Given the increase in testimonies and complaints towards public figures, the entertainment industry, for example, is increasingly paying more attention to the employment relationship and public image that one has with an artist when he is accused of sexual crimes, violence, assaults, discriminatory, racist and hateful comments or situations.
The lawyer and specialist, José Antonio Ávalos Gutiérrez, a professor at the Universidad Panamericana, explains various situations in how public figures and companies (television, radio, film, digital platforms and talent representation agencies) act when someone from their cast or the work team is immersed in a complaint both on social networks until it comes to court.
“In the case of public figures, from the labor perspective, there is the section on ‘Special jobs’, where there are specific rules to operate, but when it is a matter of harassment, harassment or some other reason of this type, it obviously follows the The same rule – applied – for other workers – from any other category -, which is a cause of labor termination, which in this case, the producer or television station can use to terminate an employment relationship with a public figure ”.
As a result of the #MeToo movement in Hollywood, mostly male actors, singers, producers and directors have been accused and denounced by relatives, romantic partners, colleagues from the union or from particular projects and by fans, for example, who have done Public situations of physical, sexual, emotional aggression and abuse of power, to such a degree that figures like Harvey Weinstein have been imprisoned and totally dissociated from active projects of large content creation companies.
“There are two perspectives, From the legal part in Mexico you are innocent until the opposite is shown. In social networks they can say anything about me or any public figure, and from this merely legal perspective I am innocent until proven otherwise. From the social, media and commercial part to a television It hits a lot to be promoting a work by someone that allegedly has to do with something bad, because the perception of the people is that the television station is encouraging the support of someone who is having a behavior that is not socially correct ”.
How do you proceed?
In recent years, the entertainment industry in Mexico has turned the spotlight on its own guts by seeing how the names and faces of popular public figures are brought to social and legal trials with enough impact to truncate a career or project in their life. whole.
Figures like youtuber Ricardo González (Rix) o Yoseline Hoffman (YosStop), the presenter Andres Roemer, actors like Eleazar Gomez, Ricardo Crespo, and recently Gonzalo Peña, suspended from the soap opera “What’s wrong with my family?” (from producer Juan Osorio), have been reported to the authorities for alleged sexual crimes, ranging from equated rape, abuse of power, dissemination / storage of unauthorized content and / or complicity, for example, which has led to different platforms, production companies and projects to terminate or suspend their employment and public relationship, as also happened with José Manuel “Chumel” Torres, who derived from a controversy over comments considered racist and discriminatory, his program “Chumel con Chumel” on HBO Latin America was suspended by the television.
“Is it advisable to stop the production of a project? The answer is it depends, because you have to know the contract in order to know what the television station obliges to and the economic impact of stopping a production due to a publication —for example— on social networks ”.
The specialist points out that the grounds for termination, to be able to fire a worker, have been in the labor law since 1970, but in the case of public figures and their contractors such as television stations, sometimes the part is not given as much weight before the public image that both parties represent among themselves and before the target audience.
“From a legal perspective, the public figure who considers that the fired is unfair, that they should not have fired him or suspended his project, evidently has an action or a lawsuit against the television who has decided (…) the public figure has a right before the labor courts to say that he was unjustifiably fired for an alleged publication of an alleged conduct he did, but which is not accredited. “
It adds that when the media follow up and give greater attention to the case of a famous person, they also have responsibility for the information that is shared and its origin and source, both for the victim and the accused, and thus avoid future lawsuits for defamation or moral damage. .
The use of social networks
The lawyer José Antonio Ávalos Gutiérrez states that reporting from social networks, prior to making a complaint to the corresponding authorities, can trigger various factors that, on the one hand, provide a greater voice, a massive network of support and tools for the victim and that the authorities attend or react quickly to the case, but it can also offer the same possibilities to the accused in the event of possible moral damage when the facts that are accused cannot be proven.
“In social networks, if I publish something against someone, obviously there is moral damage towards the victim as well as towards the public figure. If the public figure manages to prove that there was never any damage, that he never had a behavior of this type of which they are denouncing him, if during the trial it is found that it is not true that there was a subject of abuse, obviously there is moral damage towards the public figure and is able to demand moral damage from whoever exhibited it on social networks and there would have to be a repair of the damage ”.
It emphasizes that when an act of abuse jumps publicly and there are public figures involved and the media follow up, both the victim and the accused, the cases tend to be processed more quickly before the media of those involved: “The person being famous has more social impact on people and also the authorities are more profitable or profitable to make it known that they are doing their job well.”
The accessibility and immediacy with which you can jump to fame through digital platforms also implies new rules of the game for the person who aspires to be a public figure, because although there is no international legislation that regulates the dynamics of the Internet, each The platform begins to reinforce the criteria of its content to avoid being involved with reported users if there are no contracts or direct labor obligations.
Keep that in mind
If you feel in danger and / or suffered sexual or gender assault and wish to report, you can request legal advice, psychological support, medical service and social work care, for example, at the Justice Center for Women, located on the street Álvaro Alcázar 5869, Colonia Jardines Alcalde and by calling 3030-5450. Facebook: Justice Center for Women Jalisco and in fiscalia.jalisco.gob.mx
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