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Thousands of elite inner-city creatives are glued to their TVs this week, as they momentarily suspend their post-me-too mantra of #BelieveAllWomen and cheer on their thespian icon Geoffrey Rush as he goes to court against the newspapers that suggested he might be a creep.
The Oscar-winner is suing Nationwide News and journalist Jonathan Moran over stories published late last year he claims were defamatory.
The articles suggested Mr Rush behaved inappropriately towards a younger colleague during a Sydney Theatre Company (STC) production of King Lear in 2015-16.
As hundreds of high-profile figures across the world begin to be face the comeuppance for a lifetime of sleazing and abuses of power amongst female colleagues, Geoffrey Rush appears to be the first Australian to be accused and remain on the right side of history, in the eyes of the arts community.
Australia’s spirited theatre patrons are opting to enact ‘George Clooney blinkers’ and say they never knew, and couldn’t believe it.
“These allegations are very serious. I think we should be very careful before we condemn him” says one Balmain resident, Craig Burke (33).
“It’s not like he’s an NRL player… The Daily Telegraph can’t just go around writing things like that about people like Geoffrey”
Another staunch lover of films and the ABC, West End-based lino-printer Wyatt Elight (44) suggests there could be a bit of foul play behind the headlines.
“Who knows, someone might have an agenda, we all know the mainstream media are prejudice towards the Pirates Of The Caribbean franchise”
“First pistol and boo, and now this”
With a line of big names giving testimony on behalf of their close friend Rush, it appears the Hollywood star might be succesful in suing the Murdoch media yet. With the Australian theatre community dubbing the defamation case as ‘our OJ trial’.
“If the scrumptious comment was bullshit, you must acquit!” says another theatre loyalist, Merryl Thurman (44, Brunswick).
The Telegraph journalist has been described by Mr Rush’s lawyer, Bruce McClintock SC, as “a gossip columnist” who was “desperate for a story”.
