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NEW YORK (AP) — Arguably the biggest thing that came from Hollywood this year wasn't a movie or a TV show. It had heroines and villains, but no script. And it went viral despite having no big publicity machinery behind it.
The women who initially spoke out against sexual misconduct in Hollywood this fall — inspiring millions to tell their own stories of harassment and illegality on social media — have been named The Associated Press Entertainers of the Year, voted by members of the news cooperative and AP entertainment reporters.
The wave of sexual misconduct allegations that have stretched across the country to fell prominent TV figures, chefs, journalists, entertainers, politicians and publishers was also named the top news story of 2017 in an AP poll .
The reckoning began in early October when a bombshell New York Times article revealed decades of sexual harassment against women — employees and actresses, including actress Ashley Judd — by movie mogul Harvey Weinstein. The New Yorker also revealed other allegations against Weinstein.
Within days, a #MeToo movement was born and the allegations have been felt at the venerable "Today" show with the ouster of Matt Lauer to the film "All the Money in the World" from which Kevin Spacey was erased. Louis C.K. was abandoned by Netflix, FX, HBO and his new movie was abandoned just days before its premiere.
The accusations have reverberated into the kitchens of chef Mario Batali, at PBS, where Tavis Smiley and Charlie Rose were dropped. It reached into the venerable New York's Metropolitan Opera, where longtime conductor James Levine was suspended, and the Def Jam empire, where Russell Simmons stepped down. The allegations also knocked a senator from Congress, with Al Franken resigning.
Others who received votes this year for Entertainer of the Year were Jimmy Kimmel, Gal Gadot, Kendrick Lamar and Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee, among others.
Previous AP Entertainer of the Year winners have included Lin-Manuel Miranda, Adele, Taylor Swift, Jennifer Lawrence, Lady Gaga, Tina Fey and Betty White.
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This story has been corrected to reflect that Charlie Rose was dropped from PBS.
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Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits
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