Lily Allen has shared her take on the rise of the #MeToo movement, admitting she’s not convinced it’s had an effect in the real world.
The ‘Trigger Bang’ singer questioned what had kind of change had been sparked by the movement, acknowledging that while it had sparked a global conversation about sexual misconduct, she didn’t feel that enough action had been taken against those accused.
During a conversation with Vice, reporter Sam Wolfson commented that celebrities’ support of the #MeToo movement had “enacted a big amount of change”, to which Lily questioned: “Has it? Who’s been arrested? Who’s gone to jail?”
She continued: “If Harvey Weinstein had been accused of murdering 52 people, he would be in jail by now. He’s not.
“Either we have to be honest about what we deem as being acceptable on a human level, and we need to start punishing it as such, or we just need to stop.”
Lily added: “When people started talking about the Me Too stuff, what I saw was a lot of men going, ‘not me, I don’t behave like that’, when a lot of men that I do know do behave like that.
“I’ve pulled them up on it, nobody’s done anything. Do you know what I mean? They haven’t changed their behaviour. None of my peers have picked them up on it either.
“It just doesn’t seem to be [taken] that serious. Nobody’s changing. Everybody’s going, ‘this has happened to me, this is really awful’... what’s happening as a result? Like, oh there’s some public shaming going on… that doesn’t change any of what’s happened.”
When asked whether she felt “hopeful” that a societal change was coming, Lily said: “No, I don’t. I don’t think that it’s, like, on Trump’s agenda, or whoever’s going to take over from Theresa May’s agenda. I just don’t think it’s a priority.”
The #MeToo movement came in the wake of allegations of sexual harassment against a number of key figures in the entertainment industry, most notably film mogul Harvey Weinstein.
Weinstein has repeatedly denied all accusations of what he has dubbed “non-consensual sex”.
Lily Allen is currently gearing up for the release of her upcoming fourth album, ‘No Shame’, which drops later this year.
Watch her full Vice interview above.