Barry Diller Has Interesting Take on #MeToo Era: 'All Men Are Guilty'

A penny for billionaire Barry Diller’s thoughts.

The Expedia and IAC chairman divulged a lot more of his private thoughts than usual in a wide-reaching interview with The New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd. After proclaiming his hatred of President Trump and the current political environment, the questioning turned towards the effect of the #MeToo movement in Hollywood and elsewhere.

That’s where Diller said he could see a major change in the relationship between people in his own companies. Case in point, a recent complaint made by a woman who complained that a boss asked her to have a drink at a recent convention. The resulting ethics debate was not cut and dried.

“The end result of that is a guy, let’s presume he is heterosexual, and his boss, heterosexual, and guy asks guy for a drink and they go have a drink and they talk about career opportunities,” said Diller. “And the boss says, ‘Oh, this is a smart guy. I’m promoting him.’ A woman now cannot be in that position. So all these things are a-changin’.

“God knows, I’m hardly a sociologist. But I hope in the future for some form of reconciliation. Because I think all men are guilty. I’m not talking about rape and pillage. I’m not talking about Harveyesque. I’m talking about all of the spectrum. From an aggressive flirt. Or even just a flirty-flirt that has one sour note in it. Or what I think every man was guilty of, some form of omission in attitude, in his views. A

“Are we really going to have only capital punishment? Because right now, that’s what we have. You get accused, you’re obliterated. Charlie Rose ceases to exist.”