The Banker Didn’t Bank on This Development
The Banker, the latest Progressive fantasy about African American empowerment has been pulled from distribution and competition at the film festivals at the end of this year—and out of Oscar contention because, of, well…this from the trades:
Apple has delayed the release of its upcoming movie The Banker because of sexual assault claims against Bernard Garrett, Jr., the son of one of the film’s main subjects, Bernard Garrett, Sr.
Whoops.
I don’t think any of that made the trailer below:
This is what happens when the Wizards of Social Commentary don’t vet their subjects because, as long as the appropriate box is checked, well you’re ok.
Right, Tim Cook?
Apple TV+ Didn’t Bank on This Either
Of course, if they had done their research, they might have found out about the allegations, which apparently were common knowledge.
From the trades, yet again:
Cynthia and Sheila Garrett, half-sisters of Bernard Garrett Jr., both say they were sexually molested over the course of a few years in the 1970s. Garrett Jr. was listed as a co-producer on The Banker and intended to be one of the faces of the movie, appearing at industry events to represent the project.
Now it’s not clear if the son—Bernard Garrett, Jr.—was the one doing the molesting of the half-sisters, or if the father, Bernard Garrett, Sr., had knowledge of the abuse or not, but, according to the trades:
The sisters made the claim in connection with separate allegations that the timeline of the film was tweaked in order to leave the girls and their mother out of the story and instead feature Bernard Garrett Sr.’s first wife, even though he had already divorced her by the time of some of the events depicted in the film.
Huh.
And the producers, the writers, and everyone involved who should have been paying attention to this allegation were “caught by surprised.”
Ok.
It Goes Without Saying….
Molestation is a serious allegation and when you add the potential for an incest angle, the allegation becomes something that should be investigated and vetted.
But, while I might buy that Apple didn’t know—they are just the distributors of The Banker—I’m not buying that the producers, the director George Nolfi (The Adjustment Bureau), and that others close to the actual creation of the product, didn’t have some wind of this.
Stay tuned, Goblin.
