Anita Jacoby speaks out on Rolf Harris grope
“That wasn’t a hug, that was a grope!” former Enough Rope producer recalls, after Rolf Harris interview.
- Published by David Knox
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Anita Jacoby, former Enough Rope exec producer, is the latest to detail an incident with Rolf Harris.
Jacoby was filming an interview with Andrew Denton and Harris in London in 2005 in for two hours.
But as she writes in The Australian today:
He came over and almost immediately said: “I need a hug!” Before there was time to respond, his arms enveloped me and I was drawn into an intimate bear hug. What was particularly offensive was the way he pulled my lower body in to his crotch area so that we were touching.
As I recoiled, pushing him away, I said loudly: “That wasn’t a hug, that was a grope!”
There was no apology, no remorse. Nothing. He simply looked away as if it hadn’t happened, started talking to Andrew — who looked more than a little surprised at what had just transpired — and never looked at or spoke to me again.
Harris had previously enjoyed much success with Andrew Dention’s The Money or the Gun, releasing his own version of Led Zeppelin’s ‘Stairway to Heaven.’
On the weekend News Corp journalist Annette Sharp also published a photograph of a hug with Harris when she was a teenager.
In the UK former TV presenter Vanessa Feltz, 52, now claims Harris inched up her leg and put his hand inside the elastic of her knickers in front of millions of viewers while she was interviewing him live on The Big Breakfast.
She claimed in the Sunday Express that Harris attacked her while she was was filming the ‘On The Bed’ section of the show in May 1996 – and while his wife Alwen was in the room.
Miss Feltz said she noticed “a rustling” at the hem of her dress and felt Harris’ hand creeping up her leg.
Irish singer Linda Nolan claimed she was just 15 and on tour with her sisters when Harris groped her breasts in a corridor.
The star, 55, said she was in a dressing gown and was on her way to get ready for a performance when the disgraced entertainer pounced on her backstage at the concert in South Africa in 1975.
Harris, 84, was sentenced to 5 years, 9 months prison on Friday but Britain’s attorney-general has been asked to consider whether the prison sentence is too lenient.
Additional source: Yahoo
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- Tagged with Enough Rope, The Big Breakfast, The Money or the Gun
6 Responses
I bet that he isn’t alone here.There are many dirty old men in the “business’ and hope that what has happened to him, will bring out more stories of those still in the industry sitting back probably shaking in their boots now.For those who wonder why these women did not come forward,it’s very simple to me.They thought it was just them being groped,harassed,abused,never thinking that the pattern continued to the extent that it did.I’m very sure that those who helped him on set that worked with him on more than one occasion would have known, but what would they do? Nobody would have believed them.This is an industry that is known for cutting you off if you say damning things about certain stars and most women would have known their jobs would have been on the line if they spoke,as terrible as that sounds,it’s the truth.This is guy was treated like a god by most and he knew it, and…
Harris is disgusting. He has no respect for women, his wife or himself. My only regret is that I paid money to see him 30 years ago. I hope the civil case gets up and he loses his fortune. He should not get parole. He knew what he was doing. As a bloke, father and husband I am sickened. To the ladies he mistreated you have my support.
He’s just disgusting and I hope that his sentence is increased because I feel it is far too lenient.
It is a great shame that none of the women who are coming forward said anything at the time. Did they not have a boss, parent, friend or partner who they could confide in and be urged to make a formal complaint? Or was it hushed up if they did raise it? I am not trying to victim blame here, these women and girls should not have been abused like that but what does it say about our society that this man was allowed to continue his activities for so long. I hope that these days people feel more confident about speaking up about any abuse or ill treatment they suffer. Perhaps these high profile cases will encourage other victims to seek justice and support. It is also educating everyone that these crimes are not bound by time, people who I know who suffered abuse as children have expressed…
Clearly, Rolf was indeed a dirtbag. Though it’s interesting that so many women are coming out to righteously condemn him now. Apparently none of them did anything to curb his behaviour at the time it occurred, even though those with high-profile on-air jobs were clearly in a position to make enough of a fuss to put RH in his place, however temporarily, and possibly protect women further down the power ladder with less clout. Without ever naming Harris, Vanessa Feltz has told the story of the household name who groped her on chat shows and in print over several years. Only to start with it was just a “naughty” anecdote, told primarily for entertainment value. But now she’s a victim too, speaking out in support of others – the women she actually did nothing to protect when she could have.
Reading this article, it seems Rolf was behaving like characters in a Benny Hill show. Why didn’t someone reel him in or compile evidence against him at a much younger age. It may have prevented many further offences. I know the 60s/70s were somewhat more permissive and media types seemed to have failed to understand boundaries. But there have always been boundaries and consent has always been required before folk indulge in anything, and there has always been age thresholds.
So wrong
What a disgusting dirtbag he was. Apparently this kind of thing is rife in the media. I bet a few highpowered media personalites are probably quaking in their boots today, terrified of exposure. Lets hope its the beginning of a long needed change of culture, not just in the media but everywhere.