Weinstein could lose his CBE as actress alleges rape after Baftas
HARVEY WEINSTEIN could be stripped of his CBE, it emerged last night, as Natassia Malthe accused the film mogul of raping her in a London hotel after a Bafta awards ceremony.
The model and actress, who has appeared in around 50 films, said yesterday that she met Weinstein at the after-party of the 2008 ceremony while she was working as a spokesman for the company LG.
Her claims come as the BBC reported that The Honours Forfeiture Committee was actively considering the removal of the honourary CBE Weinstein was awarded for outstanding contribution to the British film industry in 2004. He has already had his Bafta membership revoked.
In the latest of dozens of allegations of sexual harassment and assault, Malte told a press conference in New York that she felt pressured into telling Weinstein she was staying at the Sanderson Hotel.
Malthe, now 43, said that after her shift on Feb 10 she went back to her room and went to sleep, but was awoken by “repeated pounding” on her door, from someone yelling: “Open the door Natassia Malthe, it’s Harvey Weinstein.” Feeling humiliated, she said she opened the door. She alleged Weinstein began implying sex would get her a role in an forthcoming film while semi-undressed and then he began to touch himself.
“I was sitting on the bed talking to Harvey when he pushed me back and forced himself onto me. It was not consensual. He did not use a condom,” she said. “I was completely grossed out. I believe that I disassociated during the time that he was having sex with me.
“I laid still and closed my eyes and just wanted it to end. I was like a dead person.”
The next day she received a script, she alleged, before returning to Los Angeles where she said she was given the impression she had landed a role in the movie Nine. Malthe claimed that Weinstein asked her to meet him at the Beverly Hills Peninsula Hotel where he allegedly said an assistant would be present.
But instead he asked her to engage in a threesome, she alleged. She refused and when she later called him to say a role in a movie was not worth it, he became angry, she claimed.
Gloria Allred, her lawyer, said Malthe was “considering” whether to make a report to police over the allegation, which is at least the sixth claim of rape against Weinstein. Weinstein has “unequivocally denied” allegations of non-consensual sex.
Weinstein, 65, is the subject of criminal investigations in London, New York and Los Angeles and The Weinstein Company (TWC), which he co-founded, is the subject of a civil rights investigation. TWC, which sacked Weinstein, is also being sued for $5million (£3.8 million) by Dominique Huett, the actress, who claims the studio was negligent for having knowledge of his behaviour.
Her civil suit also claims Weinstein’s brother, Bob, and the company’s directors were aware of the behaviour. Both the company and Bob Weinstein have previously said that allegations against them were an “utter surprise”.