It’s not the Eagle’s preference to get swept up in national or international affairs, especially those involving celebrity scandals. But sometimes these affairs, or the way they’re reported by the main stream, encroach on the common senses in ways that demand comment.

The #MeToo Movement declares on its Internet home page the alarming statistic that more than 17 million women have reported a sexual assault since 1998.

Now, one man’s allegations of a sexual assault by one of its leaders could discredit the movement and undermine the noble purpose it pursues.

Asia Argento, one of the first actresses to publicly accuse Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault, has now herself been accused of assaulting an underage male actor and then paying him off for his silence.

According to reports that first surfaced in the New York Times, Child actor Jimmy Bennett played Argento’s son in a 2004 movie called The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things. Bennett claims that in 2013, Argento, then 37, assaulted Bennett shortly after his 17th birthday, according to the Times, which reported the incident occurred in California, where age of consent is 18. The Times reports it has encrypted emails and a photograph proving that Argento paid a $380,000 settlement to Bennett.

The chronology of the case is disturbing. Bennett’s attorneys notified Argento in November 2017 of his intent to sue her — just as Argento was leading that group of 80 women accusing Weinstein of more than 100 misdeeds on the casting couch, including 18 allegations of rape, between 1980 and 2015.

Bennett’s legal notice was sent to the attorney of Argento’s boyfriend, celebrity chef/journalist Anthony Bourdain, according to the Times report. Bourdain’s lawyer was representing Argento at the time.

Bourdain reportedly was aware of Bennett’s intent to sue his girlfriend, and the reasons why. He must have been aware of the $380,000 settlement finalized in April, just weeks before Argento spoke triumphantly in May at the Cannes Film Festival in France. She received thunderous applause from the film world after calling the resort city Weinstein’s “hunting ground” where, she said, he had first assaulted her.

In June, Bourdain died of a suicidal hanging.

Bourdain was a correspondent under contract with CNN, producing a weekly series titled Parts Unknown. Bourdain might have had an obligation to share what he knew with representatives of the news organization, and they might have had an obligation to look into it.

The simplest response to this notion is that it’s a privacy issue: that Argento and Bourdain were under no obligation to divulge anything to anyone about a settlement.

But the simplest response is not always the correct response. Truth finds daylight — and damage is done to the reputations of Bourdain, Argento, #Metoo, CNN, mainstream media and others. There’s no doubt Weinstein will claim he’s been damaged.

It will be interesting to see how CNN and other outlets report on this story in the coming days.

Back in the 1960s, journalism professor Marshall McLuhan published “Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man,” a textbook in which he coined the now-famous expression, “the medium is the message.”

That’s never been more true than it is today.