UK, US police launch Weinstein inquiries
LONDON: Sexual assault allegations levelled at US film producer Harvey Weinstein are being investigated by police in London and New York.
The movie mogul is facing a litany of accusations of sexual harrassment and assault from some of the the film industry’s biggest names including Gwyneth Paltrow and Kate Beckinsale in a week that has rocked Hollywood.
Merseyside Police said it received a report on Wednesday of an alleged sexual assault in London in the 1980s and has referred it to Scotland Yard. A spokesman at the Met confirmed the allegation would be assessed by Child Abuse and Sexual Offences command officers.
The New York Police Department is also investigating the 65yearold and will conduct a review to determine if there are additional complaints and has encouraged anyone with information to come forward.
Weinstein also faces three allegations of rape by three women in an article in the New Yorker. The producer’s spokeswoman has said ‘‘any allegations of nonconsensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr Weinstein’’.
British actor Emma Thompson told the BBC the allegations are no shock to her.
‘‘I didn’t know about these things but they don’t surprise me at all and they are endemic to the system anyway,’’ Thompson said.
‘‘What I find extraordinary is that this man is at the top of a very particular iceberg. He’s a predator. What he is top of the ladder of is a system of harassment and belittling and bullying and interference.’’ Beckinsale also joined the list of stars to speak out on Thursday, while fellow Brit Sophie Dix, who once starred alongside Colin Firth, claimed Weinstein had pinned her down in a hotel room in London when she was 22.
‘‘Before I knew it, he started trying to pull my clothes off and pin me down and I just kept saying, ‘No, no, no’. But he was really forceful,’’ Rix told the Guardian of the incident at London’s Savoy Hotel in 1990.
Earlier, Weinstein told reporters ‘‘I’m not doing OK’’ but ‘‘we all make mistakes’’ as he was filmed on camera for the first time since the scandal broke. Dressed in a black Tshirt and scruffy jeans, Weinstein was leaving his daughter’s house in Los Angeles when he made the comments.
Asked how he was, the producer said: ‘‘I’m trying my best . . . I’m not doing OK but I’m trying.’’
He added: ‘‘I gotta get help. You know what, we all make mistakes . . . A second chance, I hope.’’
The producer is now thought to be on his way to a rehab facility.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which hosts the Oscars, described the allegations as ‘‘repugnant’’ and ‘‘abhorrent‘‘, and said it would meet tomorrow to discuss any action to be taken. Bafta also suspended his membership.
Rose McGowan, one of the first actresses to be named as an alleged victim, is calling for the board of the Weinstein Company to be dissolved following the allegations against its cofounder.