'Time's Up' Initiative: Hundreds of Hollywood women form anti-harassment coalition

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The war against Sexual Harassment has hit a new level with the help of powerful women in entertainment. A new initiative kicked off the new year with a mission to rid every industry of sexual harassment and fight for gender parity. CGTN's May Lee is in Hollywood and has the details.

MAY LEE HOLLYWOOD It's called Time's Up, a new initiative started here in Hollywood to combat sexual harassment. More than 1000 women in entertainment are behind the movement that officially launched New Year's Day.

In that group are some of the biggest names in entertainment supporters of Time's Up include Reese Witherspoon, Shonda Rhimes, Oprah Winfrey, Meryl Streep.

Time's up released an open letter yesterday here's part of it "We want all survivors of sexual harassment, everywhere, to be heard, to be believed, and to know that accountability is possible. We also want all victims and survivors to be able to access justice and support for the wrongdoing they have endured."

Time's up is taking words into action. It has already created a legal defense fund to help victims of harassment and unfair treatment, especially for victims who are in lower wage industries who wouldn't be able to afford legal counsel.

The group is already close to its goal of raising $15 million through GoFundMe.

This wave against sexual harassment really started when mega producer Harvey Weinstein was accused multiple times of harassment and assault in October. Apparently he had been abusive for more than 3 decades.

Since then, several powerful men in entertainment, media, politics and businesses have been taken down by accusations of sexual misconduct.

The Time's Up movement is evidence that this issue isn't going away anytime soon and now with the upcoming awards season, this will get a lot more attention. In fact there's a call to action for everyone to wear black on the red carpet and this Sunday is the Golden Globes so expect to see a lot of black and for this to be a hot topic. May Lee, CGTN, Hollywood.