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Predator and Prey: Assault, harassment, and other aggressions in the entertainment industry


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22 hours ago, SunnyBeBe said:

I just read that Busey was photographed today sitting with his pants down in a public park.  Photo is online…..something is not right.  I wonder if he has a legal agent, like POA to intervene.  I’ll find link. ☹️

Link:

https://whatsnew2day.com/gary-busey-spotted-in-a-california-park-with-his-pants-down-smoking-a-cigar-day-being-charged/
 

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Busey stuck a hand in the front of his pants, appeared to grit his teeth, then looked around to make sure no bystanders caught him committing the lewd act.

Holy shit, I hate to even think of why he needed to "grit his teeth", not to mention that it appears at least one bystander saw him. He needs help, & so does everyone who comes in contact with him.

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He denies everything, of course.
 

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Criminal affidavits obtained by The Inquirer allege Busey attempted to sway police into convincing the victims not to file a report against him. The affidavits allege that once the victims reported the allegedly inappropriate sexual contact, Busey said he had done nothing wrong before “asking detectives to apologize to the victims on his behalf and to convince them not to file any charges against him.”

Busey then said it was possible to accidentally touch people on a certain body part, according to the affidavits.

Approached by TMZ at a gas station in Malibu on Monday, Busey said there was no chance he was inappropriate toward the women and said he has eyewitnesses to back up his claims.

“Nothing happened,” he said.

“There were… a partner, and a camera lady, and me and two girls… it took less than 10 seconds, and then they left.”

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Woman Claims Jimmy Fallon, Tracy Morgan & Lorne Michaels Were “Enablers” In Horatio Sanz’ Alleged Sexual Assault Of Minor

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A Pennsylvania woman filed legal papers today in an attempt to add Jimmy Fallon, Tracy Morgan and Lorne Michaels to a 2021 lawsuit in which she accuses then-Saturday Night Live castmember Horatio Sanz of sexually assaulting her when she was 17.

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Chef Mario Batali settled with two of his accusers.
 

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The women alleged that Batali had sexually assaulted them on separate occasions. The accusations by one of the women led to the only criminal case against the the prominent chef and restauranteur at the height of the #MeToo movement.

One woman testified in May about how she felt confused and powerless to do anything to stop Batali at the time.

But Batali was acquitted of indecent assault and battery after a Boston judge agreed with Batali's lawyers that the accuser had credibility issues and that photos suggested the encounter was amicable...

Last year, Batali, his business partner and their New York City restaurant company agreed to pay $600,000 to resolve a four-year investigation by the New York attorney general's office into allegations that Batali and other staff sexually harassed employees.

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The Maxwell bills are interesting, because I read the husband dumped her while she was in jail before the trial.    Yes, he dumped her by phone call, when she was jailed, and he dumped her for a yoga instructor.  He's a lot younger than Maxwell, was a secret from the public for a long time, and his new girlfriend (if she's still the current one) is a lot younger than Maxwell.     Strange situation all the way around. 

Edited by CrazyInAlabama
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Thought somebody would have posted this already but no. 'Home Alone' actor Devin Ratray under investigation for rape.
 

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New York City authorities are investigating “Home Alone” actor Devin Ratray for allegedly drugging and raping a woman in his Manhattan apartment in 2017, according to CNN. The accuser, Lisa Smith, filed her police report weeks after the incident, but says the investigation went nowhere.

Ratray is currently facing domestic violence charges for allegedly assaulting his ex-girlfriend in Oklahoma in 2021. He has pleaded not guilty in the unrelated case, which will be heard in court in October.

News of the charges prompted Smith to follow up on her 2017 report....After she contacted the prosecutors investigating Ratray, they told her they believed she never intended to press charges. She provided CNN with emails suggesting her case had been closed, leaving her “devastated.”

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11 hours ago, Vermicious Knid said:

Thought somebody would have posted this already but no. 'Home Alone' actor Devin Ratray under investigation for rape.
 

He was recently on an episode of “Better Call Saul” and I looked him up then and read about the rape investigation. 

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Arcade Fire’s Win Butler Accused of Sexual Misconduct by Multiple Women; Frontman Responds

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Allegations of inappropriate behavior in his life offstage contrast with Butler’s virtuous public reputation. In lengthy comments, the frontman claims his extramarital relationships were consensual.

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On 8/26/2022 at 11:59 AM, Cinnabon said:

He was recently on an episode of “Better Call Saul” and I looked him up then and read about the rape investigation. 

I knew that he'd played a bully quite well, but I had no idea he would grow up to evidently do THAT! YEESH!!

Poor Miss Smith re what evidently happened AND the aftermath!

P.S. Not that this has anything to do with the criminal allegations but has anyone asked Mr. Caulkin for his views on the above allegations?

Fans can be predators too.  The current situation with Social Media Star/ Musican Gabbi Hanna is disturbing.  Fans should not be able to so easily look up a celebrity’s address and go in their home.   It was making me think of Rebecca Schaeffer.  He could have done anything to her.  She’s clearly not thinking clearly enough to protect herself.  Or maybe she assumes she’s safe because the phone camera’s on constantly filming everything.  Either way him looking through her things like her medication and filming it for his followers is creepy as hell.
 

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Comedians Tiffany Haddish and Aries Spears Accused of Child Sexual Abuse

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A Jane Doe and her younger brother allege in a new lawsuit that the comics recruited them into performing inappropriate, sexually suggestive acts in sketches when they were minors.

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2 hours ago, BetterButter said:

I never heard of Mr. Spears before this so I had no POV of him before these allegations came to light.

However, I HAVE heard of Miss Haddish and am utterly saddened that at the possibility that she has allegedly participated in exploiting rather vulnerable minors. I especially am disheartened since she herself had been in the foster care system and had supposedly been a vocal advocate for other foster children. At this point, I'm doing my best to consider ALL sides' validity here and would be interested in hearing out  her side of this.. Please note that I'm not saying that the allegations MUST be or CAN'T be true but, regardless, it's very  sad to think that they might be true.

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2 minutes ago, Anduin said:

It's fun to think about Andy right now. Given that Charlie apparently doesn't like him, he may be arrested at any moment! I like to hope he's living in terror, like his victims.

At first I thought you were talking about Andy Richter and didn't know why you were calling Conan O'Brien "Charlie."

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34 minutes ago, Vermicious Knid said:

One of the many, many articles about the BRF today reminded readers that Charles has talked about paring down the official Royal Family and speculating Andrew would get the boot.

He doesn’t have to. The Virginia Giuffre lawsuit gave him the ability to boot Andrew as a working royal earlier in the year. 

I recently read that Andrew’s disastrous interview addressing the allegations is being made into a movie. 

Rapper Mystikal facing life in prison for rape
 

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Rapper Mystikal (real name Michael Lawrence Tyler) now faces life in prison over an indictment on first-degree rape and domestic violence charges, The New Orleans Advocate reports. The ten charges, upheld in the Ascension Parish court on Tuesday, stem from the alleged July 30 assault of a woman in Prairieville, Louisiana....In addition to the charge of first-degree rape, Tyler, 51, was also charged with simple criminal damage to property, false imprisonment, domestic abuse battery by strangulation, simple robbery, possession of heroin, illegal possession of Xanax, possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, and possession of methamphetamine. The drug charges stem from an allegation by the victim stating that Tyler had a white crystalline substance in his home—police officers also reportedly recovered drugs from the house.

Tyler has twice previously faced sexual assault charges: he pled guilty in 2003 to the assault and extortion of his former hairstylist. For the crime, he served six years in prison and was mandated to enter himself on the sex offender registry in 2010.

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4 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

Wait, they acquitted him of having the 2008 trial fixed?! Such bullshit.

Oh well, he’s going to prison either way.

He’s a celebrity. I’ll believe that when I see the cell bars close behind him. Look at Spacey and Weinstein.

18 minutes ago, katie9918 said:

He’s a celebrity. I’ll believe that when I see the cell bars close behind him.

The cell bars closed behind him in 2019 and he’s only been out to go to court. 

19 minutes ago, katie9918 said:

Look at Spacey and Weinstein.

Spacey I get (although he does have criminal trial ahead of him) but Weinstein I don’t since he is in prison and facing even more charges. 

7 hours ago, aradia22 said:

I'm on record against social media and age gap relationships so it's no surprise I hate this

https://www.gawker.com/celebrity/a-collection-of-casey-afflecks-comments-on-his-24-year-old-gfs-instagram-caylee-cowan

I’m always suspicious of a person who says they don’t deserve their partner.  Really?  If you treat people well, why not?  Lol.  

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21 hours ago, RealHousewife said:

I think they’re just trying to say how wonderful their partner is, not that they’re not good people themselves. 

I assume that's true, but people should be able to pay someone a compliment without putting someone else down, even if it's themselves, and what's more, it isn't good to put someone on a pedestal like that.

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21 hours ago, RealHousewife said:

I think they’re just trying to say how wonderful their partner is, not that they’re not good people themselves. 

I get how that’s possible, but to me, it seems that abusers say that about a devoted spouse/partner to placate them, since they are cruel and their partner is kind and long suffering,  There’s a country song that used to infuriate me, because it talked about how horrible they were, but how tolerant their wife was.  And begs the wife to change him.  Ugh….instead of singing a tribute to the wife, just change the behavior and start treating her well.  

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1 hour ago, SunnyBeBe said:

I get how that’s possible, but to me, it seems that abusers say that about a devoted spouse/partner to placate them, since they are cruel and their partner is kind and long suffering,  There’s a country song that used to infuriate me, because it talked about how horrible they were, but how tolerant their wife was.  And begs the wife to change him.  Ugh….instead of singing a tribute to the wife, just change the behavior and start treating her well.  

Ahh I see, so it's that statement in the context of abusers doesn't sound right? I've heard people say that who I know are good people, maybe that's why I take it the way I do. I agree that you should be a good person without someone having to change you. That song sounds bananas. I also know what it's like to be put on a pedestal, and yes it is uncomfortable. We're all human, but I'm sure that's another thing where a lot of people mean well. In my experience, guys who've said I make them want to be a better person never change. YOU have to want to be a better person, and only you can do it. 

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https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2022/09/inside-ezra-millers-dark-spiral-messiah-delusions

So... I'm getting why he was accused of starting a cult...

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While in Iceland, Miller was accompanied by Jasper Young Bear, a 55-year-old North Dakota medicine man the actor had hired as a spiritual adviser. Young Bear seems to have stoked Miller’s outsize vision of themself. “Jasper was telling Ezra that he wasn’t a part of the movement, he was the movement—that he was the next Messiah and that the Freemasons were sending demons out to kill him,” says a source, who, like others who have been close to Miller, sometimes misgenders the actor, who is said not to insist on they/them pronouns in private.

[...] According to the insider, the actor has grown increasingly narcissistic, often choosing young people for their audience, because they are more malleable: “He’d talk about the metaverse and the medicine and how they’re the Messiah and what his work is here. They say their spiritual practice is to be among the people—which means party. So, when in Iceland, he was out nonstop. His favorite were raves, where he’d go on benders for two or three days at a time.”

Sometimes, Miller would extend quixotic offers to people the actor met during their travels. Says a source, “He was telling these kids, ‘You’re going to be in my band, and I’m going to produce your album and you can run my music studio.’ Whether they were visual artists, DJs, kids that were in college—or sometimes kids who might have been homeless—he would recruit them in a period of vulnerability, and promise them all of these things.” Nothing ever seemed to materialize.

[...] Miller is said to have woven young Tokata Iron Eyes into their narrative, claiming that the pair were fated to be together. (A rep for Miller maintains that the actor’s relationship with the activist has always been platonic.) “Ezra is Jesus, and Tokata’s an apocalyptic Native American spider goddess, and their union is supposed to bring about the apocalypse,” recaps one person. “And that’s the ‘real’ reason everyone is so opposed to them being together.” Iron Eyes’s mother, Jumping Eagle, has heard Miller’s story too: “They say they are some kind of messiah, and they’re going to lead an Indigenous revolution.” The actor themself does not have Native American ancestry, and, despite being fixated on native cultures, does not strike everyone as respectful. “He professes that he walks through this world with an Indigenous humility and spiritual awareness,” says one Indigenous insider. “But, point of fact, he doesn’t at all. Because he doesn’t care.”

[...] In 2018, Miller came out as nonbinary and polyamorous, telling Playboy about the free-love environment they created for themself, calling it a “polycule,” a portmanteau of polyamorous and molecule. According to three people in Miller’s circle, the polycule is less a democratic society than an ever shifting “court harem” of mostly young women. A friend of the actor says, “An openly polyamorous lifestyle—that’s not inherently wrong to me.” But Miller’s situation, in their opinion, “is actually a patriarchal dictatorship where Ezra controls all the sex as the man, and plays the women against each other, screams at them, belittles them in front of the others.”

[...] In late March, Miller and Iron Eyes were in Hawaii at the Hilo Farmers Market when they befriended a member of a polygamous family on the east side of the island. [...] The man and his four “wives”—including the aforementioned Ana—invited the pair to stay on the property with them and their four young children. Strange things happened almost immediately. Miller returned to the house one day following what they said was a run-in with cops, complaining about being unfairly targeted and carrying an armload of toys for the kids. (“He bought Nerf guns for our children and was mansplaining about guns,” says another wife, Kaelyn.) The actor recruited women to help them chainsaw guava trees in the backyard and build a sweat lodge. One day, while strolling a strip mall with the polygamous patriarch, Miller spontaneously bought him a $2,000 diamond- and ruby-encrusted gold lion ring from Kay Jewelers. Miller proposed merging families, according to the father. “It was like, ‘We should be partners forever. I want to take you all around the world,’” says the patriarch. “And I didn’t decline it. I knew the kind of state he was in.” [...] About two weeks after they arrived, Miller and Iron Eyes suddenly left. Family members allege that the actor took Ana, the 25-year-old wife in the home, and her three children with them.

Also, here's the enabling...

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Before the troubles in Iceland, the actor could be kind and generous. They’d share weed, occasionally cash, and even plane tickets with buddies in need. But staying at Miller’s meant abiding by the actor’s rules, and tolerating the long monologues.

[...] An old friend partly blames “yes men” who watched it all happen: “Even though I’ve learned that Ezra’s such an asshole, I don’t think it exonerates the people that were happy to eat off Ezra’s plate until it didn’t suit them anymore. I think they ended up probably accidentally being complicit in real weird abuses in power and celebrity.”

[...] Though Miller has interfaced with police in at least three precincts in an array of arrests, the actor’s legal problems, through good luck or good lawyering, have mostly gone poof. VF has seen one nondisclosure agreement and heard of a handful of others in what three sources describe as a whack-a-mole style legal strategy of paying off alleged victims. (Miller declined to comment.) No charges were pressed in Iceland. In Hawaii, Miller paid a $500 fine after pleading no contest to a disorderly conduct charge related to the karaoke arrest, as part of a plea deal where other charges were dropped. Other allegations in Hawaii—about Miller hurling a chair at a woman, and breaking into a couple’s home, shouting obscenities, and stealing a passport and other legal documents—were subsequently dropped. A source close to that couple refused to comment, but warned VF, “Don’t poke a hornet’s nest because one stung a few people.”

[...] Despite being concerned, Ana’s husband, the polygamist, still believes in the integrity of the connection he made with Miller and is still wearing the gold lion ring that the actor gave him.

Online, Miller’s fans battle negative headlines on the star’s behalf. People who have spoken out against Miller on record, or supported their alleged victims, have been attacked and doxed on Twitter. “I know Johnny Depp has a lot of fans and stuff,” says a person close to Miller, who claims that Miller’s fans are even more dedicated. “People devote their time to do this at a time when it’s needed.”

And perhaps a sign this is not new behavior...

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As this story went to press, Vanity Fair exchanged messages with Miller’s former fiancée, Erin, who asked to be identified by her first name and whom the actor was dating when they began playing the Flash in 2016. “The Ezra I knew wasn’t violent or physically abusive toward anyone,” she says. “To think back is painful because we had a deep love and he was good to me.” But she does remember darkness after the breakup: “For years he convinced me and all our friends that I was abusive.... But looking back, I would be calling out his disrespect and he wouldn’t take responsibility and just call me abusive because of my reaction. I could have handled it better. I didn’t know the term gaslight back then. I was emotionally fucked up for years.” She says that Miller broke up with her after hiring a spiritual adviser who told the actor that she was a parasite.

When the allegations of Miller being abusive to others surfaced, she admits she was hit with a sick relief: “Maybe I wasn’t the abusive one after all.”

Erin’s feelings are complicated now. “I can make excuses for him all day, but I don’t want to anymore,” she says. “The illusions of grandeur need to be called out. I will love Ezra always, and I don’t want him to continue down this dark road.”

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IMO, there's so MUCH wrong with the above-detailed Miller situations, one would be hard pressed to find anything right about it even if one were to use microtweezers and an electronic microscope for the search!

Please tell me that the authorities have at least gotten as many minors possible  AWAY from that tsunami/floating garbage patch!

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Update, September 20, 2022: The child-molestation suit against comedians Tiffany Haddish and Aries Spears has been dismissed, per court documents obtained by TMZ. According to the new filing, the Jane Doe who filed the suit asked the judge to dismiss the case with prejudice, meaning that the plaintiff cannot refile the suit again. “My family and I have known Tiffany Haddish for many years — and we now know that she would never harm me or my brother or help anyone else do anything that could harm us,” the plaintiff wrote. “We wish Tiffany the best and are glad that we can all put this behind us.”

https://www.vulture.com/2022/09/tiffany-haddish-grooming-lawsuit-instagram-aries-spears.html

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This is purely speculation, but from the statements so far it seems like Haddish and Spears were incredibly irresponsible but not predatory or malicious. This is why we have things like intimacy coordinators. I've been watching old episodes of Cold Case... sometimes with child actors. With some of the topics they're made to engage with you think, 'God, I hope someone is on set explaining things to these child actors, making sure they understand everything and they're safe and comfortable with the process and they want to be there the whole time.'

And whether or not they actually found the experience traumatic, the children and their mother knew what had happened was wrong. I do think by drumming up media attention, they received some financial compensation to drop the case. 

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“Our divorce is not finalized,” the TV host said of her relationship with Hammer. “But we are in a really great place. We talk all the time. We're committed fully and wholly to our children, and to being together as much as possible in a non-romantic way for our kids.” Chambers reiterated a lot that protecting her children was her main focus at the moment, but you have to imagine that image rehabilitation (for both her and Hammer) comes in at a close second.

“Armie has been focused on his healing. There's the oxygen mask theory: You can't really take care of someone until you are taken care of… He has been very busy securing his own mask,” Chambers said. “I'm here to support that process. It's going to make him the best father, the best person he can be. At the end of the day, that's the goal.”

If you are anything like me, you will read this interview and start to wonder what is in it for Chambers, given the entire thing is basically about Hammer and his “healing.” What is she getting out of this? Well, she has a comment for that too.

“We're ready to come back to L.A. We're ready to get back to our grind — but not the hamster wheel, a more thoughtful version of whatever existed before. There are so many exciting projects coming, a couple shows that are in development.”

https://www.gawker.com/celebrity/elizabeth-chambers-angling-for-comeback-armie-hammer-divorce

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https://www.vulture.com/2022/09/constance-wu-alleges-sexual-harassment-fresh-off-the-boat.html

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Constance Wu has claimed that a Fresh Off the Boat producer sexually harassed and intimidated her during the groundbreaking ABC show. Per the New York Times, Wu recounts the experience in her upcoming memoir, Making a Scene. She reportedly writes that the unnamed senior producer placed his hand on her thigh at a sporting event and ultimately grazed her crotch. According to the Times, the memoir also claims that the man demanded control over her business matters and what she wore.

“I kept my mouth shut for a really long time about a lot of sexual harassment and intimidation that I received the first two seasons of the show,” Wu said at the Atlantic Festival on Friday, per The Hollywood Reporter. “Because, after the first two seasons, once it was a success, once I was no longer scared of losing my job, that’s when I was able to start saying ‘no’ to the harassment, ‘no’ to the intimidation, from this particular producer. And, so I thought: ‘You know what? I handled it. Nobody has to know.’” Noting that Fresh Off the Boat was the first network TV show in more than 20 years to star Asian Americans, Wu explained that she didn’t want to stain the representation of an Asian American producer or “the one show we had representing us.”

The actress further alleged that “a few people” knew about the producer’s behavior, and it “felt like a betrayal every time” she went to work and saw them “being ‘buddy-buddy’ with him.” When Fresh Off the Boat was renewed for its sixth (and final) season, Wu famously took to Twitter to share that she was upset by the news, sparking instant social-media backlash. “I loved everybody on that crew, and I loved working on that show,” she clarified at Friday’s event. “But it had that history of abuse that it started with, and even though I handled it after two years, I was looking forward to a clean slate.”

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9 hours ago, BetterButter said:

I'm sorry but when do we go from saying someone has an interesting work ethic to being an abusive asshole? I know Hollywood is a different type of workplace then working in an office but nobody deserved to be screamed at and abused while they're at work. 

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Message added by OtterMommy

The guidelines for this thread are in the first post.  Please familiarize yourself with them and check frequently as any changes or additions will be posted there (as well as in an in-thread post).

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