Street Artists Call Out Alleged #MeToo Perpetrators On LA Theater Marquees
In the dark of night, some unusual new marquees were put up on several Los Angeles movie theaters — and not by late shift theater employees.
The anonymous artists of street art collective Indecline hit the New Beverly, the Nuart, and the Palace Theatre with signs that included the names of men whose names have come to light thanks to the #MeToo movement.
Those include some who've denied the claims against them, such as Scott Baio and Woody Allen (who issued denials both before and after #MeToo began), and others who've disputed some of the details of those allegations, such as Harvey Weinstein. Michael Douglas, whose name is up on a billboard, also spoke out ahead of allegations against him to deny they were true.
The signs also included dark parodies of the names of films by directors who have been accused as part of #MeToo.
A marquee put up by street art group Indecline at the New Beverly. (Courtesy Indecline)
"The design was to help disrupt what we're calling Hollywood's conspiracy of silence surrounding the Me Too movement," a representative for Indecline told LAist, "and particularly protecting the patriarchy, the leaders of the industry — whether it's a Weinstein or some of the bigger actors, directors involved in these allegations."
The representative declined to be identified by name due to the group's unauthorized activities.
The group scouted locations a few weeks ago, wanting to do something ahead of awards season — thus their video, "For Your Consideration," which shows them putting up the new marquees. It was put up on social media Wednesday after they went to work overnight, finishing up around 3 a.m.
A marquee put up by street art group Indecline at the Nuart. (Indecline)
The group also wanted to go beyond just the alleged perpetrators, but also those who they see as helping to enable the culture that enabled their behavior, according to their representative.
"Someone like [Quentin] Tarantino, who we felt was culpable just because he decided to turn his back on what Weinstein did for so many years," their representative said.
That included making what they saw as a hard choice for a liberal organization, going after those on their same side politically.
"It's really easy to — and I think this goes for a lot of people on the liberal side of things — to cry foul and get all up in arms when the Proud Boys are acting up, or there's racial issues happening over in the South," their rep said. "These are obvious battles to fight, but there was something to be said about this one, when it was Quentin Tarantino and various actors and producers who have been responsible for some of the things that have, quite frankly, inspired us to do what we do."
A marquee put up by street art group Indecline at the Palace Theatre in downtown L.A. (Courtesy Indecline)
Indecline has been around since 2001, with high-profile projects including naked statues of President Donald Trump. The group's members, largely based on the West Coast, have backgrounds in graffiti and video production.
"And then we have dozens of people we work with all over the country," Indecline's rep said, "whether those are welders, or people who can rappel — whatever the case may be."
Indecline doesn't assume that people know everything about the stories they're covering, their rep said.
"One of the first things we want to do is just send a gut check — kick in a door with some sort of a visual or metaphorical wake-up call," their rep said, "to get people talking, and to get them engaged. And if they're inspired, that's great. We want to hope that these things can get people active."
The group works to keep the issues it cares about in the news, even when the news cycle has moved on.
Other issues that the group has sought to address include environmental issues and police brutality. Another project they did previously included putting the names of alleged victims of police brutality onto stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Members of the group were in Hollywood for a different project, their rep said, and were half-joking about names not represented on those Walk of Fame stars.
"The names that aren't listed on this revered stretch of sidewalk, and how there are people that should be celebrated or remembered," their rep said.
So they put those names down to send the message that those were the names that should be focused on.
The group is considering other awards season projects in some other format.
A marquee put up by street art group Indecline at the New Beverly. (Courtesy Indecline)
Indecline has some sympathy for theater employees — their representative said they brought their own letters for the marquees, and set aside those belonging to the theaters for them to find when they showed up the next morning.
They aren't announcing where they'll strike next, but several of their pieces — including one of those Trump statues — is up for sale tonight in auction house Julien's Street and Contemporary Art auction.