As Academy President John Bailey Faces Sexual Harassment Allegations, the Industry Group Plunges into Its Own Game of Thrones

When the film Academy created new procedures for handling claims of misconduct in January, its move came on the tailwinds of Harvey Weinstein’s ignominious exit from the industry. No one envisioned that the first test case for those procedures would come from the Academy’s very own Wilshire Boulevard boardroom.

But that is the awkward situation in which the Academy now finds itself, after three allegations of sexual misconduct involving its president, cinematographer John Bailey, came into the group’s membership hotline on March 14, according to Variety. (Neither Bailey’s agent nor his attorney responded to Vanity Fair’s calls for comment).

According to three sources with knowledge of the allegations against Bailey, the incidents do not involve activities he undertook while Academy president. Bailey’s forceful comments at the Oscar nominees luncheon in February suggest that he, at least, did not see himself as someone with skeletons in his closet. “I may be a 75-year-old white male, but I’m every bit as gratified as the youngest of you here that the fossilized bedrock of many of Hollywood’s worst abuses are being jackhammered into oblivion,” Bailey said then.

In January, when the Academy announced its new rules, its CEO, Dawn Hudson, sent an email to members that assured, “The Academy’s goal is not to be an investigative body, but rather ensure that when a grievance is made, it will go through a fair and methodical process.” In the case of Bailey, however, it’s hard to imagine how the group could be expected to handle this fairly. Though the Academy has more than 7000 members, it is actually run by a few dozen very involved people—like a P.T.A. where the same six parents plan every bake sale.

The Academy committee entrusted with determining the merits of the allegations against Bailey is headed by casting director David Rubin, who lost the election for Academy president to Bailey last August by a narrow margin. Under the new rules, if Rubin’s committee determines the matter is serious enough, they will refer it to the Academy’s board of governors, upon which both Bailey and his wife, editor Carol Littleton, sit. (The Academy declined to comment on whether Littleton and Bailey will be asked to recuse themselves from that discussion).

Still with me? Here’s where things get really Byzantine: Rubin was Hudson’s preferred candidate when her first choice for Academy president, Laura Dern, opted not to run for the position. Some board members voted for Bailey over Rubin in part because they believed Bailey would provide a necessary check on Hudson’s power. Since she became CEO in 2011, Hudson has been a polarizing figure, drawing criticism both for her management of Academy finances and for pushing uncomfortable change, such as recent inclusion initiatives.

There’s also something eyebrow-raising about the manner in which the allegations came to light. Three arrived on the same day, suggesting the accusers decided to hold hands and jump together—which is not unusual. (It’s what happened in the Weinstein case.) But the allegations also arrived 10 days after the Oscars, the event that generates the vast majority of the Academy’s income and shapes its public identity—suggesting that the accusers wanted to impact Bailey, but also to protect the organization which he heads.

None of this tells us whether Bailey is or isn’t guilty of some sort of misconduct, and so far he has not commented—though according to the Hollywood Reporter, this week he hired an attorney, David Schindler. The Academy itself has not commented beyond its March 16 statement, which read, “The Academy treats any complaints confidentially to protect all parties. The Membership Committee reviews all complaints brought against Academy members according to our Standards of Conduct process, and after completing reviews, reports to the Board of Governors. We will not comment further on such matters until the full review is completed.”

Back in December, when the group was weighing its new policies, Academy governor Bill Mechanic was the rare holdout against instituting such rules. “This should be left to the companies people work for and to the police,” Mechanic said then, speaking of theoretical sexual harassment allegations. Now that the Academy has moved from theory to reality, it is worth asking whether the new policies, however well intentioned, might be misused. The Academy is right to want to rid itself of harassers—and if indeed Bailey falls into that group, he should go. But the task of determining that truth should probably fall to someone well outside the Academy's tiny, incestuous circle.

The next scheduled board meeting, which is typically a post-mortem on the Oscar telecast, is March 27. So far, anyway, Bailey is expected to preside over the meeting as usual.

—Additional reporting by Nicole Sperling.

Get Vanity Fair’s HWD NewsletterSign up for essential industry and award news from Hollywood.Rebecca KeeganRebecca Keegan is a Hollywood Correspondent for Vanity Fair.