Rape, sex abuse accusations mount for Weinstein
NEW YORK — An avalanche of allegations poured out Tuesday against Harvey Weinstein in on-the-record reports that detailed claims of sexual abuse and included testimonies from Gwyneth Pal- trow and Angelina Jolie, fur- ther intensifyingthe already explosive collapse of the disgraced movie mogul.
Three women accused Weinstein of raping them in a story published online by The New Yorker, includ- ing the Italian actress Asia Argento and a woman who was an aspiring actress in col- lege when she caught Weinstein’s eye. A representative for the mogul vehemently denied the allegations in a statement to the magazine.
In a follow-up to its earlier expose, The New York Times also reported Tuesday that many other actresses have in recent days added to the
chorus of accusations surrounding Weinstein. Paltrow described Weinstein’s attempt to lure her, then 22, into giv
ing him a massage in a hotel room. The incident prompted her then-boyfriend Brad Pitt to angrily confront Weinstein at a film premiere. Both reports significantly
ratcheted up the unfolding scandal surrounding Wein- stein, who was fired Sunday from the Weinstein Co. They not only describe a mounting number of alleged incidents, but thoroughly document the systematicand almost intimidationalways harassment,youngof women actresses abuse — trying to succeed in movies.
Lucia Evans, then a senior at Middlebury College, said Weinstein forced her to perform oral sex on him in 2004 at the Miramax offices in Tri- beca. She had been brought in for a casting meeting with Weinstein. Argento, an actress and director, said Weinstein forcibly performed oral sex on her at the Cannes Film Festival in 1999. A third woman spoke anonymously. “I know he has crushed a lot of peo- ple before,” Argento told The New Yorker. “That’s why this story — in my case, it’s 20 years old, some of them are older — has never come out.” Attorneys for Weinstein did not immediately return messages Tuesday. The New Yorker quoted Weinstein representative Sallie Hofmeister responding that “any allega- tions of nonconsensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr. Weinstein.” “Mr. Weinstein has further confirmed that there were never any acts of retaliation against any women for refus- ing his advances. Mr. Weinstein obviously can’t speak to anonymous allegations, but with respect to any women who have made allegations on the record, Mr. Weinstein believes that all of these rela- tionships were consensual,” said Hofmeister. “Mr. Weinstein has begun counseling, has listened to the commu- nity and is pursuing a better path. Mr. Weinstein is hoping that, if he makes enough progress, he will be given a second chance.”
The New Yorker story, writ- ten and researched by the NBC correspondent Ronan Farrow, claimed that 13 women have said Weinstein sexually harassed or assaulted them between 1990 and 2015. The incidents described range from unwanted groping to forced sex. Some of those incidents overlap with the eight allega- tions of sexual harassment previously reported by The New York Times, all of which resulted in financial settlements. But they also go much further. In the article, Rosanna Arquette and Mira Sorvino are among those who claim Weinstein sexually harassed them. Arquette described a 1990s incident at a Beverly Hills hotel in which Weinstein tried to make her give him a massage and then attempted to lead her hand to his penis. Afterward, the actress told the magazine, “He made things very difficult for me for years.” Jolie also told the Times that she has “a bad experience with Harvey Weinstein in my youth.” Since, she said, she has refused to work with him and would “warn others when they did.” Representatives for the actresses involved in both reports did not immediately return messages seeking comment. The Italian news agency A NSA said it contacted Argento about the story, and said she responded with a text message that read: “It’s all true, everything is written in the New Yorker. Now leave me in peace.” Actress Louisette Geiss (“Two and a Half Men”) also came forward Tuesday, announcing in a news conference at Gloria Allred’s Los Angeles office that in a 2008 meeting at the Sundance Film Festival, Weinstein appeared nude in an open bathrobe
and asked several times that she watch him masturbate.
The New Yorker also reported that 16 former and current executives and assistants at The Weinstein Co. and Miramax either witnessed or knew of Weinstein’s unwanted sexual advances. “All sixteen said the behavior was widely known within both Miramax and the Weinstein Company.”
The New Yorker also revealed an audio recording made by the New York Police Department in 2015 in which Weinstein says he groped a model named Ambra Battilana Guitierrez. At the time, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. announced that an investigation didn’t support criminal charges.
Weinstein was fired Sunday by the Weinstein Co., the stu- dio 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.
Weinstein responded to the report in a lengthy, rambling statement in which he pleaded for a second chance
and apologized for the pain he had caused.
Since his firing, much of Hollywood has reacted with disgust and outrage. Congres
sional Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, have given chari
ties thousands of dollars in donations they had received from Weinstein.