Elisabeth Moss Will Play Former Congresswoman Katie Hill, And Katie Hill’s Former Staff Aren’t Feeling It

Variety reported yesterday that Elisabeth Moss was signed on to play former California Congresswoman Katie Hill in a streaming film adaptation of Katie’s book She Will Rise: Becoming a Warrior in the Battle for True Equality. Katie was in office for exactly ten months in 2019, before she was forced to resign after it was found out that she had an inappropriate relationship with a campaign staffer, and after defending herself against nude photos that were released without her consent. It sounds exactly the kind of role that would inevitably add to Elisabeth’s already large collection of acting awards and nominations. Except that not everyone is excited to see Elisabeth play the former Congresswoman. Katie Hill’s own former staff have recently made it clear that they’re all side-eyeing the decision.

In October 2019, the conservative blog RedState published an allegation that 33-year-old Katie Hill, who was a member of the Democratic Party and California’s first bisexual Congressperson, was involved in an extramarital affair with her male legislative director, Graham Kelly. Katie was married to her husband Kenny Heslep. She denied ever getting with Graham and accused her husband (now her ex-husband) of being abusive and plotting to humiliate her. RedState allegedly leaked nude photos of Katie as well, which were subsequently published by The Daily Mail.

The House Ethics committee investigated since if the allegations were true, Katie would be in violation. Katie later admitted to having an improper relationship with a staff member, but it was a 22-year-old female subordinate and it was before Katie was a Congressperson. At the end of October, Katie announced she was resigning, and blasted the situation as sexist and misogynistic, by saying that there were a whole lot of male members of Congress who admitted to fucking someone on the side while still keeping their job. And then Katie wrote a book about it, which is where we’re at now.

Here’s what Elisabeth Moss had to say about playing Katie in her own biopic:

“I am so honored to have the opportunity to portray Katie and to help tell her story. Her strength and work to amplify women’s voices is incredibly inspiring to me and her experiences could not be more important for us to magnify right now. As always, Jason [Blum] and the Blumhouse team are such incredible partners and Lindsey and I are thrilled to make something powerful with them and Michael.”

Elisabeth’s statement about Katie has more girl power vibes than a Spice Girls concert. And apparently Katie’s former employees are buying none of it. Newsweek reports that some former staff members are “disappointed” by the announcement, and that they don’t think Katie was a “hero to women.” And her staff decided to slap at the biopic from her former Twitter account.

Katie’s former staff here. Disappointed in so many folks – including Elizabeth Moss, @Blumhouse, & @michaelseitzman – regarding today's announcement.

— Rep. Katie Hill (@RepKatieHill) October 7, 2020

Her staff went on with a series of tweets that I’ve compiled them below:

“This is an incredibly sensitive situation. We appreciate the instinct to defend our former boss, an LGBTQ+ woman who faced abuse from her husband. What happened to Katie Hill shouldn’t happen to anyone. But, this moment requires more nuance, as Katie Hill’s story – our story – is also one of workplace abuse and harassment. Katie Hill can be both a victim and perpetrator. And, staff can experience severe consequences for speaking out against their powerful boss.

No one should have to put themselves in harm’s way for the public to understand a simple truth: Katie Hill is not a hero for women. We deserve heroes who embody our values even in the most difficult moments. Katie Hill was never investigated by the House Ethics Committee, nor has she been held accountable by anyone other than herself. We encourage everyone to reflect deeply before taking her word at face value. Katie took advantage of her subordinates. She caused immense harm to the people who worked for her, many of whom were young women just beginning their careers in politics. Workplace abuse and harassment can take many different forms, but one thing is certain: it is never okay, even if your boss is a woman and/or a survivor.

Believe us when we say: it’s not only about who starts it, it’s also about who ends it. And, while Katie is certainly the survivor of abuse, we are not confident that she sufficiently acted to end her own patterns of inappropriate and abusive behavior. Enough is enough. In order to advance the #MeToo movement, we must be willing to acknowledge the problematic behaviors among those in our own communities. Only then will we see true progress.”

So according to them, Katie was a victim and also a predator, and this is coming from staff who claim to have been victims of Katie’s alleged predatory behavior. Which, if the truth is being told, kind of puts a real, “Yikes” into Elisabeth’s statement. Elisabeth hasn’t responded to these allegations, but Katie has. And she claims her account was hacked.

Thanks to all who let me know my government official twitter account was hacked. Control of my account was immediately handed back to the House Clerk when I resigned, including password changes and access restrictions. God knows who hacked it from there. Reported to @twitter.

— Katie Hill (@KatieHill4CA) October 7, 2020

I look forward to continuing to have conversations around these issues and using my platform to support women in any way possible.

— Katie Hill (@KatieHill4CA) October 7, 2020

I’m sure that someone will eventually ask Elisabeth Moss about this situation. How she chooses to handle it, we can’t be sure until it actually happens. But why do I get the feeling she might answer, “Do you want to talk about Scientology instead?”

Pics: Wenn.com/FayesVision