The Joe Goldberg Of It All

why nobody cares about what Brad Pitt did to Angelina Jolie and their children

In his 2017 Netflix show The Bird Revelation, Dave Chappelle discussed the then-recent Harvey Weinstein sexual assault scandal; joking that Weinstein is the first person he looked at a photo of and said “yeah that guy rapes”. He goes on to make a point about how unwanted advances from “ugly” men are taken differently than unwanted advances from conventionally attractive men, stating “If it was Brad Pitt doing that shit you wouldn’t have heard a peep.”

Hard cut to 2022, Angelina Jolie alleges that Brad Pitt had “grabbed her by the head and shook her then choked one of their children and struck another when they tried to defend her,” on a 2016 flight, according to NPR. Upon hearing this news, I immediately thought of the aforementioned Dave Chappelle bit, one that I always took issue with, and how Jolie’s allegations have proved him wrong.

But as I write this in August of 2025, Brad Pitt’s latest film F1 grossed over $600 million globally, he’s attended red carpet events with his (30 years younger) girlfriend, and was even interviewed on “New Heights” just a month ago, a podcast hosted by Jason and Travis Kelce. The allegations were made, his own son took to Instagram to call him a “world class asshole” and a “terrible and despicable person”, going on to say “You will never understand the damage you have done to my family because you are incapable of doing so. You have made the lives of those closest to me a constant hell. You may tell yourself and the world whatever you want, but the truth will come to light someday. So, Happy Father's Day, you fucking awful human being!!!". All of this, and yet it still feels like we haven’t heard a peep. He hasn’t been removed from any projects or shamed by any big names outside of Jolie’s circle. Brad Pitt (allegedly) physically abused his wife and children and has seemingly gotten away with it scot-free.

I think about the infamous Will Smith incident at the 2022 Oscars, where he slapped Chris Rock on stage for making comments about his wife’s hair loss. Following the incident, Smith was given a 10 year ban from the academy awards, and dozens of A-List celebrities spoke out against Smith; comedian Amy Schumer went as far as to call the event “traumatizing”. I recognize a key difference between the two situations, Smith exhibited violence on a public stage while Pitt did it behind closed doors. However, Pitt’s violence is no secret and he is yet to be shunned by his A-list peers in even a remotely similar way to how Smith was directly following his incident. Brad Pitt seems to be at a career high point.

And now, the Joe Goldberg of it all.

In 2020, actor Penn Badgley was interviewed on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to promote Netflix’s You, a thriller that follows Joe Goldberg (Penn Badgley) on his obsessive, delusional, and murderous attempts to win over women he feels entitled to. Despite the pattern the show depicts of Joe repeatedly betraying and often murdering the women he obsesses over, audiences (of course) still fawned over him. When Colbert asked Badgley about this phenomenon, Badgley responded, “It says something about how much we are willing to be patient and forgive someone who has a body like mine, color, gender, skin, and these sorts of privileges, and how much less willing to forgive people who don’t fit those boxes.”

Tabloids find a way to paint Angelina Jolie as the antagonist in her divorce case. Hollywood cannot forgive Will Smith for an offense significantly more minor than what many have signed a petition to have acquitted. And I start to believe that Dave Chappelle was right, though maybe not in the way he intended to be. If a man like Brad Pitt commits an act of violence, his victim will speak out. But from the press, from his peers, and from the public? We will not hear a peep.