Georgina Chapman, Spotify, Highest-Paid CEOs: Broadsheet for May 11th

Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Georgina Chapman steps into the spotlight, Spotify moves in the right direction with a new policy, and the FEC has ruled that childcare costs count as campaign expenditures. Have a wonderful weekend (and don’t forget to pick up a Mother’s Day gift for that special person in your life)!

EVERYONE'S TALKING

• Chapman's comeback? Vogue has the first interview with designer Georgina Chapman since her now-estranged husband Harvey Weinstein was outed as an alleged serial rapist and sexual harasser. Reading it, a few important questions immediately spring to mind.

To begin with, how much did she know? Editor-in-chief Anna Wintour writes in her editor's note that she is "firmly convinced that Georgina had no idea about her husband’s behavior." When Jonathan Van Meter, the author of the profile, asked Chapman whether she was ever suspicious of Weinstein's behavior, she replies, “Absolutely not. Never.” Yet HuffPo's Yashar Ali writes that he has "spoken to over a dozen survivors of Weinstein’s sexual predation about Chapman and all of them surprisingly said they believed she was aware, in some form, of Weinstein’s behavior." Indeed, when one considers that "most people in the entertainment and media business had heard that Weinstein was a notorious philanderer, many people knew he engaged in sexual harassment, and still others were aware of credible allegations of rape and assault," as Ali notes, it does seem odd that the person who was theoretically closest to him was oblivious to it all.

This leads to another question: Is it right to hold Chapman responsible for her husband's actions? What makes her any different from, say, Huma Abedin, wife of disgraced New York Congressman Anthony Weiner who was sent to prison for sexting underaged girls. "This particular club, ironically, it's not such a small one: women who have had to endure it in such a public way, women like Georgina and me," Abedin—who has befriended Chapman in the aftermath of the scandal—told Vogue. "People don't feel sorry for us; you don't get that empathy."

Meanwhile, the New York Times' Vanessa Friedman weighs in how the Vogue profile plays into the attempted rehabilitation of Chapman's fashion line, Marchesa. "The fashion world is ready," she writes, noting that Wintour and actor Scarlett Johansson wore the brand's designs during the Met Gala. "But is everyone else?

ALSO IN THE HEADLINES

• A more inclusive mom day. Mother's Day is coming up this weekend, and while it's a time of celebration for many, RaceAhead author Ellen McGirt notes that it can be fraught for many people, for many reasons. "There are blended, foster and grandparent-led families and homes where other loving people have stepped into mothering roles who often go unacknowledged." Moreover, between 2 million and 3.7 million children under age 18 have an LGBTQ parent, and approximately 200,000 of them are being raised by a same-sex couple. Here's what companies are doing to make the holiday more inclusive: Fortune

• Step in the right direction. Spotify has removed R. Kelly's music from its official playlists—including RapCaviar and Discover Weekly—as part of a new policy prohibiting hateful content and conduct. However, the service says it will continue to host the singer's music, though it "will not actively promote it." Fortune

• Making it rain. This WSJ analysis puts two women among the 20 highest-paid CEOs of 2017: Mattel's Margo Georgiadis and PepsiCo's Indra Nooyi. The story also notes that eight of the 20 chiefs—including Georgiadis—are no longer in their jobs. WSJ

• #MeToo is about money. In this editorial, Ellevest founder and Wall Street veteran Sallie Krawcheck argues that to truly equalize the power imbalance between men and women—the root of sexual harassment—we must enable women to make more money. Fortune

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

• A necessary expense. The Federal Elections Commission ruled Thursday that childcare is an acceptable use of campaign funds during election season. The issue was raised by Liuba Grechen Shirley, a candidate for U.S. Congress based in Massapequa, N.Y., who prior to running for office cared for her children while working from home. Hillary Clinton and 24 members of Congress wrote letters in support of her FEC request, calling childcare a “necessary expense” that “should not constitute a personal use of campaign funds.” Fortune

• Taking one for the team. A new interview set to air this evening on 20/20 reveals that Captain Tammie Jo Shults, the pilot who brought Southwest Airlines Flight 1380 in for a safe landing, was not initially supposed to be on the flight. Her husband, Dean Shults, a fellow Southwest pilot, had asked her to swap flights so he could attend their son’s track meet. New York Times

• Grassroots girls. The NYT takes a close look at the "grassroots fervor" of the Democratic party, "a machine that has been powered to a large degree by college-educated women in mid-career or retirement," many of whom have no prior interest or experience in politics. "But with the election of Mr. Trump, they were aghast at how they felt the political system, which most had taken for granted to the point of indifference, had allowed things to fly so far off the rails." New York Times

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