Meryl Streep. Photo courtesy of BBC.
Summary: Meryl Streep slams former friend Harvey Weinstein for using her words out of context in his racketeering lawsuit offense.
Disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein is fighting back against the racketeering lawsuit filed against him, and in the process, he hoped to use Meryl Streep as an ally. But on Wednesday, the Oscar-winning actress slammed her former friend, according to The Hollywood Reporter, saying that he may have made good movies in the past but that will not save him in court.
“Harvey Weinstein’s attorneys’ use of my (true) statement — that he was not sexually transgressive or physically abusive in our business relationship — as evidence that he was not abusive with many OTHER women is pathetic and exploitive,” Streep said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. “The criminal actions he is accused of conducting on the bodies of these women are his responsibility, and if there is any justice left in the system he will pay for them — regardless of how many good movies, made by many good people, Harvey was lucky enough to have acquired or financed.”
For almost three decades, Weinstein produced hit films such as “Shakespeare In Love” and “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” as well as TV series like “Project Runway.” He worked with acclaimed directors and actors, and he was known as a huge power in Hollywood.
But the Weinstein empire crashed down in October when The New York Times ran an expose that claimed Weinstein had sexually harassed or abused several women over the course of his career. That article prompted numerous people such as Asia Argento and Rose McGowan to come forward and claim sexual misconduct, and he was sued by six women for racketeering.
The six women who sued Weinstein said that he used his business network to sexually harass, abuse, or assault hundreds of women. This included having his assistants schedule “auditions” in his hotel room or having his company cover up his misdeeds.
On Tuesday, Weinstein’s defense team filed a motion to dismiss in New York court. They said that the plaintiffs–Louisette Geiss, Katherine Kendall, Zoe Brock, Sarah Ann Masse, Melissa Sagemiller and Nannette Klatt–were restricted by the statute of limitations of when the alleged sexual misconduct occurred against them.
Weinstein’s lawyers also said that the plaintiff’s class-action lawsuit was so broad that it essentially covered every woman who had ever met Weinstein, not women who had any proof of “identifiable harm.”
In his motion to dismiss, Weinstein used Streep as an example of a woman whom he had a positive working relationship, and he also named Gwyneth Paltrow, who ironically accused him of sexual harassment. Weinstein said that Paltrow continued to work with him and flourished in her career, despite the incident in which she claimed he had hit on her.
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