Life coach Tony Robbins has been slammed for saying women are using the #MeToo movement as "a drug" to make themselves "significant".
The millionaire self-help guru was caught on tape describing #MeToo as an excuse for women to use "victimhood" for their own means.
Sage and Tony Robbins attend the ringing of The Nasdaq Stock Market Opening Bell at NASDAQ MarketSite on February 27, 2017 in New York City. Photo / Getty
He then went on to tell a bizarre anecdote about a "famous, powerful man" who chose not to hire a "very attractive" woman as it was "too risky to have her around".
Robbins made the comments on March 10 at a seminar in San Jose, California, but the speech has only just gone viral.
"If you use the #MeToo movement to try to get significance and certainty by attacking and destroying someone else… all you've done is basically use a drug called significance to make yourself feel good," Robbins told the audience.
Robbins told the audience he wasn't "knocking the #MeToo movement," but was "knocking victimhood." He addressed the crowd, asking them to consider the impact of it while saying "anger is not empowerment."
I've never understood the appeal of Tony Robbins...and it's always shocked me how many influential and powerful people rely on his advice... https://t.co/qk27i0VTas
"Who should throw the stone? You shouldn't throw that stone if you live in a f---ing glass house," Robbins said. "Is there any one of us that hasn't done something that we prefer we'd not or that we're embarrassed by or that was hurtful even if we didn't intend it to?"
The founder of the #MeToo movement, Tarana Burke took to Twitter to blast Robbins for his "misogyny". She said the footage was incredibly damaging considering how influential Robbins is.
The life coach's website says he's "empowered more than 50 million people from 100 countries".
"If you choose to keep supporting him it's with full knowledge of his views on women and survivors," Ms Burke tweeted.
During his speech, an audience member named Nanine McCool, a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, is given a microphone to ask Robbins a question.
Author Tony Robbins. Photo / Getty
She starts off by saying, "I think you misunderstand the #MeToo movement..." before Robbins cuts her off.
When Ms McCool gets the floor back almost a full two minutes later, she explains that she feels Robbins has mischaracterised an entire movement by claiming that women are using it for their own personal gains.
Robbins then goes on to use Ms McCool to make his point. He walks her backwards through the aisle of the stadium by pushing against her fist, asking her why she's resisting his push in order to make his point. Pushing against someone else doesn't make you more safe, he explains.
Women: please don't rape or sexually harass us! Please don't pass us over for jobs when we're the most qualified candidate!
Tony Robbins*: ladies, this need you have for significance is getting really out of hand.
*on a Jumbotron
— Shannon (not Ann) Coulter (@shannoncoulter) April 7, 2018
The life coach then implied that women have become a liability in the workplace because of the movement. "I was just with someone the other day, very famous man, very powerful man. He's saying how stressed he is because he interviewed three people that day—one was a woman, two were men," Robbins said.
We dont need rich egocentric gurus to heal us. We dont need harmful pop psychology garbage to incorporate into our lives
We need to be around healers who are here for US not their brand. We need to be there for each other. We need to be good to ourselves
"The woman was better qualified, but she was very attractive, and he knew, 'I can't have her around, because it's too big of a risk.' And he hired somebody else. I've had a dozen men tell me this."
