McDermott is to sue Twitter.

There is absolutely no verified evidence what age she was, apart from the fact she was over 17.

If she was 18 and in college would that make people more comfortable? Or 19 working in a restaurant. Or whatever. The age of consent is defined in law for a reason. If you think the age of consent should be increased, or some sort of age gap consent clause inserted, you will need to give valid reasons for that.

The only reason people are going all Lovejoy on the age, is because they believed he was a rapist based on a concerted anonymous work of fiction, now they are embarrassingly still trying to still vilify him based on self confessed liars.

This is a glaring example of people going straight to outrage without engaging in critical thought.

The Me Too movement was badly needed and still is, of course with everything their will be negatives, this is one of them.

Remember, if you lie about something as crucial as the age you were when it happened, then why should the public/judiciary believe any other part of your story.

Perfect!

You must think Brendan Grace is one of our greatest minds, he created Bottler!!!

Is that what male feminists are doing as well so...trying to create a persona to convince people that's who they are, as McDermott was a male feminist too!!

That was all a persona...the man was/is a genius I'm told!

Whether it's creepy or not is a matter of opinion.

To simply find a 17-year old attractive - doesn't seem creepy to me.

For a 27 year old guy to act on it in the way that he did - definitely seems creepy.

'Not jack the ripper' doesn't equate to it being fine though.

If I had a 17 year old daughter being pursued by a 27-year old in the way he did (especially one who was a minor celebrity, which adds another dimension of imbalance to the whole thing), I'd be very very unhappy about it.

If I had a 27-year old son pursuing a 17-year old in the way he did, I'd be telling my son in no uncertain terms to cop the f**k on and break contact.

How would you feel and react in both those scenarios?

Gladly, most don’t need your approval.

So you wouldn't tell your 17 year old daughter to break contact, but you would insist your 27 year old son do?

Again though, there is absolutely no verifiable evidence to suggest what age she, she could have anything between 17 and 100 for anyone on here here knows.

I believe the "bubble of innocence" contributed to the abuse. So many times you hear survivors of abuse state they had no idea what was happening to them, so they couldn't articulate the crimes to anyone.

Much better off discussing boundaries, consent and sexuality at an age they can began to understand.

Those conversations should certainly take place before boys and girls reach the age of consent.

Thankfully we have learned and it is being done.

Agreed, but it is also all age appropriate. We alter our behaviors and warnings and protection and guidance as our children grow, mature and develop. And today, there are far far more alerts and warnings and protocols in place to help keep children/young persons as safe as possible.

It's why I find it odd that people are latching onto the word, child here to try demonize this man. The girl is/was a young person at the time. Aged 17.

She was not a child in the sense that she was very very weak/immature/vulnerable and incapable of determining right and wrong etc. She was, to meet people half way, an older and more developed and mature child. She was not 6/7/8/9/10....On her next birthday she was deemed to be an adult.

To add. I am not saying that 17 year olds are all wise and mature and tuned in and mentally fully developed. You constantly mature, develop, alter as you go through life stages. But to juts label her a child, and leave it at that (because it suits your narrative to demonize an older male) is way off.

No quip intended, you live your life the way you want, but when you start projecting your brand of morality onto others, don’t be surprised to learn that your approval is not required.

It seems obvious by his return to TV that it has not been fatal to his career. Sex with an underage girl is rape, even if consensual, so obviously that was the most important fact to establish. There was no benefit to him challenging her further, she lied, her credibility is shot, so what more would he gain from a “he said she said” situation?

Regardless of this issue, the man is a creep!

We've all seen the clip of his behaviour towards women. Scumbag!