[I]mperfection is fine when no one knows who you are,” he said. “It's much more difficult when it comes to people who invested in your talent.”

Thomas Mesereau also believed that artists carry a heavier burden, if anything, their fame makes them a target because of their money and status. Mesereau is an attorney and was admitted to the State Bar of California in 1979. He started his own firm—Mesereau Law Group—in 1992 where defended members of the two main California gangs, Crips and Bloods. Mesereau told UC Hastings Law that he rejects the assumption that he’s anti-police or pro-criminal. Simply, he believes that the justice system is flawed and that not every police officer reflects what the system is supposed to be.

Mesereau has defended some of the biggest names in American entertainment as well. In 2001, he was asked to serve as legal counsel for former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson. Tyson was accused of rape by a woman from San Bernandino County and had already served prison time for a different rape conviction. After Mesereau provided his investigative report to prosecutors decided to not file charges against Tyson.

Mesereau also defended actor Robert Blake against charges that he murdered his wife. The attorney was able to get Blake released on bail which, according to the attorney’s law firm, “[is] the first (and only) time bail had been granted in a case of murder with special circumstances in California over the prosecution’s objection”. Blake’s case is what thrusted Mesereau into the spotlight and increased his popularity amongst celebrity clients.

Most notably, he defended Michael Jackson in 2005 after Jackson was accused of child molestation. Mesereau was the lead lawyer on the case and Jackson was acquitted on all counts—10 felonies and four lesser included misdemeanors. “I sat there five days a week with him, listening to false allegations, listening to concocted testimony, listening to exaggerated testimony,” Mesereau said. “And my job was to defend him as best I could and expose the lies and exaggerations…and we successfully did that.”

False accusations are what Mesereau believes is a common threat to entertainers, especially under the guise of the national social and awareness campaign, #MeToo. “The MeToo movement is a very important movement in our society,” Mesereau said. “We needed a MeToo movement to try and bring justice to situations where it typically didn’t exist, but [it] has gone too far.” He believes that the movement has made it too easy for people to falsely accuse others or even convince themselves that a crime was done upon them when it was not. He uses the example of a person who touches the shoulder of another person. He explains that the second person might not appreciate that contact, but it does not mean that it’s something as extreme as attempted murder.

Research shows that 2-8% of sexual assault crimes are false reports. In this case, false reports are defined as having evidence that shows no crime was committed or attempted after a thorough investigation. Mesereau describes it as a blatant falsehood or exaggerated reality. He says the main reason for this is greed. However, despite the small amount of false reports, any accusation can ruin an entertainer’s reputation and it’s difficult to repair. “It’s not easy,” Mesereau said. “We have public relations professionals who are experts in rehabilitating images and reputations that have been damaged. It’s a hard road, but it’s doable.

Freelance journalist Mallory Carra experienced this challenge first-hand when she needed to contact publicists for her stories. Many abandoned their clients. “A lot of other publicists just stayed quiet… throughout the rest of [the] MeToo [movement],” Carra said. “I think for a lot of the men who were affected, their publicists dropped them so fast that sometimes [it] was a challenge just to find a publicist for them.

On the other hand, some publicists represent their clients to the end. In 2020, Carra was tasked with writing a post about the new season of “The Ranch”, a show that starred Danny Masterson as the character ‘Rooster’. Coincidentally, Masterson was also represented by Mesereau when the actor was first arrested and accused in 2020.

Carra had reached out to Masterson’s publicist to inquire about if the actor would appear in the new season of the show and said she was careful not to bring up the allegations he was facing. She received angry and defensive responses. So much so, that she needed to involve her editors to stop the constant pushback.

Regardless of who you are, the culture of the industry reflects the culture of our society. If we want to uncorrupt Hollywood, we must face the horrors of society first.

Lawsuits continue to plague the entertainment industry today. One of the biggest cases that has taken over the internet involves Sean Combs “aka” Diddy. With this increased interest in the corruption within the industry, there comes a blanket of uncertainty for future artists, entertainers and fans.

“What has happened since [the MeToo movement]? Or is it over? Has it evolved? I still think it's really important to tell those stories to make sure people feel heard,” Carra said as advice to future entertainment journalists. “[It’s] part of the media's mission is to help people to amplify voices that are not often heard, to find lesser known stories, to keep powering momentum forward. And I think Hollywood could always use that.”

“You gotta be careful,” Mesereau said in his advice to future artists. “Be careful of your behavior. Be careful of who’s recording you…and be careful of people trying to put you in a false situation.”

Regardless of who you are, the culture of the industry reflects the culture of our society. If we want to uncorrupt Hollywood, we must face the horrors of society first.