“I’m glad he admitted it happened, but he does mention the words admire or admiration an awful lot during that statement. Yes, the women admired him as a comedian but the point is more that he had power over them and abused it.”
Right, and he said he had power over them because they admired him. No, he had power over them because of his professional success. He had power because he could advance their careers. If they didn’t think he was particularly funny or whatever, they probably still would have been happy to have him support their careers.
And I’m betting every single one of them, assuming they admired him before, stopped admiring him pretty quick. He still had power, though.