Silent no more
McGowan says she’s done being quiet about sexual assault and harassment
DETROIT — In her first public comments since accusing film producer Harvey Weinstein of rape, actress Rose McGowan said Friday she has been “silenced for 20 years” but won’t remain quiet about sexual assault and harassment.
McGowan, delivering opening remarks at The Women’s Convention in Detroit, thanked the audience “for giving me wings during this very difficult time.”
“The triggering has been insane – the monster’s face has been everywhere, my nightmare,” she said. “I have been silenced for 20 years. I have been slut-shamed, I have been harassed, I have been maligned, and you know what? I am just like you. What happened to me behind the scenes happens to all of us in this society. It cannot stand and will not stand.”
McGowan has been one of the leading voices against sexual harassment in Hollywood, and tweeted earlier this month that she was raped by a man with the initials “HW.”
The Hollywood Reporter said McGowan confirmed she was referring to Weinstein.
On Twitter, McGowan has amassed supporters and urged them to call out harassment using the #RoseArmy hashtag. McGowan has starred in several films, including Scream, Jawbreaker, and Planet Terror, as well as the early 2000s television series Charmed.
Weinstein was fired from The Weinstein Company on Oct. 8 after The New York Times published an expose that detailed decades of sexual harassment allegations against him. The Oscar-winning producer apologized without addressing any specific conduct, but has denied later allegations by several women that he raped them.
The New York Times also reported that Weinstein paid a financial settlement of $100,000 to McGowan in 1997 over an incident in a hotel room during the Sundance Film Festival in Utah.
On Friday, McGowan said because Hollywood is male-dominated, “we are given one view.”
She said the entertainment industry isn’t isolated; instead, “it is the mirror you are given to look into.”
“I know the men behind that view. They shouldn’t be in your mind and they shouldn’t be in mind. It’s time to clean house.”
Weinstein representative Sallie Hofmeister has denied all allegations of non-consensual sex.
Police in London, Los Angeles and New York are investigating Weinstein, 65.
He sued his former company on Thursday, seeking access to email and personnel records his lawyer contends would exonerate him.
In the legal proceedings, the bridge union argued that bridge should be deemed a sport because it promoted intellectual well-being. “Sport” under European law includes activities that provide physical and mental benefits, the organization said, so bridge must count.
But the court of justice disagreed. In its ruling Thursday, the court conceded that bridge “constitutes an activity beneficial to the mental and physical health of regular participants.”
“However, even if they do prove beneficial to physical and mental health, activities of pure rest or relaxation are not covered by that provision,” the court wrote. “The fact that an activity promoting physical and mental well-being is practiced competitively does not lead to a different conclusion.”
The bridge union said in a statement Thursday that the decision came “as both a surprise, and a disappointment.” A favorable ruling would have lowered the price of entry in bridge competitions and opened the game up to a wider audience, it said, noting in particular bridge’s popularity among retirees and people with low income.
“Making the game cheaper for them to play would increase their levels of participation and help to encourage their peers to learn to play,” the bridge union said. “The EBU is very disappointed that the VAT burden which makes it harder to get more people playing this fantastic pastime will not be removed.”
The decision reverses an opinion by the court of justice’s advocate general, who issued a nonbinding recommendation in June that bridge was, in fact, a sport, and should qualify not only for VAT exemption but a rebate on taxes it paid previously.
The decision arose from a tax dispute.