How the New York Times investigation made the film industry turn its back on legendary producer - ForumDaily
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How the New York Times investigation made the film industry turn its back on the legendary producer

Фото: Depositphotos

5 October edition The New York Times published an investigation according to which Harvey Weinstein, one of the most influential Hollywood producers, had sexual relationships with subordinates and young actresses for many years, and then paid off their accusations. As a result, Weinstein was fired from the company he founded. Several other actresses reported harassment from the producer, including Romola Garai, Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie. While some actresses say Weinstein's behavior was an open secret in Hollywood, for others the news came as a shock. On October 11, Harvey Weinstein's wife, designer Georgina Chapman, announced that she was separating from her husband. "MedusaTalks about how to investigate The New York Times made the film industry turn away from the legendary producer.

"The problem that really exists"

After publication in The New York Times co-founder of film companies Miramax and The Weinstein Company, Oscar winner and BAFTA Harvey Weinstein publicly repented of their actions. October 9 Weinstein was fired from his own film studio, and October 10 announced that the founder’s name would be removed from the company's name. Journalists learned that before he was dismissed, Weinstein asked the agents of major Hollywood celebrities and heads of other film studios to intercede for him before the board of directors. The Weinstein Company, but to no avail.

The producer wrote to his colleagues that he wanted to temporarily retire to save his reputation and save his position. He denied most of the charges.

“If I go through psychotherapy and take a course of psychological counseling, as other people did, I think I will be given a second chance. <...> All I need is for the film industry to support me, "- said in a letter provided to the editors The New York Times one of its recipients.

On the eve of the consideration of the dismissal of Harvey Weinstein from The Weinstein Company Several people left the board of directors of the company. The decision was taken by the four remaining directors - including his brother Bob Weinstein, with whom Harvey founded the legendary film studio at the end of 70's Miramax. In a letter to Harvey Weinstein’s adviser, his brother stated that “Harvey probably should really seek professional help and solve a problem that really exists.” He also said that democratic organizations are returning the money that Harvey Weinstein donated to support women's rights.

Abuse of power

The first woman to tell about Harvey Weinstein's harassment after the publication of the investigation The New York Times, became the star of "The Atonement" of Joe Wright, "Angel" by Francois Ozon and the mini-series "Emma" Romol Garay. According to her, this happened when she was just 18 years old - that is, in the 2000 year, after her first big role.

“Like any other woman in the industry, I had a“ personal interview ”with Harvey Weinstein; after listening it was necessary that he personally endorsed your candidacy, ”said Garay.

The actress claims that she was asked to go up to Weinstein in the hotel room, where he met her in a bathrobe. According to the memoirs of the actress, she felt she had no right to resist. “It was an abuse of power,” Garay explained. She added that she had started talking just now, since until that moment in the film industry such behavior was not considered a problem and no one would listen to it.

Фото: Depositphotos

After that, the actress and TV presenter Lauren Sivian told about the harassment from Weinstein — about ten years ago, the producer squeezed her at a party in the corner, told her to “shut up” and began to masturbate until she reached orgasm. As the woman explained, she did not report the incident, as she was afraid of the scandal and Weinstein himself, who had a great media influence. On the harassment of Weinstein also wrote a post on Medium former model Zoe Brock. She recalls how she met the producer at the Cannes Film Festival in 23, where he tricked her into a hotel, saying that the party had been moved there and the girl's friends were going there in another car. Brock says that they had a mutual acquaintance, director Jane Campion, so she felt safe. When they were alone, the producer undressed and tried to massage her, and Brock had to hide from him in the bathroom.

The New York Times I spoke with several women who claimed that Harvey Weinstein had committed violent acts of a sexual nature against them. Among them - the actress and director Asia Argento, the daughter of the legendary horror film director Dario Argento.

Фото: Depositphotos

She told the publication in detail about how she accepted an invitation to the Weinstein party at the hotel in 1997, but found out that there was no one in the room besides the two of them. When the producer came out of the bathroom in a bathrobe and with a bottle of massage lotion, she tried to protest, but she was so scared that she did not resist. Then, according to her, Weinstein lifted her skirt up and, despite her requests to stop, began to make her cunnilingus. Argento says that for many years she blamed herself for not finding the strength to fight back, and was severely traumatized by what happened. As Argento told the publication, her guilt and inability to tell about what happened aggravated the fact that she subsequently voluntarily engaged in sex with Weinstein and accepted his help.

Another woman that Weinstein, according to her, forced to engage in oral sex, was aspiring actress Lucia Evans.

Photo: Twitter / Lucia Evans
@LuciaEvansVoice

She said The New York Timesthat the producer invited her to talk about matters to his office, praised her and promised roles, and then unzipped his pants and made him take his dick in his mouth. Evans says she asked him to stop, but he did not listen, and she just gave up. “He is a big man and he overpowered me,” said the woman. “This is the most terrible thing, and that is why he has been doing this with women for so long: people just give up, and then they still feel that they themselves are to blame for what happened.” Mira Sorvino and Rosanna Arquette also told stories about attempts to force them into undesirable actions. According to Arquette, she repulsed the producer, although he threatened that she was making a big mistake - and after that she lost at least one of the roles she was signed for. Rosanna Arquette said that Weinstein had “ruined her life” for many years.

Material evidence

Another testimony received The New York Times, was the recording of Harvey Weinstein's harassment to the Italian model Ambre Gutierrez in 2015. After a personal meeting, Weinstein grabbed her chest and, despite the protests, tried to lift her skirt, the model turned to the police - and then agreed to another meeting with the producer, which was recorded on tape. The police record, published by the publication, can be heard as Weinstein makes the girl go with him to the room and demands not to make a scene in the lobby of the hotel. He swears with his children that he will not do anything wrong, and continues to insist, although Gutierrez repeats that she is uncomfortable and she does not want to have any close contacts with him. When Gutierrez asked why he grabbed her breasts the day before, Weinstein said that he simply “used to do this”, tells her to sit next to him and says that she should not spoil relations with him “for five minutes”.

According to The New York Times, after Gutierrez appealed to the police, publications about her past began to appear in the press - including the fact that she participated in the debauchery parties of the former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, and also accused of the sexual violence of some Italian businessman. According to a source in the police, after that, despite all the evidence collected by Weinstein, the district attorney’s office refused to open a criminal case against him.

10 October in the publication of The New York Times about the harassment of Harvey Weinstein told the actresses Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie. Both of them, according to them, faced violent acts on his part when they were novice actresses: Paltrow was 22 of the year, and Jolie was 23. “I had a bad experience with Harvey Weinstein in my youth, and since then I decided never to work with him and warned others,” said Jolie, adding that he was molesting her in a hotel room. Paltrow said that, like many others, Weinstein offered her a massage and touched her. “I was very young, I had a contract with him, and I was petrified with horror,” recalls the actress, who later won an Oscar for her role in the Weinstein-produced film “Shakespeare in Love”. She says that she complained then to her boyfriend Brad Pitt, and he went into conflict with the producer. After that, Weinstein told her not to go over what had happened, and she agreed, fearing that she would be fired.

Conspiracy of silence

Article The New York Times The Harvey Weinstein media associates, released after the investigation, say that Weinstein’s behavior has been discussed for years, but the media did not write about it, because no one wanted to spoil the relationship with the film producer. At the same time, the journalist and founder of the site about the media industry TheWrap Sharon Waxman said that these attempts were also suppressed in the newspaper itself. According to her, in 2004, she tried to write in The New York Times (where she worked then) a report on this topic - but the material was rigidly edited, cutting out all the information about the accusations against Weinstein from it. According to Waxman, this was done under pressure from both the producer himself, who was the advertiser of the publication, and his friends - Matt Damon and Russell Crowe.

The reaction of Harvey Weinstein's colleagues in Hollywood did not immediately follow. A few days after publication in The New York Times Meryl Streep (who called Harvey Weinstein a god in her speech on the Golden Globe 2012 of the year) said that not everyone knew about his behavior in the industry. “If this were known, it would have been in the press a long time ago,” said the actress in her official statement. She said that Weinstein always behaved with her respectfully, although she was quick-tempered, and that she did not know anything about his sexual harassment against other women.

Meryl Streep called the behavior attributed to Weinstein disgusting and inexcusable - but on the whole is not exceptional. The actress and director of “Girls” Lena Dunham agreed with her. In her column, Harvey Weinstein and Male Silence, Dunham wrote that the producer is far from the only one who could be allowed to do this in the film industry. Actress Mindy Kaling stressed that in this situation, the reaction of men is very important: "This is what he fears the most: that the silent male support for such behavior will disappear."

In particular, Ben Affleck, Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, George Clooney, Kevin Smith and Seth Rogen spoke out against Weinstein. “I believe all women who have spoken about Harvey Weinstein’s harassment,” Rogen wrote on Twitter. “I'm sick of what I read,” said Affleck. “We need to better protect our sisters, friends, colleagues and daughters, support those who find the courage to tell what happened, and strive for more women to have influence.”

Actress Jennifer Lawrence and Judi Dench also spoke out about the inadmissibility of such actions. At the same time, they stated that they had never encountered inappropriate behavior on the part of Weinstein and did not know anything about such cases. Jessica Chastain, on the contrary, tweeted that she had been warned about Harvey Weinstein’s habits from the very beginning of her career. “Everyone was talking about this. To deny this is to create favorable conditions for such things to recur, ”wrote the star of the Tree of Life and Interstellar. This was confirmed by actress Glenn Close, adding that the "casting on the couch" institute still flourishes in Hollywood, where it is considered normal that "an imperious, selfish and famous person would expect sexual services in exchange for work." Kate Winslet said she heard similar rumors about Harvey Weinstein, but she hoped they were false.

10 October was commented on by Hillary Clinton, whose campaign Harvey Weinstein publicly supported, including through donations. In her official statement, published through a representative, it is said that she was shocked by the information she made public.

“Behavior described by women is unacceptable. Their courage and public support are very important to prevent such things from happening again, ”Clinton said.

Who supported Harvey Weinstein (and then changed his mind)

Harvey Weinstein tried to protect his friend, fashion designer Donna Karan. When asked to comment on the situation, she said that the inappropriate attitude towards women around the world must be exposed. However, in her opinion, many women by their sexual appearance are asking for harassment themselves - and “we need to think about how we are raising our children, what we allow them to dress and how to behave.” Later, she took her words back, saying that they were taken out of context.

In an interview that Harvey Weinstein gave the newspaper New York Post immediately after the publication of the investigation The New York Times, the producer said that he was fully supported by his wife, the brand designer Marchesa Georgina Chapman. Weinstein said that he and his wife had several “very tough” conversations on this topic, and also admitted that he had “the worst character in the world” and he often behaved inappropriately. According to him, his wife “gave him a kick” to make him a good person and deserve forgiveness from those he hurt. However, October 10 Georgina Chapman officially announced that she decided to part with her husband.

“My heart bleeds because of all the women who have had to endure these terrible sufferings,” she said.

The designer asked the press to show respect and not to bother her and the children at such a moment. 65-year-old Weinstein and 41-year-old Chapman have been married since 2007, the couple have a seven-year-old daughter and a four-year-old son.

His adviser Lisa Bloom also refused to support Harvey Weinstein, who advised him on gender policy issues and defended him from criticism. Bloom is a lawyer who has made a career in protecting victims of sexual abuse. Many, including her mother, a well-known feminist and human rights activist Gloria Allred, were surprised by Bloom's desire to work with Weinstein and help him. “I would never represent Mr. Weinstein,” Allred said. “On the contrary, I would represent anyone who accused him of sexual harassment, even if it meant fighting my own daughter in court.”

Media and social network users noticed that Bloom’s decision to defend Harvey Weinstein could have been dictated by his personal interests: Weinstein was supposed to produce a series based on her book about Treyvon Martin - an 17-year-old African-American who was shot by a warrior in 2012. Lisa Bloom was going to use as a proof of Weinstein's innocence his photographs with alleged victims, on which they are kept friendly. October 7 Lisa Bloom resigned as a Harvey Weinstein adviser.

Harvey Weinstein himself and his representatives did not comment on the new accusations against the producer.

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