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Democratic Senators Give Away Donations From Harvey Weinstein Over Harassment Allegations


Multiple Democratic senators have announced plans to give Harvey Weinstein’s campaign donations to charity following a New York Times investigation revealing that the Hollywood studio executive had reached eight settlements over the course of almost three decades with women who alleged he sexual harassed them .

According to Variety, the list of senators returning Weinstein’s political contributions began with Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), who announced on Thursday plans to donate the $2,700 to the Women’s Fund at the Vermont Community Foundation. Sens. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) Al Franken (D-MN), and Chuck Schumer (D-NY) have since followed suit, disavowing Weinstein and diverting his contributions to nonprofit organizations advocating for women’s rights and victims of harassment and assault.

The Democratic National Committee, which received a reported $30,890 from Weinstein, has also pledged to donate the money to women’s organizations.

“The allegations… are deeply troubling,” the DNC said in a statement, according to the Daily Beast. “The Democratic Party condemns all forms of sexual harassment and assault.”

The DNC continued: “The DNC will donate over $30,000 in contributions from Weinstein to EMILY’s List, Emerge America and Higher Heights because what we need is more women in power, not men like Trump who continue to show us that they lack respect for more than half of America.”

Weinstein also donated to multiple Hillary Clinton campaigns between 1999 and 2016; as of this writing, she has yet to release a statement on Weinstein and whether she’ll go the way of her fellow Democrats. Between his own contributions and other fundraising efforts, Weinstein donated $679,275 for former President Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign. Like Clinton, Obama has so far remained silent on Weinstein.

Variety‘s report states that these contributions make up Weinstein’s 20 years’ worth of political spending, which amounts to “more than $1.4 million in total to federal candidates, parties, and political action committees since 1990.”

Weinstein’s deep ties to the party, however, extend beyond finances. Weinstein often acted as a kind of social liaison between Hollywood and D.C., arranging a meeting between former Vice President Joe Biden and actor Bradley Cooper in 2012, and bringing Malia Obama on as an intern at his company earlier this year.

These relationships have made the scandal surrounding Weinstein’s treatment of women an occasion for the Republican Party to turn the tables on politicians who decry the GOP’s anti-woman policies.

“During three-decades worth of sexual harassment allegations, Harvey Weinstein lined the pockets of Democrats to the tune of three-quarters of a million dollars,” Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel said in the statement. “If Democrats and the [Democratic National Committee] truly stand up for women like they say they do, then returning this dirty money should be a no brainer.”

So far, for most Democrats, it has been.



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An Explosive Report Alleges Decades of Sexual Harassment by Hollywood Powerhouse Harvey Weinstein


According to a bombshell report from The New York Times, Harvey Weinstein—the Hollywood powerhouse and studio executive behind films like Pulp Fiction, Good Will Hunting, and Silver Linings Playbook—has faced numerous allegations of sexual harassment and unwanted physical contact from female employees, some dating back three decades.

Times reporters spoke to dozens of former and current employees of the Weinstein Company, a film studio founded by Weinstein and his brother, Bob, as well as people within the broader film industry and uncovered numerous accusations of inappropriate conduct. At least eight settlements have been reached since 1990, including a 1997 settlement with a then 23-year-old Rose McGowan. The Charmed actress reached a $100,000 settlement with Weinstein after an incident in a hotel room during the Sundance Film Festival; however, according to a legal document obtained by the Times, this monetary agreement was “not to be construed as an admission” but rather an effort to “avoid litigation and buy peace.”

Several women relayed similar stories of misconduct by Weinstein, often occurring when the executive would invite them for meetings at a hotel. The Times spoke with actress Ashley Judd, who said that Weinstein invited her to the Peninsula Beverly Hills hotel in the 1990s for what she assumed was a breakfast meeting. Instead, she was summoned to his room. Weinstein was wearing a bathrobe and asked if Judd could watch him shower or if he could give her a massage.

When Judd recounted the incident to the Times, she said she remembered wondering, How do I get out of the room as fast as possible without alienating Harvey Weinstein?

Another woman, former temporary employee Emily Nestor, also met with Weinstein at the Peninsula in 2014. According to the Times, she was told that if she “accepted his sexual advances, he would boost her career.”

The Times also obtained a 2015 memo written by former Weinstein Company employee Lauren O’Connor who was among the women who received a settlement from the film executive. O’Connor detailed allegations that spanned a two-year period, including an incident with another female employee who said that Weinstein appeared naked before her and forced her to give him a massage. As O’Connor wrote, the encounter left the woman “crying and very distraught.”

“There is a toxic environment for women at this company,” O’Connor wrote. “The balance of power is me: 0, Harvey Weinstein: 10.”

Though dozens of employees were aware of Weinstein’s alleged behavior, very few ever confronted him about it. Instead, Weinstein perpetuated what the Times called a “code of silence.” Employees could not criticize company executives in ways that could hurt both the company’s or a personal employee’s reputation. And women who did receive settlements—which typically spanned from $80,000 to $150,000—often signed confidentiality agreements.

But when O’Connor’s memo hit in 2015, executives and board members at the Weinstein Company—including Weinstein’s brother—were disturbed. But ultimately, O’Connor reached a settlement with Weinstein, withdrew her complaint, and left the company—all the while thanking Weinstein for the experience to be part of the film industry. After the settlement was reached, the board was informed that there was nothing to investigate.

In a statement given to the Times, Weinstein said, “I appreciate the way I’ve behaved with colleagues in the past has caused a lot of pain, and I sincerely apologize for it. Though I’m trying to do better, I know I have a long way to go.”

He revealed that he’s been working with therapists and is planning to take a leave of absence in order to “deal with this issue head-on.”

Attorney Lisa Bloom, who has been advising Weinstein and previously represented clients who brought sexual harassment charges against Bill O’Reilly, told the Times in a statement that Weinstein “denies many of the accusations as patently false.” Bloom has been counseling Weinstein on gender and power dynamics, and referred to him as an “old dinosaur learning new ways.”

Bloom further said that she’s “explained to him that due to the power difference between a major studio head like him and most others in the industry, whatever his motives, some of his words and behaviors can be perceived as inappropriate, even intimidating.”

However, according to a report from BuzzFeed News published Thursday afternoon, one of Weinstein’s other attorneys, Charles Harder, is preparing a lawsuit against the Times and will donate proceeds to women’s organizations. In a statement to BuzzFeed news, Harder said:

“The New York Times published today a story that is saturated with
false and defamatory statements about Harvey Weinstein. It relies on
mostly hearsay accounts and a faulty report, apparently stolen from an
employee personnel file, which has been debunked by 9 different
eyewitnesses. We sent the Times the facts and evidence, but they
ignored it and rushed to publish. We are preparing the lawsuit now.
All proceeds will be donated to women’s organizations.”

A representative from the Times told BuzzFeed News, “We are confident in the accuracy of our reporting. Mr. Weinstein was aware and able to respond to specific allegations in our story before publication. In fact, we published his response in full.”



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Amber Tamblyn Just Published a Powerful Piece About Harassment in Hollywood


One thing that should definitely be on your weekend reading list? Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants star Amber Tamblyn‘s powerful New York Times op-ed published online Saturday. In it, she calls out the men who deny women’s stories of harassment and the ubiquity of sexual harassment in the acting industry before encouraging women to rise up and come forward with their own accounts.

A bit of background: Tamblyn and actor James Woods got into a heated debate about relationships and consent on Twitter last week when Woods criticized the age difference in a relationship in Armie Hammer’s upcoming movie Call Me By Your Name. Hammer called him out by tweeting, “Didn’t you date a 19-year-old when you were 60?”

Tamblyn added on to Hammer’s reply with a biting allegation: “James Woods tried to pick me and my friend up at a restaurant once. He wanted to take us to Vegas. ‘I’m 16,’ I said. ‘Even better,’ he said.” Woods responded that Tamblyn was lying.

In Tamblyn’s new Times op-ed, she writes about how she’s fed up with not being believed—and wants other women, especially in Hollywood, to speak up with their own stories of harassment.

“I told this story publicly as a way to back up the claim that Mr. Woods was, indeed, a hypocrite. Mr. Woods called my account a lie,” Tamblyn wrote in her Times piece about the Twitter exchange. “What would I get out of accusing this person of such an action, almost 20 years after the fact? Notoriety, power or respect? I am more than confident with my quota of all three.”

In her piece, Tamblyn recounts another incident, years ago, when she was starring in Joan of Arcadia. After being harassed on set, she writes, she’d worked up her courage and gone to the producer of Joan of Arcadia to talk about what was going on. Tamblyn says he listened but then told her, “There are two sides to every story.”

“For women in America who come forward with stories of harassment, abuse and sexual assault, there are not two sides to every story, however noble that principle might seem,” Tamblyn writes. “Women do not get to have a side. They get to have an interrogation. Too often, they are questioned mercilessly about whether their side is legitimate. Especially if that side happens to accuse a man of stature, then that woman has to consider the scrutiny and repercussions she’ll be subjected to by sharing her side.”

Tamblyn continues by powerfully describing the minute-but-impactful risk negotiations involved in being a woman, especially when it comes to speaking up about matters like harassment.

“Every day, women across the country consider the risks. That is our day job and our night shift,” she writes. “We have a diploma in risk consideration. Consider that skirt. Consider that dark alley. Consider questioning your boss. Consider what your daughter will think of you. Consider what your mother will think of what your daughter will think of you. Consider how it will be twisted and used against you in a court of law. Consider whether you did, perhaps, really ask for it. Consider your weight. Consider dieting. Consider agelessness. Consider silence.”

Tamblyn, who also penned an open letter to Woods in Teen Vogue last week, spoke of sexism in the industry by comparing the sad state of Hollywood to a deep swimming pool: “I have been afraid of speaking out or asking things of men in positions of power for years. What I have experienced as an actress working in a business whose business is to objectify women is frightening. It is the deep end of a pool where I cannot swim. It is a famous man telling you that you are a liar for what you have remembered. For what you must have misremembered, unless you have proof.”

Her powerful opinion piece ends with a call to action for women to rise up and share their own stories: “The women I know, myself included, are done, though, playing the credentials game. We are learning that the more we open our mouths, the more we become a choir. And the more we are a choir, the more the tune is forced to change.”

Read her full op-ed here.

Related: Amber Tamblyn Writes Powerful Open Letter to Actor James Woods



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