Cassie Jaye Receives Backlash In Australia For ‘The Red Pill’ Documentary
Former feminist Cassie Jaye has experienced a rash of backlash in Australia regarding her documentary, The Red Pill. Her appearance on Sunrise on 7 was no exception.
“I’ve never been treated like I was on Sunrise and also The Project… a lot of people don’t realize, my interview with The Project was heavily edited down,” she explained to Andrew Bolt of Australian news program The Bolt Report. The hosts of Sunrise on 7 immediately jumped in with accusations of how her documentary had been widely panned in Australia “for being anti-women.” The film was referred to as “misogynist propaganda” by the hosts of Australia’s Weekend Sunrise without having seen the film. Host Andrew O’Keefe asked Cassie why she focused on the views of “extreme misogynists.”
The host’s accusation that, “It just seems to me that you don’t really question their views,” was met with a swift and succinct rebuttal by Jaye.
“Did you see the film?” she asked.
The host claimed they “saw as much of it as they could.” Cassie later took to Twitter to show the emails where a link to the screener for the full film was sent out May 9, June 7, and Saturday, June 10, the day before the interview with Weekend Sunrise.
Found all the emails! PROOF @sunriseon7 was sent the @redpillmovie ONE MONTH in advance. Sent on May 9- AND on June 7- AND on June 10 by me! pic.twitter.com/sFMKKXgo6Q
— Cassie Jaye (@Cassie_Jaye) June 12, 2017
“For someone who hadn’t seen the film, Andrew O’Keefe, he had a lot of opinions about the film and adamantly hated the film, but he hadn’t seen it, so that’s that. That seems to be the going trend here in Australia with these petitions. People who are against this film who have never seen it and people who have seen it know that there’s nothing anti-feminist or anti-women about this film,” Cassie told Bolt.
The Red Pill documentary began as a simple exploration into the Men’s Rights Movement, which she and many other feminists often conflated with Pick Up Artists, Gamergate, and other unrelated or only tangentially related groups. While interviewing several Men’s Rights Activists during the making of the film, Cassie found herself reexamining her own ideas about gender equality.
“My full interview with them was very hostile and aggressive and on the attack, and I definitely felt ambushed. I’ve never been treated in any other press appearances like I have been on Sunrise and The Project,” she said.
Most recently Weekend Sunrise has been doing their best to suppress and censor online instances of the Cassie Jaye documentary, forcing Facebook to take it down after a deluge of critical comments relating to the fact that despite their protestations to the contrary, they were given multiple opportunities and ample time to review the film. The hot button issue and the controversial treatment of Cassie has resulted in a Change.org petition.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvLsslFEv7k
[Featured Image by Jaye Bird Productions]