Amber Tamblyn attempts to give James Woods a "teachable moment" via fierce open letter
Yesterday, we reported on the latest milestone in actor-turned-Twitter-troll James Wood’s descent into the sludge, when he offered up some typically unasked-for thoughts about Armie Hammer’s festival hit Call Me By Your Name. From high atop his Twitter pulpit, Woods denounced the film for centering on a relationship between a 17-year-old and a 24-year-old, with references to NAMBLA serving as a big part of his rhetorical strikes.
The actor seemed oblivious, though to the ways his moralizing might open him up to criticisms of his own dating proclivities, criticisms Twitter was happy to serve up in droves. Some people simply pointed to the 40-year-gap between Woods and many of his paramours. But the fiercest denunciation came from actress Amber Tamblyn, who recalled an incident 18 years prior, when Woods hit on her by inviting her to Las Vegas, and responded to protests that she was only 16 by declaring the idea, “Even better.”
Woods, being Woods, called Tamblyn a liar. But, sensing the dimmest possible hope that this might be a “teachable moment” for the veteran actor/online gargoyle, Tamblyn penned a powerful open letter to him via Teen Vogue today, laying out the details of the incident.
“Since you’ve now called me a liar, I will now call you a silencer,” Tamblyn writes. “I see your gaslight and now will raise you a scorched earth.” She goes on to describe the incident in-depth, as well as calling out the tide of predatory sexism that made moments like that one—and similar others, many of which seem to have also involved an older Woods and numerous young women in their teens and twenties—possible.
Not that Tamblyn—or anybody, really—expects Woods to actually read or think about her missive, since he’s got plenty of liberals to yell at and legal cases to gloat about. Still, at least we got a good piece of writing out of the whole thing, which is more than you can say for most of the actor’s internet tantrums.