Hollywood’s Loud Silence on Harvey Weinstein’s Sexual Harassment Allegations

Source: Daily Beast | October 6, 2017 | Marlow Stern

Several high-profile Hollywood figures flatly refused to comment on the allegations of serial sexual harassment and sexual assault against the influential movie mogul.

Early Thursday afternoon—late morning on the West Coast—The New York Times dropped a bombshell investigative report alleging decades of sexual-harassment allegations against movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.

The story, by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, included testimony from a medley of actresses, film executives, and film staffers close to Weinstein, many of whom accused the Weinstein Company co-chairman of predatory conduct.

“Mr. Weinstein has reached at least eight settlements with women, according to two company officials speaking on the condition of anonymity,” reported the Times. “Among the recipients, The Times found, were a young assistant in New York in 1990, an actress in 1997, an assistant in London in 1998, an Italian model in 2015, and Ms. [Lauren] O’Connor shortly after, according to records and those familiar with the agreements.”

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A meeting with Harvey Weinstein is not easy for any actress to turn down. During his tenure as the co-chief of Miramax—and then The Weinstein Company—he became synonymous with elevating films and actors to Oscar glory via aggressive awards campaigns and has a particularly impressive track record in the actress categories. Holly Hunter, Anna Paquin, Dianne Wiest, Mira Sorvino, Juliette Binoche, Gwyneth Paltrow, Judi Dench, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Nicole Kidman, Renee Zellweger, Cate Blanchett, Kate Winslet, Penelope Cruz, Meryl Streep, and Jennifer Lawrence have all won Oscars for Weinstein films, and many of the actresses showered praise on the film exec in their acceptance speeches. Scores of other actresses, meanwhile, have received career-launching nominations.

In the wake of the blockbuster Times exposé, The Daily Beast reached out to dozens of prominent actors, actresses, and filmmakers—who both have and have not worked with Weinstein—only to receive many replies of “no comment” and plenty of radio silence.

One of the only members of “liberal” Hollywood to speak out about the disturbing Weinstein allegations was Lena Dunham, who did so through Twitter:

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In 2009, more than 130 Hollywood heavyweights signed an online petition demanding that the decades-old statutory-rape conviction against Polanski be dropped. Two of the most high-profile signatories were Allen and Weinstein.

“We are calling every filmmaker we can to help fix this terrible situation,” Weinstein said at the time. (Polanski has faced three more rape allegations against teens since then.)

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