STRIKE A MATCH
Hdefenders are throwing in the towel. “Major Crimes” star insisted on Sunday that he’ll believe reports of Harvey Weinstein’s predatory history when he sees evidence — even though Weinstein’s own company had seen enough to fire him earlier that day. But, now according to Denison’s publicist, the TNT star has seen the light. “Until somebody shows me pictures and has me outside the door, and I open the door and that is what is going on, until (that happens), it is innuendo,” the 68-year-old Harlem native (inset) shockingly insisted at an event in L.A., during a weekend of front pages screaming about the disgraced movie mogul’s decades of alleged misconduct toward aspiring actresses. “I can’t and won’t point fingers at people unless I have proof.” But following the avalanche of bombshell reports that continued to surface in the 30-plus hours since we spoke to Denison, his publicist, says her client has reached a verdict. “I in no way support Harvey Weinstein’s action,” that statement said. Denison called the situation a “gross tragedy” while praising “the brave women who have spoken their truth.”
Denison, whose TNT cop show begins its final season Oct. 31, originally expressed his skepticism at Sunday’s CinéFashion Film Awards in Los Angeles, where defending Weinstein was apparently in fashion. That’s also where designer told The Daily Mail that women who have accused the moviemaker of impropriety may have been “asking for it by presenting all the sensuality and all the sexuality.” Karan later released a statement saying she was taken out of context.
Denison, whose TV credits also include “Prison Break” and “The Closer,” told us on Sunday — three days after The New York Times published a comprehensive takedown of Weinstein — that he was less sympathetic toward actresses in the Hollywood jungle.
“Sometimes, some people, they move ahead and they see some woman or someone who maybe gets ahead of another woman, and maybe they turn around they start a whisper campaign . . . they don’t want to accept the fact the woman got the job because she was good for the role,” he said.
The statement from his publicist concluded with hopes “to spark a real conversation of all that must change in our business and in our country to end this epidemic of abuse towards women.” “The Match Game” has begun taping its third season at ABC’s W. 66th St. studio, where Tuesday’s opening day lineup included and will join up with the gang at Wednesday’s taping, followed by more celeb guests on Thursday and Friday. By the time they’re done, “The Match Game” will have shot 12 episodes in four days. That’s tough to match. is the host.