Today marks a year since then-candidate President Trump’s comments about grabbing women “by the pussy” were released in an Access Hollywood tape — and even though he may be president now, one women’s advocacy group isn’t letting anyone forget the horribly sexist things POTUS once said.
Refinery29 reports that UltraViolet, a women’s advocacy group, marked the anniversary of the release of the tape by playing it on loop on Friday near the White House — for 12 hours straight. The giant screen, which played the footage from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m, was placed on Constitution Avenue between the National Mall and the White House.
.@UltraViolet is playing the Access Hollywood tape on loop at the White House one year later. pic.twitter.com/KyDsZl46GA
— Women’s March (@womensmarch) October 6, 2017
“That man may now sit in the Oval Office, but we will not let him — or anyone else — forget the tape or those comments,” Shaunna Thomas, one of UltraViolet’s co-founders, told Refinery29. “The Donald Trump on that tape is the same Donald Trump that sits in the Oval Office every day aggressively pursuing an anti-woman agenda, including the active dismantling of legal protections for survivors of sexual assault. That is why we are showing the video on loop in D.C., and that is why it is all the more important that we stand up and ‘grab back.'”
According to the Washington Post, UltraViolet also held a protest outside the White House on Friday where sexual assault victims spoke out against the Trump administration’s agenda — which so far, has included nixing Obama-era campus sexual assault legislation and attempting to repeal Obamacare.
The tape, which was first released by the Washington Post last year, was from 2005 and featured the now-POTUS bragging to Billy Bush about kissing and groping women. “I’m automatically attracted to beautiful women — I just start kissing them,” he says in the tape. “It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait. When you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything.”
When the tape was initially released last year, many thought it had ruined Trump’s chances in the White House — and even though that wasn’t the case, it’s important to remember that it doesn’t make the president’s comments toward women excusable.