Jeffrey Epstein-linked French modelling agent accused of harassment

A lawsuit has been filed in Paris by a woman against a French modelling agent who had been close to ill-reputed US financier Jeffrey Epstein of sexual harassment. The Paris prosecutor's office released a statement on October 17, saying that the female is being interrogated by investigators on the complaint she filed against the agent named Jean-Luc Brunel. The identity of the woman has not been released by the officer citing the privacy of the victim. The agent has been a close ally of Epstein who committed suicide while he was at a Manhattan jail in the middle of his trial on sex-trafficking charges. The French officials have searched the offices of his agency named Karin Models in the month of September as a probe into potential Epstein victims in France. The lawyer of the accused at the beginning of this month said that he dismisses any such allegation on his client, but he is ready to speak to the judiciary on it as reported by foreign media. 

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Alleged Sexism By Television Academy

In another incident coming up from another part of the world, Mindy Kaling recently spoke about the alleged sexism by Television Academy that organises the Emmy Awards. She opened up on the sensitive issue at an interview where she spoke about the time when she worked at the NBC hit sitcom The Office. She said, "They made me, not any of the other producers, fill out a whole form and write an essay about all my contributions as a writer and a producer." She added, "I had to get letters from all the other male, white producers saying that I had contributed when my actual record stood for itself".

The 40-year-old actor had been nominated for 6 Emmy awards. Five of those were for producing the show and one was for penning it down. Her show won five awards in total and got 38 nominations for various categories. The Emmy award organizers responded to her claims by issuing a statement in their defence. The Television Academy said, "No one person was singled out. ... Every performer/producer and writer/producer was asked to justify their producer credits. We no longer require this justification from performer/producers and writer/producers, but we do continue to vet consulting producer credits with the [Producers Guild of America] to ensure those credited are actually functioning in the role as a producer."  

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(With inputs from agencies)