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Harvey Weinstein May Have Tried to Use Rose McGowan's Sexual History Against Her


Another day, another appalling revelation in the Harvey Weinstein assault and harassment story. The Daily Beast is reporting that, according to multiple sources, during Ronan Farrow’s investigation into allegations against Weinstein, attorney Lisa Bloom allegedly told the reporter, “I don’t know if you’ve talked to Rose McGowan, but we have files on her and her sexual history.” (Bloom told The Daily Beast that she has no comment on anything related to her former client and is not authorized to answer any questions about the disgraced movie mogul.) Wow.

But sadly, as awful as this sounds, it’s not all that surprising. McGowan has been relentless in speaking her truth about Weinstein for years, even when nobody was listening. So it’s not surprising that his team might have put together information they hoped would discredit her and devalue her story.

This is just another example of the hostile environment that often awaits women when they report instances of sexual assault and harassment and why so many of them choose not to. According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, 63 percent of rapes are not reported to police. And as the “Me Too” campaign showed so clearly, the secret of harassment is one that so many women carry with them every day. Sure, creating an entire opposition file the likes of which is usually seen in politics is perhaps an extreme example, but the underlying message is all too familiar: “It’s her fault.” Attempting to undermine victims based on their sexual history, their clothing, or their blood alcohol levels is well-tread territory. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t speak up each and every time we see it happening to yet another woman, famous or not.

We must keep using our voices until the culture shifts.



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Jane Fonda and Gloria Steinem Talk Race, Sexual Harassment, and Harvey Weinstein


Feminist legends Jane Fonda and Gloria Steinem appeared on MSNBC Wednesday, and as to be expected, the icons had plenty of thoughts on the ongoing Harvey Weinstein scandal. The women stopped by All in With Chris Hayes as representatives of the Women’s Media Center—a progressive, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that they co-founded with Robin Morgan in 2005 to raise the visibility of women and girls in the media—and discussed the dozens of women who have come forward with allegations of sexual harassment and assault against the former Hollywood powerhouse.

“It feels like something has shifted,” Fonda said. “It’s too bad that it’s probably because so many of the women that were assaulted by Harvey Weinstein are famous and white and everybody knows them. This has been going on a long time to black women and other women of color and it doesn’t get out quite the same.”

Fonda added that the women who have come forward have made a big difference, and she hopes that it will cause a “domino effect” that will spread to other industries.

Steinem built upon Fonda’s point, saying that more women speaking out has potential to change attitudes about these types of crimes and cause society to reevaluate a previous (lack of) response.

“If you steal money, you probably get arrested and convicted, because everybody says stealing is wrong,” Steinem said. “But if you do something that is very sexist or racist, because there still is a critical mass of bias in this country, it takes more cumulative instances for it to be recognized. So we have reached a tipping point, I think.”

“The important thing to remember is that it’s about power and the idea that you have to dominate to be sexual,” Steinem added. “That’s the fundamental problem.”

Fonda then added that the Weinstein revelations have focused on a lot of high-profile women in a widely-talked about industry—but this is not the same experience for millions of women across numerous professions in the U.S.

“Twelve million people in the United States work in restaurants. Most of them are women,” she said. “They’re often young—but not always—but they survive on tips, which means that they have to put up with a lot.”

Host Chris Hayes chimed in, adding that in the service industry, the customer acts as the boss and restaurant workers will have to “grimace through an inappropriate comment.” Fonda seconded this idea, saying if a woman doesn’t “look smiley with a low-cut, tight dress” it could work against her.

“You’re not being paid a living wage so you depend on your tips,” she continued. “This often is the first job, right? So for these young women it becomes the norm: ‘Nothing can be as horrible afterward as what was done to me in restaurants, so it must be this is just the way life is.’”

As the interview concluded, the discussion turned to Republicans who have criticized the Democratic party and said they have not been tough enough on Weinstein (who had donated to a number of political campaigns). However, Fonda and Steinem countered that the GOP has no grounds to offer such criticisms, considering the reaction to sexual harassment allegations against men like Roger Ailes, Bill O’Reilly, and even Donald Trump.

“That we have a president who profiteered off of beauty contests is absurd in itself,” Steinem said, adding, “In addition to the fact that he is a self-confessed harasser.”

You can watch the full interview below.



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Lupita Nyong’o Speaks Out About Harvey Weinstein


Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o is the latest woman to come forward with allegations of sexual harassment and assualt against Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein in a New York Times op-ed published Thursday.

“I have been following the news and reading the accounts of women coming forward to talk about being assaulted by Harvey Weinstein and others,” she wrote. “I had shelved my experience with Harvey far in the recesses of my mind, joining in the conspiracy of silence that has allowed this predator to prowl for so many years … I had felt very much alone when these things happened, and I had blamed myself for a lot of it, quite like many of the other women who have shared their stories.”

Nyong’o details several meetings with the disgraced producer, starting with a 2011 awards ceremony in Berlin when she was a student at the Yale School of Drama. “A woman who was a producer herself cautiously advised me to ‘keep Harvey in your corner,’” Nyong’o wrote. “She said: ‘He is a good man to know in the business, but just be careful around him. He can be a bully.”

The actress says Weinstein invited her to lunch, where he tried to coerce her into drinking alcohol. “‘Let’s cut to the chase. I have a private room upstairs where we can have the rest of our meal.” I was stunned. I told him I preferred to eat in the restaurant. He told me not to be so naïve. If I wanted to be an actress, then I had to be willing to do this sort of thing. He said he had dated Famous Actress X and Y and look where that had gotten them.'”

“‘You have no idea what you are passing up,’” he said. “With all due respect, I would not be able to sleep at night if I did what you are asking, so I must pass,” I replied.”

The producer later invited Nyong’o to a private screening at his home in Connecticut. Minutes into it, Nyong’o wrote, Weinstein brought her up to his bedroom and told her he was going to give her a massage.

She explained how she offered to give him one instead and left his home when he attempted to remove his pants.

“I share all of this now because I know now what I did not know then. I was part of a growing community of women who were secretly dealing with harassment by Harvey Weinstein,” she wrote. “But I also did not know that there was a world in which anybody would care about my experience with him.”

Lupita also wrote, “Now that we are speaking, let us never shut up about this kind of thing. I speak up to make certain that this is not the kind of misconduct that deserves a second chance. I speak up to contribute to the end of the conspiracy of silence.”

Earlier this month, several reports alleged the Hollywood producer had sexually harassed or assaulted a number of women, including Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie, Rosanna Arquette, Mira Sorvino, and Italian actress Asia Argento—said they also were harassed by Weinstein, who was fired from The Weinstein Company in October.

Read Lupita’s entire op-ed here.



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Blake Lively Says It 'Isn't Enough' to 'Stand in Solidarity' With Harvey Weinstein's Accusers


PHOTO: Mike Coppola/Getty Images

Since The New York Times and The New Yorker published stories about Harvey Weinstein’s decades of alleged sexual misconduct, many celebrities have voiced support for the ousted producer’s accusers. But Blake Lively says that’s not enough.

“It’s more than just, ‘Oh, we’re talking about it and we’re supporting it,’ it’s action,” she said Monday on Good Morning America. “Everybody says that they stand in solidarity, but you have to show that you stand in solidarity.”

Her call to action, which was applauded and cheered by the studio audience, was the conclusion of a thoughtful impromptu speech about how to address the pervasiveness of sexual harassment and assault in the workplace.

“I think it’s important we acknowledge this isn’t just Hollywood,” Lively began. “This is so much more global. And it’s not just, ‘Oh, guess what, this is what’s happening to women suddenly.’ This has been happening since the beginning of time, but now people are finally talking about it and I think that’s what’s important.”

Lively added just because one isn’t personally a victim of sexual harassment or assault, doesn’t mean it’s not happening.

“Where I never had experiences like this with Harvey myself, I only
had positive ones with him, but that goes to show where you don’t
always see what goes on behind closed doors. So I think that when
people come forward, your bosses have to acknowledge it. There’s been
moments when I’ve come forward, other people have come forward with
things that just feel a little [inappropriate] and you’re not sure,
but when your bosses tell you that this is not priority to them, then
you think, ‘Okay, well this must not be that big of a deal. Maybe what
I’m complaining about isn’t really that big of a deal.’ And it is.”

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Lively has revealed her own experiences with reporting sexual harassment, only to get blown off by her employers. Last week, she told The Los Angeles Times about a makeup artist who harassed her by filming her while she was sleeping. When she reported him to the project’s producers, however, they failed to take any action, she said. The makeup artist was only removed after her lawyer got involved and prompted the producers to begin an investigation. And he left with a letter of recommendation, she told the LA Times.

Previously, Lively had spoken about the importance of believing people like herself and Weinstein’s accusers, who include Gwyneth Paltrow and Rose McGowan, when they speak out about their experiences with sexual harassment and assault. “The number-one thing that can happen is that people who share their stories, people have to listen to them and trust them, and people have to take it seriously,” she told The Hollywood Reporter last Tuesday. “As important as it is to remain furious about this, it’s important to also say that this exists everywhere, so remember to look everywhere. This isn’t a single incident. This cannot happen, this should not happen, and it happens in every single industry.”



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Courtney Love Called Out Harvey Weinstein Back in 2005


PHOTO: Getty Images/Pierre Suu

Following the recent *New York Times* investigation reporting multiple allegations of sexual harassment and assault by Hollywood mega-producer Harvey Weinstein over the last three decades, everyone seems to be asking themselves how something like this could have gone on for so long. This weekend, TMZ dug up a video of a 2005 red carpet Comedy Central interview with Courtney Love that clearly shows Love warning about Weinstein—and as it turns out, her short answer was enough to spark some major professional repercussions.

When comedian Natasha Leggero asked Love what advice she had for young women trying to make it in Hollywood, Love hesitates at first, saying, “I’ll get libeled if I say it.” But after a brief pause, where Love seems to be seriously considering what to say next, she adds, “If Harvey Weinstein invites you to a private party in the Four Seasons, don’t go.”

The Weinstein allegations seem to have shocked the world. And yet, looking back there appear to be many instances in which some people in Hollywood were waving a red flag about the producer’s behavior. There were references to his lewd behavior in two episodes of 30 Rock that both aired at least five years ago. At the Oscar nominations press conference in 2013, Seth McFarlane quipped that the five Best Actress nominees “no longer have to pretend to be attracted to Harvey Weinstein.” And, of course, this 1999 interview with Gwyneth Paltrow, in which she calls Weinstein a “coercer,” is eerie to watch now that the truth has come to light—especially because Paltrow has since publicly accused the producer of sexual harassment.

Love, for her part, responded to the resurfaced video on Twitter with a statement about how her brief answer affected her career: apparently she was banned from the Creative Artists Agency, a major talent agency, following her quip.

“Although I wasn’t one of his victims, I was eternally banned by CAA for speaking out against Harvey Weinstein,” a statement she followed up with “#rape” before linking to TMZ’s story.

Maybe this will be the wake-up call the world needs to believe women.

See the interview here:

Related Stories:
–Celeb Lawyer Lisa Bloom Says Representing Harvey Weinstein Was a ‘Colossal Mistake’
–Courtney Love Goes on an Animated Personal Style Journey With Karl Lagerfeld
–Samantha Bee to the ‘Creeps of Hollywood’: ‘We Are Coming for You’



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Here's How 'SNL' Finally Addressed the Harvey Weinstein Allegations


Saturday Night Live is known for its sharp takes on news and culture—and its willingness to skewer people, particularly disgraced people, in power. So many were surprised when, last week, the long-running series opted not to cover the unfolding Harvey Weinstein scandal in its October 7 episode, which took place two days after the New York Times published its explosive report detailing allegations of sexual harassment, assault, and inappropriate conduct committed by Weinstein. After a week of more revelations, eyes were once again on SNL last night.

Granted, it’s hard for a comedic, satirical show to find the appropriate way to cover sexual assault. SNL wound up addressing the allegations against Weinstein in two skits. The first was via a faux actors panel about sexual harassment in Hollywood with Cecily Strong playing Marion Cotillard, Leslie Jones as Viola Davis, Kate McKinnon returning as Debette Goldry, and Aidy Bryant as the panel’s moderator (playing an editor from Glamour.com, no less). Together the four women walked a fine line between serious and funny with Bryant, Jones, and Strong playing the straight types to McKinnon’s fiery shot thrower.

“I actually did have one meeting with Harvey, OK?” McKinnon’s character says when the conversation turns to Weinstein. “I was invited to his hotel room, and when I arrived, he was naked, hanging upside down from a monkey bar. He tried to trick me into thinking his genitals were actually his face. It almost worked—the resemblance is uncanny.”

The characters then go on to discuss why sexual assault keeps happening and the role that other men play in these crimes by failing to speak up. When Bryant’s character mentions the “whisper system” that women use to warn one another about threatening men, McKinnon-as-Goldry says “Back then we had a secret code among us actresses to warn each other about the creeps. The code was, ‘He raped me.’ That way if men were listening they would tune us right out, easy peasy.”

The “whisper system” is a very real thing: in the original Times report, actress Ashley Judd confirmed that “women have been talking about Harvey amongst ourselves for a long time, and it’s simply beyond time to have the conversation publicly.”

The sketch also touches on the “father of daughters” line that often gets thrown around by men when they speak out about sexual harassment and discrimination against women. As Strong-as-Cotillard said (with just the right amount of outrage): “You should be upset because you’re a human being.”

That’s when McKinnon comes in with a cutting line of her own: “Having a lady in the family doesn’t make you some kind of hero. I mean, even Hitler had a sister.”

Watch the full skit below:

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The “Weekend Update” guys also kicked off their segment with the Weinstein allegations, with Colin Jost announcing that Weinstein was going to sex addiction rehab. “Somehow I don’t think that’s going to help anybody,” says Jost. “He doesn’t need sex rehab. He needs a specialized facility where there are no women, no contact with the outside world, metal bars, and it’s a prison.”

Co-host Michael Che then ripped into the mogul’s plea for the movie industry to give him a second chance because “we all make mistakes.”

“No, man, a mistake is me walking into the wrong bathroom and using it anyway because I was crowning,” says Che. “You assaulted dozens of women. That’s not a mistake—that’s a full season of Law & Order. Your name’s a verb now. As in, ‘If this guy tries to Weinstein me, I’m going to cut off his little Harvey.'”

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For the record, Weinstein’s legal team has denied the claims, issuing a statement via a spokesperson stating, “Any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr. Weinstein.”

Related Stories:
–These Are All the Women Who Have Accused Harvey Weinstein of Sexual Harassment and Assault
–After Harvey Weinstein Allegations, Women Share Stories of Sexual Harassment on Twitter
–’30 Rock’ Called Out Harvey Weinstein Five Years Ago



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