A video posted to Facebook by a New Zealand woman alleging she was sexually harassed in Bali by hotel staff has quickly erupted, hitting over 2.5 million views in just a matter of days.
Aneta Baker’s Facebook post published on Friday night, including a photo and an eight-and-a-half minute video, takes the female empowering tone of the #MeToo movement (with Baker even including the hashtag) that’s exploded in the US following the revelations of the widespread sexual misconduct of media mogul Harvey Weinstein.
Baker needed to get a refund for a night she didn’t stay at the Ramada Bali Sunset Road Kuta, but the man featured in her video propositioned her for a blow job in order to get the money back, the Kiwi claims. That wasn’t going to happen on her watch, so she covertly filmed the conversation to expose the misuse of “authority,” she explains in her 700 word post accompanying the video and photo.
“Sisters you know if something is not right and you’re allowed to speak up!!! Brothers if you over hear something of the sort, stand up for her, speak up! To all I say be bold and be brave, you are worth the world and should never be put in this situation or have someone propose such a thing to you!
“Speak up! Don’t stand for it! I got your back!” she concludes.
But while we’re with her when it comes to speaking out against those who abuse authority, especially for the vile motivations of sexual abuse, it’s only fair to note that when watching the video and turning the “volume up” at 0:09 in the video, as Baker’s post demands, it’s really not clear if the man is saying blow job. In fact, it sounds a lot like he actually said “voucher” insist a lot of netizens, who’ve pointed out that would fit more within the context of what he says next.
Perhaps “his confidence was disturbing” as Baker writes, not because he’s so used to propositioning vulnerable women, but because his intentions were to try to get his hotel guest a hotel voucher for her troubles, insist netizens.
The man featured in the video will be under investigation, nonetheless. Indonesia Hotel General Manager Association I central board executive deputy chairman, I Made Ramia Adnyana, says the Ramada hotel where the alleged incident took place at is not a member hotel of IHGMA, but the incident is getting looked into.
And whether or not he said “blow job” or simply “voucher”, at the end of the day, he still lost his job over the viral incident, which apparently took place January 31, according to an official statement released on Sunday by Ramada, and then was later shared to their Facebook account.
“We deeply regret that the guest experienced this in our hotel. Of course we do not condone this behavior from our staff members. The staff member no longer works at our hotel and is being investigated. We offer our full support and cooperation to the affected guest,” read the statement, published in Bahasa Indonesian by CNN Indonesia.
Too bad an investigation couldn’t be fully completed and the man put on leave before such actions were taken. Don’t get us wrong, if an investigation ultimately found he really did say “blow job” and was behaving so reprehensibly, then yes, he should have to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law for such appalling behavior.
Here’s Baker’s original post, ICYMI:
Coconuts Media has reached out to Baker to respond to the possibility that it was a “voucher” the man in the video was asking for.
