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Grey’s Anatomy’s Big #MeToo Moment Has Fans Divided

Shannon Carlin
27 April 2018, 14:20
Photo: Courtesy of ABC..
Last night, the #MeToo movement came to Grey’s Anatomy. The doctors of Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital realized that one of their most legendary surgeons, Harper Avery, was a sexual predator that ruined the careers of numerous women, and they actually did something about it. The doctors punished Avery by dissolving his foundation and renaming it in his daughter, Catherine Fox’s (Debbie Allen) name. It was the show’s way of toppling the patriarchy and perhaps, hinting at what real-life companies can do following allegations of sexual misconduct by powerful men. Fitting after this week’s news that some of these accused men are plotting their return to public life. While some applauded Grey’s for its Time’s Up take, not every fan thought justice was served and both sides were quick to make their opinions heard on Twitter.
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"If you want to rebuild, you have to tear it down first," Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) tells Jackson (Jesse Williams), the grandson of Harper Avery. To save the hospital and those who work there, they took action by publicly disavowing the surgeon and tearing down his legacy. In a statement Catherine delivers, she offers compensation by way of jobs to the 12 women whose careers had been sidelined by Avery’s harassment. Meredith and Jackson wrote the statement so that Catherine wouldn’t have to take the blame for her father’s misdeeds. “I’ll be damned if I’m gonna let my grandfather do to you what he did to all those women,” Jackson says.
In the statement, Catherine talks about the need for real systemic change to show that these men’s behavior will not be tolerated ever again. “We also make a solemn promise to give voice to those who were silenced,” her statement reads. “To listen to and to learn from every woman’s story.” I think Jackson and Meredith have a future in speechwriting, no?
It certainly impressed fans, who were bringing out one particular Meryl Streep GIF to show how much they supported this notion.
Not everyone thought justice was served, though, pointing out that Catherine was ultimately left off the hook for her role in protecting her father’s bad behavior. At first, Catherine’s lawyer even suggested not dissolving the foundation and instead attacking the women who had come out against him using the excuse "someone is going to take the fall." The lawyer just hoped that someone wouldn’t be Harper Avery.
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Reddit user japrilfan opined that Catherine “should have to pay some price because she helped cover up what HA was doing.” Adding, “Not only do those women get to suffer the trauma of sexual harassment/violence and lose the opportunity to win the highest honorable award in the medical field, but now they have to sit back and watch while the person who helped cover up their attacks and shut them up, rises to an even higher top?!”
That opinion wasn’t so unpopular, though. A fan on Twitter wrote that after watching the episode they couldn’t help but feel disappointed. “They busted their asses to save their own,” they wrote. “For all the women whose families did suffer, without a trust fund & private planes, cuz they stood up to predators what a smack in the face to see Catherine ‘the enabler’ get off the hook.”
The episode only talks about renaming the foundation, it still has to be changed. It will be interesting to see if anyone else at Grey Sloan Memorial pushes back against the new name and perhaps the foundation’s new namesake.
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