Warning: This article deals with an account of child abuse/sexual assault and may be triggering for survivors of abuse.
G’day y’all, welcome to another edition of The Headlines. Now, some of the following stories are heavy ones, so we’re skipping the bants today. Here’s the Thursday news you should know about.
Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey Are Suing for Child Abuse
When Franco Zeffirelli’s 1968 version of Romeo and Juliet was filmed, the two leads were not adults. Leonard Whiting, who played Romeo, was 16. Olivia Hussey, who played Juliet, was 15. In this film, both Whiting’s buttocks and Hussey’s naked breasts were presented to the masses. Whiting and Hussey have alleged that they were told that no nudity of them would be in said picture.
Because of this, Whiting and Hussey are suing Paramount for sexually exploiting them and distributing nude footage of them. They also believe that the damages could be over $500 million.
“What they were told and what went on were two different things,” said Tony Marinozzi, a business manager for these actors. “They trusted Franco. At 16, as actors, they took his lead that he would not violate that trust they had. Franco was their friend, and frankly, at 16, what do they do? There are no options. There was no #MeToo.”
As of writing, Paramount has not responded to these claims.
Salesforce Plans to Cut 10% of Its Workforce
Salesforce is a cloud-focused software company. This organisation provides customer service products, analytic tools, and sale programs to those who want them.
As of January 5, Salesforce announced that it was cutting 10% of its staff. Salesforce has stated that they hired too many people during the COVID pandemic.
“The environment remains challenging and our customers are taking a more measured approach to their purchasing decisions,” said Salesforce’s CEO, Marc Benioff. “As our revenue accelerated through the pandemic, we hired too many people leading into this economic downturn we’re now facing, and I take responsibility for that.”
Salesforce isn’t the only tech company in recent memory to drastically reduce its amount of staff members. In 2022, both Meta and Twitter made news for making a notable amount of their employees redundant.
Related: What Happened to Vine and Is Elon Musk Really Bringing it Back?
Related: Why Mark Zuckerberg and Meta Fired 11,000 Facebook Employees
Buckwild Cow Is Rescued From a Shopping Centre and a Dam
In some lighthearted news, a cow from Western Sydney went on a 24-hour chaos spree. First, this beast somehow got lost in a shopping centre. Moreover, after this cow was rescued by Fire and Rescue NSW, it then got stuck in a mud-filled dam.
Fortunately though, Fire and Rescue NSW saved the cow a second time. This chaos gremlin will stay in a secure location until its owner is found.
If this article brings up any issues for you or anyone you know, or if you just feel like you need to speak to someone, please contact 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) — the National Sexual Assault, domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service.
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