Famous friends speak out against deposed studio boss
The Hollywood establishment, slow to react to the initial sexual harassment allegations against Harvey Weinstein, began speaking out against him more forcefully yesterday after the powerful studio boss was fired by his own company.
Among those weighing in were his longtime allies and beneficiaries Meryl Streep, Kate Winslet and Judi Dench. They spoke up with a combination of disgust over his alleged behavior and remorse or defensiveness over their own business entanglements with him.
Weinstein, 65, was fired Sunday by the Weinstein Co., the studio he co-founded, three days after a bombshell New York Times expose alleged decades of crude sexual behavior on his part toward female employees and actresses, including Ashley Judd.
Streep, who once called Weinstein “God” while accepting the Golden Globe for “The Iron Lady,” condemned his alleged conduct as “inexcusable” while also saying she did not know about it before.
Dench, whose awards and nominations have been inextricably linked for two decades to Weinstein, first at Miramax and then at the Weinstein Co., said in a statement that she was “completely unaware” of the “horrifying” offenses.
Winslet, who won an Oscar for The Weinstein Co.’s “The Reader” said in a statement that the alleged behavior is “without question disgraceful and appalling.”
In ousting him from his company, the Weinstein board of directors said it was reacting to “new information about misconduct by Harvey Weinstein that has emerged in the past few days.” It did not elaborate.
Meanwhile, Variety reported Weinstein is restocking his team of crisis managers, after half of his team resigned over the weekend.
Weinstein has retained Sitrick and Company, the well-known crisis PR firm.