Politicians funded by Weinstein should denounce his behavior
For years, Harvey Weinstein, a film and television producer at the apex of the U.S. entertainment industry, has lavished money and attention on the Democratic Party’s biggest names and causes.
Weinstein has given more than $1.4 million to candidates, parties and political action committees since 1990, Variety reported, citing figures from the Center for Responsive Politics. Among his biggest beneficiaries was President Barack Obama, whose daughter was an intern with Weinstein’s company this year. At a career workshop for high schoolers at the White House, where Weinstein was a guest several times, Michelle Obama called him “a wonderful human being, a good friend and just a powerhouse.”
Weinstein is also a yearslong friend of both Bill and Hillary Clinton, for whose 2016 presidential campaign he was a major contributor and driving force, holding a fundraiser in his home at one point. He’s raised money for Planned Parenthood, helped endow a faculty chair at Rutgers University in Gloria Steinem’s name and distributed a film, “The Hunting Ground,” about campus sexual assault.
But while Weinstein’s stature as a liberal lion grew, so did the number of accusations of harassment of female employees, actors and job applicants, The New York Times found. On Thursday, a Times investigation described in sickening detail how, over three decades, young women have accused him of sexual harassment and unwanted physical contact, reaching at least eight settlements with him.
The report described Weinstein’s efforts to meet women in hotel rooms, where he touched them, asked them to watch him shower or massage him while he was nude.
The report revealed Weinstein to be a big-screen version of what working women encounter every day: a boss who thinks he can take what he wants from them and cover his tracks with money when he’s caught. There’s little doubt his power encouraged his brazenness and helps explain how he got away with it for so long. Weinstein controlled many avenues to advancement in his industry and could kill the career of any woman who didn’t hush up.
The sums he paid his accusers were paltry compared with those that men like Roger Ailes and Bill O’reilly paid their accusers, but the accusations were similar.
Women who spoke on the record for Thursday’s report, including actress Ashley Judd, said they hoped to encourage women throughout the workforce, not just celebrities in high-profile industries, to come forward and expose predatory behavior. “Women have been talking about Harvey amongst ourselves for a long time, and it’s simply beyond time to have the conversation publicly,” Judd said. How familiar that sounds to all working women.
Tales of Weinstein’s offenses were widely shared in Hollywood but not publicly discussed. Despite years of fundraisers with Hollywood celebrities, those who took his donations may have never heard the stories. But they have now.
A number of members of Congress have pledged to give all contributions they received from Weinstein to charity, including to organizations that assist victims of sexual assault and domestic violence.
There was no immediate comment from Obama or Hillary Clinton, who condemned Donald Trump for boasting of sexual assault on the “Access Hollywood” tape.
These Democratic leaders, admired by many young women and men, should make clear that Weinstein also deserves condemnation.
If such powerful leaders take the money and stay mum, who will speak for women like Weinstein’s accusers?
In a statement both remorseful and self-aggrandizing, Weinstein pledged yet more money for liberal causes, including gun control and scholarships for women in film.
Money, though, is not going to solve this problem.
After The Times’ report was published, Rose Mcgowan, who after an encounter with Weinstein in a hotel room reportedly reached a $100,000 settlement with him in 1997, encouraged women to “fight on. And to the men out there, stand up. We need you as allies.”
Those allies, including Weinstein’s prominent friends, need to publicly assert that the behavior that has made him notorious cannot be tolerated.
Not from anyone.