934 Harvey Weinstein a Serial Rapist. Sexual harassment and bullying are rife in Hollywood

*Harvey Weinstein a Serial Rapist. Sexual harassment and bullying are
rife in Hollywood*

Newsletter published on 13 October 2017

*(1) Actress says Harvey Weinstein raped her*

*(2) Weinstein a Serial Rapist - The New Yorker*

*(3) Actress: Sexual harassment and bullying are rife in Hollywood;
Weinstein is just the tip of the iceberg*

*(4) 27 accusers share their stories of Harvey Weinstein's alleged advances*

*(5) The Hollywood Conspiracy of Silence*

*(6) Harry Weinstein sex scandal: Why he got away with assaults for so long*

*(7) Nothing will change long-term in Hollywood*.*The Powerful vs the
Desperate*

**

*(1) Actress says Harvey Weinstein raped her*

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-13/harvey-weinstein-hw-*rape*d-me-rose-mcgowan-tweets/9046306

*Harvey Weinstein: Rose McGowan says 'HW raped me', in apparent
reference to disgraced producer*

Updated October 13, 2017 16:22:28

Rose McGowan has suggested disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein
*rape*d her.

One of the central figures in the misconduct allegations that have
engulfed one of Hollywood's most powerful men over the past week, the
Charmed and Scream actress, who had previously alleged Weinstein
sexually assaulted her in 1997, went further when she tweeted this
morning: "HW *rape*d me".

The initials were an apparent reference to Weinstein, who has been
accused by several actresses and models of sexual harassment, and The
Hollywood Reporter said the actress confirmed to them that she was
referring to the mogul.

She later shared an NBC story, which included quotes from Weinstein,
saying: "This is a prime example of how *you are being complicit in RAPE
CULTURE*. DO NOT GIVE RAPISTS A PLATFORM. Damn you."

The New York Times has reported that *Weinstein paid a financial
settlement of $100,000 to McGowan in 1997 *over an incident in a hotel
room at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah.

The Summit County Sheriff's Office, which shares a records system with
Utah's Park City Police, had no reports or calls involving Weinstein or
McGowan in the past 30 years, sheriff's spokesman Andrew Wright said.

Weinstein's representative Sallie Hofmeister did not immediately return
a message seeking comment, but has said: "Any *allegations of
non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr Weinstein*."

McGowan last year said she had been *rape*d by a "studio head".

After days of widening scandal, McGowan appeared emboldened to go
further in her descriptions of her past experiences with Weinstein.

Shortly before a series of tweets addressed to Amazon chief Jeff Bezos,
McGowan tweeted a woman warrior picture with #Rosearmy and stated "It's on".

*"I told the head of your studio that HW raped me," *said McGowan in
tweets directed to Bezos.

In subsequent tweets, McGowan appeared to suggest that *Amazon Studios*,
which is *overseen by Roy Price*, previously *dropped a project penned
by McGowan after she insisted Weinstein not be involved.*

Representatives for Amazon did not immediately respond to McGowan's
tweets but a short time later the company said *Price* had taken a leave
of absence after The Hollywood Reporter published a producer's detailed
claims of *harassment by Price.*

Producer Isa Hackett alleged that *Price* propositioned her in 2015
using crudely suggestive language.

Hackett, whose lawyer said did not intend to pursue legal action over
the alleged harassment, is the daughter of author Philip K Dick and a
producer of Amazon's Man in the High Castle.

Take a look at the comments to see what our readers thought about the
latest accusation against disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein.

The New Yorker ran an exposé this week reporting that *Weinstein had
allegedly sexually assaulted three women*, though the third woman was
unnamed.

Hollywood reacts

Numerous Hollywood figures have slammed Hollywood powerbroker Harvey
Weinstein, criticising his behaviour and "abuse of power".

The New York Times earlier reported that Weinstein paid a financial
settlement of $US100,000 to McGowan in 1997.

That settlement included provisions about speaking about the case in the
future.

McGowan, 44, has emerged as one of the most vocal in Hollywood about
sexual abuse and harassment in the industry.

She has *pushed for the remaining board members of The Weinstein Co to
resign* in the wake of the allegations against Weinstein and this
week*called Ben Affleck "a liar" *on Twitter, suggesting the actor knew
about Weinstein's conduct.

Representatives for Affleck — who apologised this week for grabbing a TV
host's breast — did not respond to messages regarding that allegation.

*(2) Weinstein a Serial Rapist - The New Yorker*

https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/from-aggressive-overtures-to-sexual-assault-harvey-weinsteins-accusers-tell-their-stories

 From Aggressive Overtures to Sexual Assault: Harvey Weinstein’s
Accusers Tell Their Stories

Multiple women share harrowing accounts of sexual assault and harassment
by the film executive.

By Ronan Farrow

The New Yorker

October 23, 2017 Issue

This story was first published on newyorker.com on October 10, 2017, at
10:47 A.M. The version below appears in the October 23, 2017, issue.

1.

Since the establishment of the first studios, a century ago, there have
been *few movie executives as dominant, or as domineering, as Harvey
Weinstei*n. He co-founded the production-and-distribution companies
Miramax and the Weinstein Company, helping to reinvent the model for
independent films with movies including “Sex, Lies, and Videotape,” “The
Crying Game,” “Pulp Fiction,” “The English Patient,” “Shakespeare in
Love,” and “The King’s Speech.” Beyond Hollywood, he has exercised his
influence as a prolific fund-raiser for Democratic Party candidates,
including**Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Weinstein combined a keen
eye for promising scripts, directors, and actors with a bullying, even
threatening, style of doing business, inspiring both fear and gratitude.
His movies have earned more than three hundred Oscar nominations, and,
at the annual awards ceremonies, he has been thanked more than almost
anyone else in movie history, ranking just after**Steven Spielberg and
right before God.

For more than twenty years, Weinstein, who is now sixty-five, has also
been trailed by *rumors of sexual harassment and assault*. His behavior
has been an *open secret *to many in Hollywood and beyond, but previous
attempts by many publications, including The New Yorker, to investigate
and publish the story over the years fell short of the demands of
journalistic evidence. Too few people were willing to speak, much less
allow a reporter to use their names, and *Weinstein and his associates
used nondisclosure agreements*, payoffs, and legal threats to suppress
their accounts. Asia Argento, an Italian film actress and director, said
that she did not speak out until now—Weinstein, she told me, *forcibly
performed oral sex on her*—because she feared that Weinstein would
“crush” her. “I know he has crushed a lot of people before,” Argento
said. “That’s why this story—in my case, it’s twenty years old, some of
them are older—has never come out.”

On October 5th, the New York Times, in a powerful**report by Jodi Kantor
and Megan Twohey, revealed multiple allegations of sexual harassment
against Weinstein, an article that led to the resignation of four
members of the Weinstein Company’s all-male board, and to Weinstein’s
firing.

The story, however, is complex, and there is more to know and to
understand. In the course of a ten-month investigation, *I was told by
thirteen women that, between the nineteen-nineties and 2015, Weinstein
sexually harassed or assaulted them*. Their allegations corroborate and
overlap with the Times’s revelations, and also include far more serious
claims.

*Three of the women*—among them Argento and a former aspiring actress
named Lucia Evans—*told me that Weinstein had raped them*, forcibly
performing or receiving*oral sex or forcing vaginal sex*. Four women
said that they had experienced unwanted touching that could be
classified as an assault. In an audio recording captured during a New
York Police Department sting operation in 2015, Weinstein admits to
groping a Filipina-Italian model named Ambra Battilana Gutierrez,
describing it as behavior he is “used to.” Four of the women I
interviewed cited encounters in which Weinstein exposed himself or
masturbated in front of them.

**Weinstein admits to groping a woman, in a recording secretly captured
during an N.Y.P.D. sting operation.

*Sixteen former and current executives and assistants* at Weinstein’s
companies told me that they witnessed or had knowledge of unwanted
sexual advances and touching at events associated with Weinstein’s films
and in the workplace. They and others described a pattern of
professional meetings that were little more than thin pretexts for
sexual advances on young actresses and models. All sixteen said that the
behavior was widely known within both Miramax and the Weinstein Company.
Messages sent by Irwin Reiter, a senior company executive, to Emily
Nestor, one of the women who alleged that she was harassed, described
the “mistreatment of women” as a serial problem that the Weinstein
Company had been struggling with in recent years. Other employees
described what was, in essence, a culture of complicity at Weinstein’s
places of business, with numerous people throughout his companies fully
aware of his behavior but either abetting it or looking the other way.
Some employees said that they were enlisted in a subterfuge to make the
victims feel safe. A female executive with the company described how
Weinstein’s assistants and others served as a “honeypot”—they would
initially join a meeting along with a woman Weinstein was interested in,
but then Weinstein would dismiss them, leaving him alone with the woman.
(On October 10th, the Weinstein Company’s board issued a statement,
writing that “these allegations come as an utter surprise to the Board.
Any suggestion that the Board had knowledge of this conduct is false.”)

Virtually all of the people I spoke with told me that they
were*frightened of retaliation*. “If Harvey were to discover my
identity, I’m worried that he could ruin my life,” one former employee
told me. Many said that they had seen Weinstein’s associates confront
and intimidate those who crossed him, and feared that they would be
similarly targeted. Four actresses, including Mira Sorvino and Rosanna
Arquette, told me they suspected that, after they rejected Weinstein’s
advances or complained about them to company representatives, Weinstein
had them removed from projects or dissuaded people from hiring them.
Multiple sources said that Weinstein frequently bragged about planting
items in media outlets about those who spoke against him; these sources
feared similar retribution. Several pointed to Gutierrez’s case: after
she went to the police, negative items discussing her sexual history and
impugning her credibility began rapidly appearing in New York gossip
pages. (In the taped conversation, part of which The New Yorker posted
online, Weinstein asks Gutierrez to join him for “five minutes,” and
warns, “Don’t ruin your friendship with me for five minutes.”)

Several former employees told me that they were speaking about
Weinstein’s alleged behavior now because they *hoped to protect women in
the future*. “This wasn’t a one-off. This wasn’t a period of time,” an
executive who worked for Weinstein for many years told me. “This was
ongoing predatory behavior toward women—whether they consented or not.”

It’s likely that the women who spoke to me have recently felt
increasingly emboldened to talk about their experiences because of the
way the world has changed regarding issues of sex and power. Their
disclosures follow in the wake of stories alleging sexual misconduct by
public figures, including**Donald Trump,**Bill O’Reilly,**Roger Ailes,
and**Bill Cosby. In October, 2016, a month before the election, a tape
emerged of Trump telling a celebrity-news reporter, “And when you’re a
star, they let you do it. You can do anything. . . . Grab ’em by the
pussy. You can do anything.” This past April, O’Reilly, a host at Fox
News, was forced to resign after Fox was discovered to have paid five
women millions of dollars in exchange for silence about their
accusations of sexual harassment. Ailes, the former head of Fox News,
resigned in July, 2016, after he was accused of sexual harassment. Cosby
went on trial this summer, charged with drugging and sexually assaulting
a woman. The trial ended with a hung jury. [...]

While Weinstein and his representatives have said that the incidents
were consensual, and were not widespread or severe, the women I spoke to
tell a very different story.

2.

Lucia Stoller, now Lucia Evans, was approached by Weinstein at Cipriani
Upstairs, a club in New York, in 2004, the summer before her senior year
at Middlebury College. Evans, who is now a marketing consultant, wanted
to be an actress, and although she had heard rumors about Weinstein she
let him have her number. Weinstein began calling her late at night, or
having an assistant call her, asking to meet. She declined, but said
that she would do readings during the day for a casting executive.
Before long, an assistant called to set up a daytime meeting at the
Miramax office in Tribeca, first with Weinstein and then with a casting
executive, who was a woman. “I was, like, Oh, a woman, great, I feel
safe,” Evans said.

“You sold our cow for magical beanbags?”

When Evans arrived for the meeting, the building was full of people. She
was led to an office with exercise equipment in it, and takeout boxes on
the floor. Weinstein was there, alone. Evans said that she found him
frightening. “The type of control he exerted—it was very real,” she told
me. “Even just his presence was intimidating.”

In the meeting, Evans recalled, “he immediately was simultaneously
flattering me and demeaning me and making me feel bad about myself.”
Weinstein told her that she’d “be great in ‘Project Runway’ ”—the show,
which Weinstein helped produce, premièred later that year—but only if
she lost weight. He also told her about two scripts, a horror movie and
a teen love story, and said one of his associates would discuss them
with her.

“At that point, after that, is when he assaulted me,” Evans said. “He
forced me to perform oral sex on him.” As she objected, Weinstein took
his penis out of his pants and pulled her head down onto it. “I said,
over and over, ‘I don’t want to do this, stop, don’t,’ ” she recalled.
“I tried to get away, but maybe I didn’t try hard enough. I didn’t want
to kick him or fight him.” In the end, she said, “he’s a big guy. He
overpowered me.” She added, “I just sort of gave up. That’s the most
horrible part of it, and that’s why he’s been able to do this for so
long to so many women: people give up, and then they feel like it’s
their fault.”

Weinstein appeared to find the encounter unremarkable. “It was like it
was just another day for him,” Evans said. “It was no emotion.”
Afterward, he acted as if nothing had happened. She wondered how
Weinstein’s staff could not know what was going on.

Following the encounter, she met with the female casting executive, who
sent her the scripts, and also came to one of her acting-class readings
a few weeks later. (Evans does not believe that the executive was aware
of Weinstein’s behavior.) Weinstein, Evans said, began calling her again
late at night. She told me that the entire sequence of events had a
routine quality. “It feels like a very streamlined process,” she said.
“Female casting director, Harvey wants to meet. Everything was designed
to make me feel comfortable before it happened. And then the shame in
what happened was also designed to keep me quiet.”

Evans said that, after the incident, “I just put it in a part of my
brain and closed the door.” She continued to blame herself for not
fighting harder. “It was always my fault for not stopping him,” she
said. “I had an eating problem for years. I was disgusted with myself.
It’s funny, all these unrelated things I did to hurt myself because of
this one thing.” Evans told friends some of what had happened, but felt
largely unable to talk about it. “I ruined several really good
relationships because of this. My schoolwork definitely suffered, and my
roommates told me to go to a therapist because they thought I was going
to kill myself.”

In the years that followed, Evans encountered Weinstein occasionally.
Once, while she was walking her dog in Greenwich Village, she saw him
getting into a car. “I very clearly saw him. I made eye contact,” she
said. “I remember getting chills down my spine just looking at him. I
was so horrified. I have nightmares about him to this day.”

3.

Asia Argento, who was born in Rome, played the role of a glamorous thief
named Beatrice in the crime drama “B. Monkey,” which was released in the
U.S. in 1999. The distributor was Miramax. In a series of long and often
emotional interviews, Argento told me that Weinstein assaulted her while
they were working together.

At the time, Argento was twenty-one and had twice won the Italian
equivalent of the Oscar. Argento said that, in 1997, one of Weinstein’s
producers invited her to what she understood to be a party thrown by
Miramax at the Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc, on the French Riviera. Argento
felt professionally obliged to attend. When the producer led her
upstairs that evening, she said, there was no party, only a hotel room,
empty but for Weinstein: “I’m, like, ‘Where is the fucking party?’ ” She
recalled the producer telling her, “Oh, we got here too early,” before
he left her alone with Weinstein. (The producer denies bringing Argento
to the room that night.) At first, Weinstein was solicitous, praising
her work. Then he left the room. When he returned, he was wearing a
bathrobe and holding a bottle of lotion. “He asks me to give a massage.
I was, like, ‘Look, man, I am no fucking fool,’ ” Argento told me. “But,
looking back, I am a fucking fool. And I am still trying to come to
grips with what happened.”

Argento said that, after she reluctantly agreed to give Weinstein a
massage, *he pulled her skirt up, forced her legs apart, and performed
oral sex on her* as she repeatedly told him to stop. Weinstein
“terrified me, and he was so big,” she said. “It wouldn’t stop. It was a
nightmare.” [...]

Other women were too afraid to allow me to use their names, but their
stories are uncannily similar to these allegations. One, a woman who
worked with Weinstein, explained her reluctance to be identified. “He
drags your name through the mud, and he’ll come after you hard with his
legal team.”

Like others I spoke to, this woman said that Weinstein brought her to a
hotel room under a professional pretext, changed into a bathrobe, and,
she said, “forced himself on me sexually.” She told him no, repeatedly
and clearly. Afterward, she experienced “horror, disbelief, and shame,”
and considered going to the police. “I thought it would be a ‘he said,
she said,’ and I thought about how impressive his legal team is, and I
thought about how much I would lose, and I decided to just move
forward,” she said. The woman continued to have professional contact
with Weinstein after the alleged rape, and acknowledged that subsequent
communications between them might suggest a normal working relationship.
“I was in a vulnerable position and I needed my job,” she told me. “It
just increases the shame and the guilt.”

4.

Mira Sorvino, who starred in several of Weinstein’s films, told me that
he sexually harassed her and tried to pressure her into a physical
relationship while they were working together. She said that, at the
Toronto International Film Festival in September, 1995, she found
herself in a hotel room with Weinstein, who produced the movie she was
there to promote, “Mighty Aphrodite,” for which she later won an Academy
Award. “He started massaging my shoulders, which made me very
uncomfortable, and then tried to get more physical, sort of chasing me
around,” she recalled. She scrambled for ways to ward him off, telling
him that it was against her religion to date married men. (At the time,
Weinstein was married to Eve Chilton, a former assistant.) Then she left
the room.

A few weeks later, in New York City, her phone rang after midnight. It
was Weinstein, saying that he had new marketing ideas for the film and
asking to get together. Sorvino offered to meet him at an all-night
diner, but he said he was coming over to her apartment and hung up. “I
freaked out,” she told me. She called a friend and asked him to come
over and pose as her boyfriend. The friend hadn’t arrived by the time
Weinstein rang her doorbell. “Harvey had managed to bypass my doorman,”
she said. “I opened the door terrified, brandishing my twenty-pound
Chihuahua mix in front of me, as though that would do any good.” When
she told Weinstein that her new boyfriend was on his way, he became
dejected and left.

Sorvino said that she struggled for years with whether to come forward
with her story, partly because she was aware that it was mild compared
with the experiences of other women, including Sophie Dix, an actress
she spoke to at the time. (Dix told me that she had locked herself in a
hotel bathroom to escape Weinstein, and that he had masturbated in front
of her. She said it was “a classic case” of “someone not understanding
the word ‘no.’ . . . I must have said no a thousand times.”) The fact
that Weinstein was so instrumental in Sorvino’s success also made her
hesitate: “I have great respect for Harvey as an artist, and owe him and
his brother a debt of gratitude for the early success in my career,
including the Oscar.” She had professional contact with Weinstein for
years after the incident, and remains a close friend of his brother and
business partner, Bob Weinstein. (She never told Bob about his brother’s
behavior.)

Sorvino said that she felt afraid and intimidated, and that the
incidents had a significant impact on her. When she told a female
employee at Miramax about the harassment, the woman’s reaction “was
shock and horror that I had mentioned it.” Sorvino appeared in a few
more of Weinstein’s films afterward, but felt that saying no to
Weinstein and reporting the harassment had ultimately hurt her career.
She said, “There may have been other factors, but I definitely felt iced
out and that my rejection of Harvey had something to do with it.” [...]

The female executive who declined inappropriate meetings told me that
her lawyer advised her that she could be liable for hundreds of
thousands of *dollars in damages for violating the nondisclosure
agreement *attached to her employment contract. “I believe this is more
important than keeping a confidentiality agreement,” she said. “The more
of us that can confirm or validate for these women if this did happen, I
think it’s really important for their justice to do that.” She
continued, “I wish I could have done more. I wish I could have stopped
it. And this is my way of doing that now.”

“He’s been systematically doing this for a very long time,” the former
employee who had been made to act as a “honeypot” told me. She said that
she often thinks of something Weinstein whispered—to himself, as far as
she could tell—after one of his many shouting sprees at the office. It
so unnerved her that she pulled out her phone and tapped it into a memo,
word for word: “There are things I’ve done that nobody knows.” ?

Ronan Farrow is a television and print reporter and the author of the
forthcoming “War on Peace: The End of Diplomacy and the Decline of
American Influence,” from W. W. Norton.

*(3) Actress: Sexual harassment and bullying are rife in Hollywood;
Weinstein is just the tip of the iceberg*

**

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-13/harvey-weinstein-emma-thompson-says-sexual-harassment-endemic/9046144

Harvey Weinstein: Emma Thompson says sexual harassment and bullying
'endemic' in Hollywood

Updated October 13, 2017 11:49:40

*Sexual harassment and bullying is rife in Hollywood* and allegations of
assault against disgraced movie producer Harvey Weinstein are *just the
tip of the iceberg*, Oscar-winning actress Emma Thompson has said.

The Sense and Sensibility star said she was not aware of allegations
against Weinstein before The New York Times revealed settlements had
been made with several women who had complained about being assaulted or
harassed by the media mogul.

"I didn't know about these things, but they don't surprise me at all,
and they're endemic to the system anyway," Thompson told the BBC.

"What I find sort of extraordinary is that this man is at the top of a
very particular iceberg, you know, he's … I don't think you can describe
him as a sex addict — he's a predator.

"What he's, as it were, at the top of the ladder of is a system of
harassment, and belittling, and bullying, and interference."

Hollywood reacts

Thompson said there were*"many" sexual predators in the entertainment
industry.*

"Maybe not to that degree," she said.

"Do they have to all be as bad as him to make it count?

"Does it only count if you really have done it to loads and loads and
loads of woman?

"Or does it count if you do it to one woman once? I think the latter."

The British actress's comments came as The Guardian reported that London
police had received an allegation of sexual assault against Weinstein
and Kate Beckinsale joined other high-profile film stars and models in
accusing the 65-year-old of inappropriate behaviour.

Weinstein has denied any non-consensual sexual conduct with any women. [...]

*(4) 27 accusers share their stories of Harvey Weinstein's alleged advances*
http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/27-accusers-share-stories-harvey-weinsteins-alleged-advances/story?id=50398447**

**

By MICHAEL ROTHMAN , LESLEY MESSER, JOI-MARIE MCKENZIE, LAUREN EFFRON **

**

Oct 12, 2017, 5:08 PM ET**

**

Numerous women have come forward with explosive allegations of sexual
harassment, and in some cases, assault, by movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.
[...]**

**

Here is a list of *27 women who spoke out on the record*, along
with**their allegations against Weinstein.**

**

Kate Beckinsale**

**

The actress took to Instagram Thursday, claiming that she "was
called**to meet Harvey Weinstein at the Savoy Hotel when I was 17."**

**

Beckinsale, 44, said she assumed they'd meet in a conference room,
but**instead claimed she was told by the reception desk "to go to
his**room."**

**

"He opened the door in his bathrobe. I was incredibly naive and
young**and it did not cross my mind that this older, unattractive man
would**expect me to have any sexual interest in him. After declining
alcohol**and announcing that I had school in the morning I left, uneasy
but**unscathed," she claimed.**

**

Heather Graham**

**

The "Boogie Nights" actress wrote in Variety that Weinstein
had**allegedly *implied that she had to sleep with him to be in one of
his films*. "There was no explicit mention that to star in one of
those**films I had to sleep with him, but the subtext was there,"
she**claimed.**

**

"A few weeks later, I was asked to do a follow-up meeting at
his**hotel," she alleged. "I called one of my actress friends to explain
my**discomfort with the situation, and she offered to come with me.
En**route, she called me to say she couldn’t make it. Not wanting to be
at**the hotel alone with him, I made up an excuse -- I had an
early**morning and would have to postpone. Harvey told me that my
actress**friend was already at his hotel and that both of them would be
very**disappointed if I didn’t show. I knew he was lying, so I politely
and**apologetically reiterated that I could no longer come by."**

**

Graham, 47, said she was "never hired for one of his films, and
I**didn't speak up about my experience."**

**

Cara Delevingne**

**

The actress said on social media Wednesday that she's had two**allegedly
inappropriate incidents with Weinstein.**

**

Delevingne, who has said that she is bisexual, alleged Weinstein
once**called to advise her against ever going public with a
same-sex**relationship for the good of her career. She also alleged that
a year**or so after that "odd and uncomfortable call," Weinstein brought
her**to a hotel room after a business meeting for an upcoming film,
where**she claims he asked her to kiss another woman before making a
sexual**advance himself. She rebuffed him and left.**

**

She shared that she later landed the role in the movie, but
always**questioned why. Delevingne and Weinstein worked together on the
2017**film "Tulip Fever."**

**

"Since then I felt awful that I did the movie. I felt like I
didn't**deserve the part," she wrote. "I was so hesitant about
speaking**out....I didn't want to hurt his family. I felt guilty as if I
did**something wrong. I was also terrified that this sort of thing
had**happened to so many women I know but no one had said anything
because**of fear."**

**

Léa Seydoux**

**

The French actress wrote in The Guardian that she saw
Weinstein**allegedly acting inappropriate several times throughout her
career.**

**

Seydoux also detailed one alleged incident when Weinstein invited
her**to "his hotel room for a drink." A female assistant then left the
two**of them alone. "That's the moment where he started losing
control,"**she alleged.**

**

"We were talking on the sofa when he suddenly *jumped on me and tried to
kiss me*," she claimed. "I had to defend myself. He’s big and fat,**so I
had to be forceful to resist him. I left his room,
thoroughly**disgusted. I wasn’t afraid of him, though. Because I knew
what kind of**man he was all along."**

**

Ashley Judd**

**

Judd told the Times that about 20 years ago, she was invited to
a**Beverly Hills hotel, where *Weinstein asked for a massage or to have
the young actress watch him shower*.**

**

“I said no, a lot of ways, a lot of times, and he always came back
at**me with some new ask," she said in the Times story from last week.
She**rebuffed him but later appeared in two of his films without
incident,**she told the Times.**

**

Mira Sorvino**

**

The Oscar winner found herself in a hotel room in 1995 with
Weinstein,**she told The New *Yorker*.**

**

“He started massaging my shoulders, which made me very
uncomfortable,**and then tried to get more physical, sort of chasing me
around,” she**said, adding that she then left the room.**

**

She believes that her *rebuttal hurt her career*, though she
maintained**a relationship with Weinstein's brother who she claims she
never told**about the incident.**

**

Lucia Evans**

**

Evans told The New *Yorker* the assault began in 2004. She was
aspiring**actress and said Weinstein "forced me to perform oral sex on
him.”**

**

“I said, over and over, ‘I don’t want to do this, stop, don’t,’ ”
she**said. “He’s a big guy. He overpowered me.”**

**

Asia Argento**

**

The Italian actress was invited under the guise of a “party" in
1997,**but only found Weinstein in his hotel room, she told The New
*Yorker*.**

**

He asked for a massage then*forced oral sex on her*, she said.**

**

“I was not willing,” she said. “I said, ‘No, no, no.”**

**

Argento maintained a relationship with Weinstein and had
consensual**sexual relations with him multiple times over the course of
the next**five years.**

**

Ambra Battilana Gutierrez**

**

Gutierrez was a model in 2015 when she said she went to
Weinstein's**office for a business meeting, she told The New *Yorker*.
She claims he*groped her and tried to reach his hand up her skirt*. She
reported the**alleged assault to the New York Police Department.**

**

The next day, she met with Weinstein again wearing a wire in the
hope**of recording a confession. In the recording, the model asks
Weinstein**why he had grabbed her breasts the day before. He replies,
"Oh,**please, I’m sorry, just come on in. I’m used to that. Come
on.**Please," according to audio released by the New *Yorker*.**

**

As the recording continues, Weinstein tries to convince her to
come**into his hotel room while he showers despite her protests. After
a**nearly two-minute encounter, he agrees to let Gutierrez leave.**

**

The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office decided not to file
charges**after a two-week investigation and Weinstein was never
prosecuted.**They later reached a confidential settlement that included
an**affidavit that behavior he confessed to did not happen.**

**

Rosanna Arquette**

**

Arquette said she met Weinstein in his hotel room in the early 1990s.**

**

She claims Weinstein tried to force her to give him a massage,
then**tried to *force her hand on his genitals*. Although she did have
roles**in subsequent films, she claims her refusal hurt her career from
that**moment on, she told The New *Yorker*. Arquette also spoke to The
New**York Times.**

**

Emily Nestor**

**

She was a front desk assistant for Weinstein, and she told The
New*Yorker* that when she first began working for the producer in 2014,
he**asked her to coffee.**

**

There, she alleges Weinstein told her, “I could put you in my
London**office, and you could work there and you could be my girlfriend.”**

**

She told The New *Yorker* that it's a "clear case of sexual harassment."**

**

She told The New *Yorker* that she did have a conversation with
company**officials but did not pursue it because she was told Weinstein
would**be informed of everything she said.**

**

Emma de Caunes**

**

The French actress told The New *Yorker* that in 2010, she went to
his**hotel room under the impression that they would discuss a
potential**movie role. He took shower and came out naked. She claims
Weinstein**demanded that she get on the bed.**

**

She declined and left.**

**

Jessica Barth**

**

Barth, an actress, told The New *Yorker* that she met Weinstein at
the**Golden Globes in 2011 and she was also invited to his hotel
room,**where he dangled a film role over her in exchange for a
"naked**massage."**

**

She refused and left.**

**

Gwyneth Paltrow**

**

The actress credits Weinstein with giving her her star-making role
in**the film "Emma," and according to her interview with the New
York**Times, before filming began, Weinstein invited her to join him
for**massages in his hotel room, which she declined.**

**

Paltrow said their relationship was rocky for some time afterward,
as**Weinstein was apparently angry that she'd confided in her boyfriend
at**the time, Brad Pitt. Paltrow went on to win an Oscar for
another**Weinstein-produced film, "Shakespeare in Love."**

**

Angelina Jolie**

**

Jolie said in an email to the Times that she rejected unwanted**advances
from Harvey Weinstein in the '90s and from that point**forward, made a
point to warn other women against working with him.**

**

Tomi-Ann Roberts**

**

The aspiring actress told the Times that she met Weinstein in 1984
and**hoped he could help her career. She said she arrived to a meeting
to**find him nude in a bathtub and claimed he suggested "getting naked
in**front of him" to help with her audition. She declined.**

**

Katherine Kendall**

**

Kendall claimed in an interview with the Times that after she
refused**to give Weinstein a massage in the early '90s, he asked her to
show**him her breasts. She said no.**

**

Judith Godreche**

**

The French actress told the Times that at the 1996 Cannes
Film**Festival, Weinstein asked her to give him a massage and after she
said**no, she found the producer "pressing against me and pulling off
my**sweater." She managed to leave the room.**

**

A female Miramax executive told her to keep quiet, she alleged.**

**

Dawn Dunning**

**

Dunning, a former actress, told the Times that Weinstein
allegedly**offered her contracts for his next three films if she would
have**three-way sex with him. When she declined, she claims he
allegedly**told her, "You'll never make it in this business."**

**

Louisette Geiss**

**

During a Tuesday press conference with her attorney Gloria
Allred,**Geiss, a former actress and screenwriter, accused Weinstein
of**offering to greenlight her script if she'd watch him masturbate.
She**left the room, and soon thereafter, the industry.**

**

Laura Madden**

**

The former Weinstein Company employee told the Times that
Weinstein**repeatedly asked for massages.**

**

“It was so manipulative," she claimed. "You constantly
question**yourself -- am I the one who is the problem?”**

**

Zelda Perkins**

**

The Times reported the former London assistant to Weinstein while
he**was at Miramax confronted her boss about his alleged treatment of
her**and others back in 1998, threatening to initiate legal action or
go**public with her story if he didn't change his behavior.
Perkins**settled with a company lawyer and declined to comment,
according to**the Times.**

**

Romola Garai**

**

The British actress told The Guardian that when she was 18 years
old,**she allegedly had to meet Weinstein in his hotel room.**

**

"So I had to go to his hotel room in the Savoy, and he answered
the**door in his bathrobe," she claimed. "I was only 18. I felt violated
by**it, it has stayed very clearly in my memory."**

**

Garai claimed she spoke to Weinstein while he sat there in a
bathrobe.**“The point was that he could get a young woman to do that,
that I**didn’t have a choice, that it was humiliating for me and that he
had**the power. It was an abuse of power,” she said.**

**

Sarah Ann Masse**

**

The comedian claimed she had an encounter with Weinstein back in
2008**when she was interviewing to be the nanny for his three children
with**Eve Chilton. After several interviews with female assistants,
Masse**claimed that Weinstein asked to meet with her.**

**

When she arrived to his Connecticut home, he was in his "boxer
shorts**and an undershirt," she told Variety.**

**

At the end of the interview, she claimed Weinstein “gave me this**really
tight, close hug that lasted for quite a long period of time.**He was
still in his underwear. Then he told me he loved me. I left**right after
that.”**

**

Liza Campbell**

**

The writer wrote in The Times of London that in 1995 she had
an**inappropriate encounter with Weinstein in his hotel room.**

**

Although others were there when she arrived, they suddenly
"vanished,"**she claimed.**

**

“I could hear him moving around and suddenly the sound of bath
taps**running," Campbell, whose father was the 6th Earl of Cawdor,
claimed.**"‘What do you say we both jump in the bath?’ he hollered. I
could hear**the thump of shoes being taken off and felt shocked that the
meeting**had turned sleazy.”**

**

She said she found an exit and left.**

**

Zoë Brock**

**

The New Zealand writer and model wrote in a blog on Medium that
she**allegedly had an inappropriate encounter with Weinstein when she
was**23 years old in his suite at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc.**

**

“Harvey left the room, but not for long,” she wrote. “He
re-emerged**naked a couple of minutes later and asked if I would give
him a**massage. Panicking, in shock, I remember weighing up the options
and**wondering how much I needed to placate him to keep myself safe.
He**asked if I would like a massage instead, and for a second I
thought**this might be a way to give him an inch without him taking a
mile.”**

**

She said she confronted him and emerged physically unharmed by
the**experience but it was nonetheless shocking.**

**

Lauren Sivan**

**

In 2007, Sivan was a news anchor on Long Island 12, a local
cable**channel in New York, when she said she met Weinstein at a New
York**City restaurant.**

**

“We talked about news, we talked about politics, we talked about
our**love of history,” she told ABC News' “20/20.” “He was
really**flattering … which at the time made me feel great.”**

**

Sivan said they left the restaurant and *went to a club, where Weinstein
said he was an owner*, and she accepted when he offered to**give her a
tour of the downstairs kitchen area. But when she got**there, she
realized the area was empty and said she became**uncomfortable.**

**

“He’s blocking the exit with his body,” she claimed. “He leaned in
to**kiss me at that point, and I recoiled. I realized, ‘Oh, this is a
bad**situation.’ I apologized to him. I said, ‘I’m so sorry if I gave
you**the wrong idea. I’m in a relationship.’”**

**

“He said, ‘Just stand there and be quiet,” Sivan alleged. “And
that’s**when he exposed himself and began masturbating, and I just stood
there**in shock and watched until he eventually ejaculated into a
potted**plant.”**

**

A day or two later, Sivan said Weinstein called her and asked to
meet**up with her again. She said she told him she wasn’t interested
and**after that, she said she never heard from him again. Sivan said
she**has shared her story with friends but never spoke about it
publicly**until now and never reported it.

**

*(5) The Hollywood Conspiracy of Silence*

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/452554/harvey-weinstein-scandal-hollywoods-silence

by KYLE SMITH

October 11, 2017 2:06 PM

It’s nearly *impossible to believe the big stars who say they didn’t
know about Harvey Weinstein*’s revolting acts.

Accepting the 2005 Oscar he won for gaining a few pounds and being
tortured in Syriana, George Clooney made the case for Hollywood as
America’s moral conscience:

You know, we are a little bit out of touch in Hollywood every once in a
while, I think. It’s probably a good thing. We’re the ones who talked
about AIDS when it was just being whispered, and we talked about civil
rights when it wasn’t really popular. And we, you know, we bring up
subjects, we are the ones — this Academy, this group of people gave
Hattie McDaniel an Oscar in 1939 when blacks were still sitting in the
backs of theaters. I’m proud to be a part of this Academy, proud to be
part of this community, and proud to be out of touch. And I thank you so
much for this.

Leaving aside that, on the night she won her Oscar for Gone with the
Wind, McDaniel was in fact made to sit away from her colleagues at a
table against a far wall, where was Clooney’s moral conscience for the
20 years he was silent about the serial sexual predator who was running
amok in his own industry? How can Clooney, Meryl Streep, and their peers
continue to claim America’s moral high ground when they simply shrugged
at what was going on with their pal Harvey Weinstein?

Their excuse — “We didn’t know” — doesn’t cut it. Clooney’s Ocean’s
Eleven-Twelve-Thirteen costar Brad Pitt knew very well what Harvey
Weinstein was up to. Pitt had once threatened to give Weinstein a
“Missouri whooping” after the producer sexually harassed his
then-girlfriend Gwyneth Paltrow in the 1990s. All of those months the
pair spent on sets together, they never thought to compare notes on
Weinstein’s behavior? Another Ocean’s buddy, Matt Damon, personally
called up Sharon Waxman, then a New York Times reporter, to intercede
against a story that would have been unflattering to Weinstein. Was
Damon also not curious about what was going on with his producer-mentor?
Did Damon also never talk to Pitt on the set of the Ocean’s movies? Or
on the set of The Departed, which Pitt produced and Damon starred in? Or
maybe in between takes on Happy Feet 2, in which Pitt and Damon played a
zany pair of gay crustaceans?

Note the curiously limited wording of the denials from Damon and
Clooney, though. Entertainment reporters, tending to be both a) in awe
of their subjects and b) unschooled in Washington-style
spot-the-loophole weasel talk, haven’t quite nailed down what either of
them knew. “We know this stuff goes on in the world,” Damon said. “I did
five or six movies with Harvey. I never saw this. I think a lot of
actors have come out and said, everybody’s saying we all knew. That’s
not true. This type of predation happens behind closed doors, and out of
public view.” “I’ve never seen any of this behavior — ever,” Clooney
told The Daily Beast.

Of course Damon and Clooney never saw the misbehavior. When Weinstein
wants a tête-à-tête with Ashley Judd in his bathrobe, Damon and Clooney
aren’t going to be invited along. The question is, did they know what
Weinstein was up to? Clooney insists, “I had no idea that it had gone to
the level of having to pay off eight women for their silence, and that
these women were threatened and victimized.” The comment seems to be
limited to “these women” — the eight who were paid off. Like a
politician, Clooney is answering a question nobody asked. Did he know
Weinstein was inviting actresses to business meetings that turned into
bedroom meetings that turned into sexual overtures with career
implications? Weinstein has been, for more than two decades, one of the
most-talked-about figures in Hollywood. Could news of such revolting
acts really never have reached Clooney’s ears? It seems more likely that
Clooney was part of a conspiracy of silence.

Movie Clooney is very interested in exposing the pernicious actions of
oil companies (Syriana), chemical companies (Michael Clayton), TV
hucksters (Money Monster), McCarthyism (Good Night, and Good Luck), and
the masterminds of the first Gulf War (Three Kings). Real-life Clooney
plugs his ears when people in Hollywood gossip about a subject that has
evidently been a hot topic of conversation since Pauly Shore was
considered a movie star. Weinstein’s habits were such an open secret
they were joked about on 30 Rock and at an Oscar press conference.

As for Streep, she no doubt believed she was speaking truth to power
when, upon receipt of a career honor at the Golden Globes ceremony this
year, she spent her entire speech heaving broadsides at President Trump.
Does Trump constitute power in her world, though? It isn’t like Trump
can do much of anything in response except send a couple of grumpy
tweets. *Power, to Streep, is someone like Weinstein, someone who could
cast her or not cast her*, possibly even influence the hiring decisions
of others. And *Weinstein’s skill in campaigning for Oscars* is
unparalleled. He was widely credited for winning her a third Oscar for
The Iron Lady, notably by Streep herself, who said in her acceptance
speech, “I want to thank God — Harvey Weinstein.”

What are young actresses propositioned by Weinstein supposed to make of
it when the *foremost practitioner of their profession*, the one they
look up to more than any other and in whose footsteps they would dearly
love to follow, *is praising the executive who behaved so reprehensibly*
toward them? The message could hardly be more clear to them that
Weinsteinian behavior is simply the price that must be paid.

Are we to believe that Streep is the only actress on earth who didn’t
know what Weinstein was up to?

Or are we to believe that Streep is the only actress on earth who didn’t
know what Weinstein was up to? The New *Yorker* story this week contains
this line about Lucia Stoller (now Evans), an actress who says Weinstein
forced her to give him oral sex. “The summer before her senior year at
Middlebury College,” we learn, the producer approached the young woman
at a party. “Evans wanted to be an actress, and although she had heard
rumors about Weinstein she let him have her number.” Would Streep have
us believe that aspiring actresses still in college knew more about
industry players than she did? Streep now says flatly, “I didn’t know
about these other offenses. ... I did not know about his having meetings
in his hotel room, his bathroom, or other inappropriate, coercive acts.”
Think of all of the hundreds of actresses, and thousands of other
industry people, Streep has worked with over the years. None of this
ever came up?

For Clooney or Damon or Pitt or Streep to pick up a phone and call a
reporter to speak about Harvey Weinstein’s predatory behavior all these
years would have taken a minimal amount of guts. It could have cost them
gigs, or awards. The *Weinstein debacle has implicated* more or less
everyone in Hollywood who knew about the abhorrent behavior and remained
silent, which must mean *just about everyone in Hollywood*. From now on
the leading Hollywood personalities deserve nothing but derision when
they pretend to be courageous truth-tellers. They are neither.

*(6) Harry Weinstein sex scandal: Why he got away with assaults for so long*

http://www.news.com.au/finance/business/media/why-was-harvey-weinstein-so-powerful/news-story/7d1b723e1c94b9ad159229e91597b4bc

Harry Weinstein sex scandal: Why Producer got away with alleged assaults
for so long

FOR decades, people stayed silent as Harvey Weinstein allegedly harassed
and assaulted women. What did he have over everyone?

Wenlei Ma

OCTOBER 13, 2017 1:22AM

UNLESS you paid a lot of attention to the inner workings of Hollywood,
you probably didn’t know Harvey Weinstein’s name a week ago. But, oh
boy, you know it now.

Plagued by an ever growing scandal involving allegations of sexual
harassment and assault going back decades, Weinstein’s reputation is
done. *His name is even being taken off the credits of upcoming
projects* he was involved with, including a David O. Russell TV series
and The Current War starring Benedict Cumberbatch.

 From what started off as rumours, it is now a howling chorus as the
industry’s most famous players line up to condemn his behaviour.

But how did it get to this point? How was Weinstein able to amass*so
much power as to command so much fealty and, consequently, silence?* [...]

Weinstein’s canny ability to market and sell a movie meant he could make
or break your career at his whim. If he liked you and your project, he
would move heaven and earth to make sure everyone knew about it. [...]

While many of his collaborators have come out to say they never knew
about Weinstein’s proclivities or had previously dismissed whispers as
unsubstantiated rumours, the*sheer volume of people who have since
emerged with their horror stories* lends credibility to the
“*Hollywood’s worst kept secret*” theory.

Ashley Judd and Rose McGowan were the first household names to go on the
record. Asia Argento, Mira Sorvino, Gwyneth Paltrow, Romola Garai,
Judith Godreche, Rosanna Arquette and Angelina Jolie are among the others.

Lea Seydoux said Weinstein jumped on her and tried to kiss her. Heather
Graham said she was never hired on any Weinstein movies after she
spurned his advances.

The reason Weinstein got away with it for so long is because of the
power imbalance that exists in any industry between those that control
the money and everyone else.

Weinstein isn’t the first producer to throw his weight around and he
certainly won’t be the last. Hollywood history is littered with men with
outsized power, including those whose names are still plastered across
studio entrances, the likes of *Louis B. Mayer and Jack Warner*.

When Weinstein released his statement in response to The New York Times’
expose and blamed the culture in which he grew up, the 60s and the 70s,
he wasn’t entirely wrong — that was how it “worked” for a long time.
What he failed to acknowledge is that is not how it’s supposed to work
in 2017.

CALLING THE SHOTS

For those asking — what does a movie producer do anyway? — producers are
responsible for everything from financing, to distribution, to marketing
and everything in between. The directors are the creative power behind a
film but it’s the *producers* who*call the real shots*, which often
*includes casting approval. They can rule out an actor in an instant* or
insist on someone different.

And you only need to look at how producer Kathleen Kennedy sacked
directors Chris Miller, Phil Lord and Colin Trevorrow from two upcoming
Star Wars movies to understand who really has the power.

The movie business is not a meritocracy, people aren’t always hired
because they’re the best actor or writer or composer. Producers hire
people for all kinds of reasons from previous work history to how big a
social media following they have, as Game of Thrones actor Sophie Turner
recently revealed.

When there’s no real transparency about your value or prospects, is it
any wonder so many women were afraid to speak out against Weinstein in
such a fickle and uneven environment.

Producers didn’t come more powerful than Weinstein, at least in his
heyday. Just look at his movies: The King’s Speech, Inglourious
Basterds, Lion, The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, Scream and
Pulp Fiction to name just a few among the hundreds.

Many have speculated the reason the Weinstein scandal broke now, after
all this time, is because his power is on the wane. The Weinstein
Company doesn’t have as many hits as it used to, and the business’ TV
division, overseen by brother Bob, is growing in influence.

While the courage it took for Paltrow to add her voice to the Weinstein
scandal shouldn’t be diminished, it bears mentioning that even after the
incident took place during the production of Emma, she worked with
Weinstein again. She said this week Weinstein asked her not to tell
anyone about it and her career took off, Oscar and all. Silence was the
*Price* she paid.**

**

*(7) Nothing will change long-term in Hollywood*.*The Powerful vs the
Desperate*
**

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2017/10/12/jimmy-kimmel-was-vulgar-comic-long-before-was-americas-conscience.html**

**

Jimmy Kimmel was a vulgar comic long before he was 'America's conscience'**

**

By Brian Flood,**

**

Fox News**

**

Jimmy Kimmel was your standard Hollywood comedian who had no
problem**objectifying women for a laugh, long before he was the
self-professed**moral conscience of America, and some are taking notice.**

**

The country is currently focused on the treatment of women in
the**entertainment industry on the heels of Harvey Weinstein’s
decades-old**history of sexual harassment coming to light. Because of
this, old**footage of Kimmel has resurfaced from before his
transformation into**the liberal darling of America.**

**

Kimmel was once the co-host of “The Man Show,” which regularly**featured
bikini-clad women simply jumping on trampolines. This week, a**bit from
the show circulated in which Kimmel approached women on the**street and
asked them to guess what was in his pants.**

**

“I’ve stuffed something in my pants, and you’re allowed to feel
around**on the outside of the pants. You’ll have 10 seconds to then
guess what**is in my pants,” Kimmel said to a woman he apparently met on
the**street. “You should use two hands.”**

**

Later in the bit*he asked one woman to “put her mouth on it”* and
made**sure another participant was at least 18 years old because,
“Uncle**Jimmy doesn’t need to do time.”**

**

The Federalist co-founder Sean Davis tweeted in response to
the**footage, “Just last week CNN declared Kimmel to be
‘America's**conscience.’ Oops.”**

**

Even Kimmel’s boss, Disney CEO Bob Iger has taken notice of the
fact**that the “Jimmy Kimmel Live” host is essentially
a**comedian-turned-activist who could polarize viewers. [...]**

**

While Hollywood reels, many are trying to come to terms with short-**and
long-term effects of this scandal on the entertainment
industry.**Experts predict more accusations may come to light.**

**

“The days of the Hollywood establishment *bullying and browbeating
reporters into burying stories* about serial bad behavior *are
over*.**There are simply too many media outlets, too many ways to
disseminate**information, and not enough gatekeepers,” said Scott
Pinsker, a**branding and communications expert. “What was once whispered
behind**closed doors will become headline news. … *Nobody believes that
Harvey Weinstein is the only predator in Tinsel Town*. More heads will
roll."**

**

Kevin Blatt, a celebrity crisis manager based in Los Angeles told
Fox**News, the Weinstein drama is just the beginning of what will be
more**accusations against powerful men in Hollywood.**

**

“The short-term effects are that many powerful studio execs,
casting**agents and people in power in Hollywood will be forced to
govern**themselves accordingly. The long-term effects? There will be
many**industry women looking to expose those who wronged them in the
past.**This is just the tip of the iceberg,” Blatt predicted.**

**

But not everyone is convinced the abuse of power will end.**

**

“Absolutely*nothing will change long-term in Hollywood*. It’s not
a**town of men versus women. It’s a town of the *powerful versus the
desperate*,” said Hollywood film producer Colin Goldman. “To
believe**the Weinstein scandal changes everything is to believe it’s
the**first-ever story of those in power abusing those who want
something**from them very badly. It’s happening again, somewhere, right
now,**today in the industry.”**