October 5, 2017

"In public, [Harvey Weinstein] presents himself as a liberal lion, a champion of women and a winner of not just artistic but humanitarian awards."

"In 2015, the year [Lauren O’Connor wrote a searing memo accusing Weinstein of sexual harassment and other misconduct], his company distributed 'The Hunting Ground,' a documentary about campus sexual assault. A longtime Democratic donor, he hosted a fund-raiser for Hillary Clinton in his Manhattan home last year. He employed Malia Obama, the oldest daughter of former President Barack Obama, as an intern this year, and recently helped endow a faculty chair at Rutgers University in Gloria Steinem’s name. During the Sundance Film Festival in January, when Park City, Utah, held its version of nationwide women’s marches, Mr. Weinstein joined the parade. “From the outside, it seemed golden — the Oscars, the success, the remarkable cultural impact,” said Mark Gill, former president of Miramax Los Angeles, which was then owned by Disney. 'But behind the scenes, it was a mess, and this was the biggest mess of all,' he added, referring to Mr. Weinstein’s treatment of women."

From the searing NYT article "Decades of Sexual Harassment Accusations Against Harvey Weinstein," by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey.

Here's how searing it looks on Drudge:



Hillary looks rather fabulous there, doesn't she? Positively actressy. Kittenish!

The Times publishes Weinstein's absurd response:
I came of age in the 60’s and 70’s, when all the rules about behavior and workplaces were different. That was the culture then.
The Roman Polanski excuse.
I have since learned it’s not an excuse, in the office - or out of it. To anyone.

I realized some time ago that I needed to be a better person and my interactions with the people I work with have changed.

I appreciate the way I’ve behaved with colleagues in the past has caused a lot of pain, and I sincerely apologize for it.

Though I’m trying to do better, I know I have a long way to go. That is my commitment. My journey now will be to learn about myself and conquer my demons. Over the last year I've asked Lisa Bloom to tutor me and she's put together a team of people. I've brought on therapists and I plan to take a leave of absence from my company and to deal with this issue head on. I so respect all women and regret what happened. I hope that my actions will speak louder than words and that one day we will all be able to earn their trust and sit down together with Lisa to learn more. Jay Z wrote in 4:44 "I'm not the man I thought I was and I better be that man for my children." The same is true for me. I want a second chance in the community but I know I've got work to do to earn it. I have goals that are now priorities. Trust me, this isn't an overnight process. I've been trying to do this for 10 years and this is a wake-up call. I cannot be more remorseful about the people I hurt and I plan to do right by all of them.

I am going to need a place to channel that anger so I've decided that I'm going to give the NRA my full attention. I hope Wayne LaPierre will enjoy his retirement party. I'm going to do it at the same place I had my Bar Mitzvah. I'm making a movie about our President, perhaps we can make it a joint retirement party. One year ago, I began organizing a $5 million foundation to give scholarships to women directors at USC. While this might seem coincidental, it has been in the works for a year. It will be named after my mom and I won't disappoint her.
The line I find most absurd is: "Over the last year I've asked Lisa Bloom to tutor me and she's put together a team of people." Are the "people" all women? "I've brought on therapists...." How many damned people have to join forces to turn you into a decent human being? It's like the credits at the end of a movie: You think, does it really take that many people?

And the idea that he's going to make it all up to us by going after the NRA and Trump — disgusting. And to drag his mother and his Bar Mitzvah into it. A Bar Mitzvah signifies that you became a man when you were 13 years old and you became responsible for your actions. It's 52 years later, and you're assembling a team to help you figure out the basics of human behavior and you're trying to distract us with accusations against the NRA and the President of the United States. Grotesque.

Here's IMDB's list of all of the movies he's responsible for, in case you want to change your interpretation of anything you consumed over the years, contributing to the empowerment of this man. So many of them are aimed at women: "The English Patient," "Emma," "The Wings of the Dove," "Shakespeare in Love," "Chicago," "The Reader." 

170 comments:

Achilles said...

Hillary loves sexual predators. She collects them. Like a harem.

Birches said...

This is why I was always a little perturbed about how big of a deal the Fox News sexual harassment thing was made by the media. This crap goes on anywhere there's TV cameras involved. I'm sure there's skeletons in the closet at CNN and Disney and Dreamworks and...

I'm so glad that finally women are fighting back. But why did it take so long? Now let's expose all the studio execs that are preying on young men in the same way. Corey Haim wasn't lying.

Hari said...

This is what a deplorable looks like.

Achilles said...

Isn't it amazing how many of the leaders of the progressive movement are just disgusting people? Wealthy elitist condescending pieces of shit.

Funny how the movement that pushes slavery, eugenics, jim crow, segregation of schools, gun confiscation, speech codes, bureaucratic tyranny, racial spoils, tribalism, and hatred of political opponents attracts people to lead it who act like such shitheads.

rehajm said...

How many leftie women persisted in keeping quiet for this twat?

Most of them.

tcrosse said...

I'm a man, and I can change if I have to, I guess.

JAORE said...

At least he didn't say young actresses will let producers grab 'em by the pussy. Then he'd really be in trouble.

Lifetime achievement award show, filled to the brim with preening, fawning celebrities in 5....4....3....

Sydney said...

Surely people know that these big wigs give to all of these causes to gather more power and influence. They don't sincerely believe in the causes they give money to. If they thought they would profit by promoting conservative causes, they would do that instead.

n.n said...

A sex diversitist hiding in plain sight.

We really need a conservation of principles.

Bay Area Guy said...

Remember Mel Brooks, in Remember Mel Brooks, in "The History of the World"

It's good to the King, right Harvey?

Why are Hollywood Leftists so sexist and hostile to women?

Chuck said...

Harvey's been married to Georgina Chapman for almost ten years.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-W5WaHuDol-8/TaTG-moxxMI/AAAAAAAABl8/bLqx5Pqbieg/s640/georgina-chapman-awake-new-york-city-premiere-arrivals-A3gil3.jpg

Day-um.

YoungHegelian said...

Over the last year I've asked Lisa Bloom to tutor me and she's put together a team of people." Are the "people" all women? "I've brought on therapists...."

Hey, Harvey, I've got an idea that's so meshuggah it just might work! How about you tell the lawyers, tutors, & therapists to take a hike & live your life according to the Torah?

It's telling, isn't it, that in times of moral crisis, he never mentions, you know, like getting moral bearings from a rabbi. Who the fuck gets moral bearings from a lawyer & therapists? That's not in either of those two professions job descriptions.

PB said...

If the Democrats wouldn't shun and excommunicate the sexual predator Bill Clinton they certainly aren't going to shun and excommunicate the sexual predator Harvey Weinstein.

Achilles said...

Looking at that picture of Hillary and Harvey makes me think a lot more about a colosseum with hungry lions. We should build it right in front of the capitol building in DC.

Maybe people would think twice about the right to self defense and the balance of power between citizen and state when the bars slid up and a few lions came out?

Birches said...

So why didn't Ashley Judd tell her little tale about Harvey Weinstein when she went after Trump?

Rob said...

Weinstein deserves all the tsuris he gets, for inflicting "The English Patient" on us.

Drago said...

So why didn't Ashley Judd tell her little tale about Harvey Weinstein when she went after Trump?

To ask the question is to answer the question.

You'll find the "usual suspect" lefties and lifelong republicans will always find new and creative ways to defend, mitigate, excuse or outright ignore what the dems do.

Anonymous said...

The Decade made me do it!

YoungHegelian said...

In my 35 years in the IT business, I've been in a lot of different offices & met a very diverse crew of people. Let me tell you something --- how a man treats women has absolutely nothing to do with his politics. Nothing. I have no idea what drives a man's attitude towards women, but politics it ain't.

I've met conservative troglodytes who would say some of the most sexist stuff imaginable behind closed doors, but who were perfect gentlemen who treated their female employees fairly. And I've met liberals, big on women's rights & feminism, who were just bastards towards the women in their orbit.

My guess -- I'm not the only person in this forum with these experiences.

RMc said...

Weinstein, like Bill Clinton apparently believes something to the effect of, "Look, I'm out there fighting for women politically every day, so why shouldn't I have a little piece now and then? It's only fair!"

Lyle said...

George Grosz loved to paint Harvey Weinstein like characters.

rhhardin said...

It's just the casting couch. Both sides get the gains from trade.

I'm sure he likes women more than sexually, in case that's a question.

There's more evil in the modern feminist line of destroy everything male.

rhhardin said...

Coleridge called it new moral discoveries, as a way of disparaging what was PC in his day.

Earnest Prole said...

When a sexual predator is D-affiliated your commenters have no difficulty calling a spade a spade, but when he is R-affiliated . . .

gspencer said...

"But in private places (those in buildings and those under petticoats) Weinstein was full bore exploiting the balance of power which was completely in his favor."

Hypocrite much?

A true-and-true Democrat.

rhhardin said...

You could probably do a good study of the ethics of the casting couch. Not just anything goes.

The girl has to come out ahead too.

rhhardin said...

Which way does the imbalance of power go in the casting couch.

buwaya said...

OK, I am paranoid, but...

Why now? Why him?
This is an organized attack.
Did he cross someone?
Is he in someones way?

YoungHegelian said...

I've gotta ask this question -- why is Harvey Weinstein & a given actress transacting business at a hotel one on one? C'mon! When the "Suits" & the "Talent" sit down to talk business, there's a whole panoply of people involved on both sides. Agents, lawyers, accountants, support staff & go-fers.

If I was an actress meeting Weinstein at a hotel, I'd tell him I'm sending him up a hooker, & when he's done with her, get dressed, come down & we'll talk business in the hotel cafe.

This may have much to do with why I am not now nor will I ever be a Hollywood success.

rhhardin said...

One thing to note about the casting couch is that actresses aren't that great looking, if you're just after flesh. Modern movies have revealed that.

Their appeal is the characters they play, and how you'd like to get to know the characters.

Otherwise you'd just go for models, like Trump.

Except for the rule don't date models or actresses. There are character problems.

Amadeus 48 said...

No wonder Jennifer Lawrence forgot to thank him at the Oscars. She probably had tuck-in duty once too often when she was starting out.

Gahrie said...

Feminists will end up giving this guy a pass. Meanwhile they'll cheer while the lives of innocent young men are ruined because some co-ed regretted getting drunk and laid.

Darrell said...

If your dues are paid up on your Lefty card, you are entitled to a certain amount of rape and mayhem.

rhhardin said...

What you want is a women who thinks you're funny and doesn't change her mind in three months.

"There has to be more to our relationship than just telling jokes."

J. Farmer said...

This has a whiff of an avalanche to it. Stay tuned.

rhhardin said...

If you couldn't sleep your way to the top, you'd have nothing.

Affirmative action is to give ugly women a shot, not to protect the pretty ones.

rhhardin said...

All around, the power was pretty well balanced before feminism invented public nagging.

YoungHegelian said...

@J. Farmer

This has a whiff of an avalanche to it. Stay tuned.

It'd be something if the reputed Hollywood pedophiles were next to be outed, wouldn't it?

Ken B said...

It might be disgusting but it will work. A few million, a few movies, a few speeches, and a few lies will rehabilitate him as long as he bashes the right bashees.

rhhardin said...

A lot of Cinderellas are turning out to be mean step-sisters.

rhhardin said...

Cold porridge from a lot of wild oats Goldilocks's.

rhhardin said...

Remember Dicaprio saved Kate Winslet in 1912, before the casting couch was wrong. High morality.

Clyde said...

My first thought was, "Hey, I thought he was gay!" and then I realized I'd confused him with Harvey Fierstein. My bad.

rhhardin said...

It's a violation of the confidentiality of the casting couch.

Director-actress privilege.

Clyde said...

If you're a producer, they'll let you grab them by the pussy...

Birches said...

Buwaya, I'd like to think many of these women couldn't reconcile their activism re Trump and letting Weinstein maintain his reputation.

Richard said...

As long as you talk the talk you don’t have to walk the walk. Just ask Bill Clinton.

buwaya said...

"This has a whiff of an avalanche to it. Stay tuned."

Yes it does.
An organized avalanche.
But there is certainly a reason behind it, which is more important than any of the offenses cited or that will be cited.

Now I Know! said...

But Ann would never do a post about a conservative Republican congressman encouraging his mistress to have an abortion.

Ann, why don't you tell us more about your "cruel neutrality."

buwaya said...

"Buwaya, I'd like to think many of these women couldn't reconcile their activism re Trump and letting Weinstein maintain his reputation."

Hypocrisy is easy.
And this has stayed quiet for many years through many scandals.
Something else is in back of this.

wildswan said...

Everybody should talk about and take on their own problems. Like, if Aaron Rogers wants to use "his platform" (previously known as Monday Night Football) to lecture on social problems, then Aaron Rogers should talk about concussion and players playing injured. http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/feature/wp/2013/05/16/do-no-harm-retired-nfl-players-endure-a-lifetime-of-hurt/

Or if Harvey Weinstein wants to work for a cause to make up for the pain he's caused women, then Harvey Weinstein should take on Hollywood and the casting couch. If the Democrats want to get rid of guns, the Democrats should get rid of their own bodyguards' guns. If the Democrats want to help the planet, the Democrats should challenge the use of jets by the wealthy Democratic fundraisers.

This wouldn't make anything happen because everyone would suddenly be to busy to "use their platform" but it would get rid of a lot of self-righteousness blathering. Which would help with brain injuries causes by repetitive contact with solid stupidity.

Virgil Hilts said...

The timing is kind of curious. Hard to imagine this story coming out say 12 months ago. Kind of convenient that it comes in October of a non-election year. And it does not sound like the allegations just surfaced a few weeks ago.

rcocean said...

Peeps wonder why the actresses didn't come out sooner. Maybe they should look at how Roman Polanski is a Hollywood hero. Or how Cliff Robertson was black balled in Hollywood because he exposed that David Begelman was stealing money. Or the Conservative actors who found their roles disappearing once they "came out of the closet".

I don't think Weinstein's excuse about the 70s makes much sense but in the 1930s and 1940s Studio execs got away with murder. Doris Day's agent tried to rape her, Arthur Freed took out his dick and asked Shirley temple to give him a blow job, Harry Cohen and David Selznick were notorious was tossing young starlets down on the casting couch and demanding sexual favors. And of course, Chaplin and Flynn were both fucking under age girls.

Clyde said...

Speaking of sexism, along with the previous post, there's this:

Financial Firm Behind 'Fearless Girl' Will Pay $5 Million for Allegedly Underpaying Women and Minorities

So it was virtue signaling without the virtue.

Sally327 said...

Hmmm...at least he wasn't preying on young boys. Or slipping something into a woman's drink. Or texting pictures of his penis to teenage girls. Maybe he should go with that as a defense.

He's a Roger Ailes kind of predator, targeting adult women who work for him or want something from him. Because he wasn't sufficiently evolved, hadn't been taught how to behave differently having come of age in a Mad Men kind of world. Sure, that plays. Not!! Total B.S.

He's married to a very beautiful, successful woman (Georgina Chapman). I wonder how she feels about all this.



hawkeyedjb said...

"The 60s made me do it." Hey, I'm old enough to use that one. But now I'm too old to need it.

rcocean said...

Harvey Winestein just didn't meet the right kind of girls. Several reporters wanted to give Bill Clinton a blow job for "keeping abortion legal". Surely they would've given Harvey one, for donating to the Clinton campaign.

Michael said...

Bye bye Harvey, you pig. You fat disgusting pig.

Rick said...

Feminists will end up giving this guy a pass.

Nah. People are afraid to make the first accusation. They think they'll have to take the return attack by themselves and everyone will rally to the lech, all with only their word as evidence. But with this many accusers no one will stand by him publicly and certainly no one is going to support any return attacks on the accusers.

But mostly it's not like this guy is Bill Clinton. He's got money but there's plenty of that around. There's only one Presidency.

rcocean said...

Next time some old timer does something racist, he should just say "Hey, I came of age in the 1960s and segregation. The Culture was different then. "

MayBee said...

Poor Billy Bush.

rcocean said...

BTW, Weinstein graduated from College in 1974. What do the 60s have to with it?

buwaya said...

"What do the 60s have to with it?"

High School

Amadeus 48 said...

Harvey will be back in fighting form for the 2018 election cycle. He'll lead a candlelight vigil for victims of sexual harassment in Hollywood to be attended by former perpetrators at $100,000 per candle. Ashley Judd will speak movingly about Harvey's contrition and genuine reform, and there will be a simultaneous announcement that Ashley has been cast as Mary the Mother of Jesus in a remake of the Greatest Story Ever Told with Leo DiCaprio as Jesus, Ryan Gosling as John the Baptist, Margot Robbie as Salome, Miley Cyrus as Mary Magdalene, Clint Eastwood as Pontius Pilate and Chuck Norris as Judas.

Matt Sablan said...

Seeing how the left treat him and Joss, makes me think Trump's tape may have not been as big of a deal as I was told it was.

rcocean said...

BTW, why do so many of these Studio execs and Directors look like weirdos and pigs? Some of them are good looking, but the percentage is very low.

rcocean said...

"Harvey will be back in fighting form for the 2018 election cycle. He'll lead a candlelight vigil for victims of sexual harassment in Hollywood to be attended by former perpetrators at $100,000 per candle."

You're absolutely right. This will be chink in his armor. But 1 year from now the Democrat Candidates will smiling and laughing as the they palm Harvey's huge campaign contributions.

Bob Ellison said...

Ashley Judd: I am a nasty woman.

Indeed.

rcocean said...

High School - yeah maybe he was making pictures then.

Narayanan said...

Enablers and enableds are mutual support group. They inevitably find each other in Hollywood and politics, includes virtue signaling always. Think back to church and dispensations.

buwaya said...

Anyway, speculating only as to the reason why -

- Mr. Weinstein may not be so rich anymore, no recent hits - they had a pretty lousy 2016 but, however, it seems they have been making money based on 2017 box office on Leap and Lion.

- Inter-Democrat civil war, Weinstein backing the wrong side. Hard to tell this one, it would have to be some inside-players sort of thing.

- Crossed someone in business. It looks like he has been making a play to get Miramax back from the Qataris.

Patrick said...

Liberal lion is a funny phrase. Wasn't Ted Kennedy the lion of the Senate? He also had women problems.

Matt Sablan said...

I'd phrase it as the women had Kennedy problems.

Mary Beth said...

This didn't take long. From The Atlantic:

"But Weinstein has, on the whole, offered an apology, and he has admitted to wrongdoing—which is, on its own, worth celebrating."

Matt Sablan said...

Also, he promised to attack the NRA, so who cares about sexual harassment?

buwaya said...

Perhaps it is part of an anti-Hillary intra-Democrat battle.

Weinstein was for many years a very active Hillary backer.

This might be a move to warn people away from a Hillary restoration.

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

Clyde said...
My first thought was, "Hey, I thought he was gay!" and then I realized I'd confused him with Harvey Fierstein. My bad.


Me too! I was confused about the women allegations. I thought he was the gay "I just want to be loved. Is that so wrong?" Guy.

By the way, I always thought that was a powerful statement.

n.n said...

Also, he promised to attack the NRA, so who cares about sexual harassment?

Ten thousand too many, criminals, certainly, but one million tell-tale hearts beating ever louder.

n.n said...

The conservative Republican turned Pro-Choice Democrat was held accountable by his own house when a lapsed demand for an abortion rite was publicly exposed. So, that's one less liberal in conservative clothing. Progress. Positive progress.

Luke Lea said...

I must admit rhhardin makes some good points.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

Hollywood producer preys on young actresses, news at 11.

TomHynes said...

Assume that Weinstein or his company had hired prostitutes to come to his office every day and service him. I wouldn't have a problem with that - women have a right to their own bodies and can make their own decisions.

Now assume that he offered some prostitutes acting jobs, still no problem.

Now assume that he told some actresses they had to be prostitutes to get an acting job. It is always the women's free decision and shouldn't be a legal issue.

Morally he is a douchebag, of course. If he is doing it with my money as a taxpayer I have a problem.



Freeman Hunt said...

I'm not sure if there is any more competitive career than acting. It is very difficult for actors to make complaints.

Bob Boyd said...

He should write a book, 'What Happened In My Case'

YoungHegelian said...

@NIK,

But Ann would never do a post about a conservative Republican congressman encouraging his mistress to have an abortion.

Tell ya what, Now. Those stories about conservative congressmen recommending abortions? Take a close read of those stories & see what confidences were violated in the telling. Phone text records released. Private divorce records, which are supposed to be sealed by the court, released. All done by people people breaking their oaths to protect information that they are supposed to protect as part of their jobs.

That the world you want to live in, NIK? Step out of line & your personal life gets spilled to the public? You up for that, NIK? You gonna come out clean? Let's discuss your hypocrisy, NIK.

Then there's the little fact that what HW did is illegal & legally actionable, since it constitutes a history of sexual harassment. Actively enabled, of course, by those around him in the mega-corporation he leads who also bear the moral & legal burden of enabling this priapic putz.

Congressmen telling their mistresses to have abortions? Hypocritical, yes, but completely a private matter & completely legal.

urbane legend said...

tcrosse said...
I'm a man, and I can change if I have to, I guess

Words I've lived by since I first heard them.

YoungHegelian said...

@TomHynes,

It is always the women's free decision and shouldn't be a legal issue.

If they work for him, which some of the women did, it most certainly is a legal issue. If, like Ashley Judd, they didn't officially "work" for him, then the line between legal but a lecher and illegal harassment is blurrier. But, if he can be construed as offering a "tit for tat" situation to a possible employee or contractor in situation where corporate money is to be paid to the employee/contractor, then HW most certainly is in breach of the law.

Bad Lieutenant said...


He's married to a very beautiful, successful woman (Georgina Chapman). I wonder how she feels about all this.

Relief, I would imagine. Isn't Harvey Weinstein a fat disgusting tub of s***?

n.n said...

Step out of line & your personal life gets spilled to the public?

Good point. Privacy and trust are important concerns. The conservative position is one biased by tolerance of orientation, action, and word. And would certainly not favor retributive change. The guy made an evil request, which was fortunately denied. We all falter, then seek repentance, and, hopefully, sin no more.

Rabel said...

Cam Newton says, "Thanks, Harv."

William said...

I could see where some women would be blindsided by Cosby. Cosby doesn't give off a serial rapist vibe. But Roger Ailes and Harvey Weinstein definitely have a Jabba the Hut look. You just have to look at them to know they're guilty........The plus side is that Harvey can be absolutely convinced that the actress really, truly wants the part and is dedicated to her craft if she submits to him. I think Harvey was in a more enviable position than Roger. Nobody can fake an orgasm like an actress trained at the Actor's Studio. Television news women don't have the same kind of range. Harvey has had a pleasant, comfortable life and this too shall pass......A lot of my moral grandeur has to do with the fact that I'm not a billionaire and I don't have the kind of job where absurdly hot chicks compete for my favorable attention. I'm like Diogenes in some ways. A simple life of moral purity is my only real ambition.

Etienne said...

He started out in art films, moved on to porn, and the rest is history.

At 65, he should get his medicare and social security and move to the fucking occupied zone and build a Kibbutz and fill it with his maids.

Thankyou... Next!

n.n said...

A simple life of moral purity is my only real ambition.

An elusive goal, but one worth striving for.

Myself, I am looking for peace of mind, and to quiet the dissonance which disrupts the religious/moral, scientific, and logical domains where I live, work, play, and contemplate. Equally elusive, I know.

Martha said...

How many damned people have to join forces to turn you into a decent human being? It's like the credits at the end of a movie: You think, does it really take that many people?

It takes a village.

madAsHell said...

I'm pretty sure Harvey never asked Hillary to his room for a business meeting.

Gojuplyr831@gmail.com said...

So he sexually harasses young women who work for him? Like a former POTUS' daughter? Nothing so sweet as the forbidden fruit.

mccullough said...

Sounds like he hired a pit crew of people to coach him on how to treat women, with Lisa Bloom as the crew chief. Sounds expensive. Asshole consultants might be a cottage industry nowadays.

Good luck taking on the NRA. I don't think they oppose a law forbidding those found liable of sexual harassment from possessing a firearm.

tcrosse said...

Liberal lion is a funny phrase. Wasn't Ted Kennedy the lion of the Senate? He also had women problems.

No. Women had Ted Kennedy problems.

Achilles said...

buwaya said...
"This has a whiff of an avalanche to it. Stay tuned."

Yes it does.
An organized avalanche.
But there is certainly a reason behind it, which is more important than any of the offenses cited or that will be cited.


Shakedown crossed with intra-party warfare.

He will be making some donations to some foundations soon. Then he will fade. The international socialists are making a move on the corporate cronies.

YoungHegelian said...

Wasn't Ted Kennedy the lion of the Senate?

Yeah, but what they meant by that was that he stank the place up with his musk.

buwaya said...

Right, after a bit of sniffing about it seems that Weinstein may have become a target simply because his business has not been doing so well - that is, not making much money the last few years.

His board may be getting set to throw him out. This might have been a move to facilitate that.

There's always a reason why.

Birches said...

Is his bit about the Wayne LaPierre retirement party just saying he's doing an anti NRA fundraiser? Bizarre

Spiros Pappas said...

Is "sexual harassment" the right term? If Mr. Weinstein's behavior was directed towards his employees and impacted their work performance, then, sure, it's sexual harassment and it's a civil rights issue. Go ahead, make a federal case out of it. But what if Mr. Weinstein's behavior is towards women he can't fire? Just randoms?
Isn't he just a creepy loser then?

YoungHegelian said...

@BP,

There's always a reason why.

I'm not saying you're wrong about the question of ulterior motives, BP, but the straw that breaks the camel's back, or the added stream of water that bursts the dam, such things are inherently chaotic processes. You know it's going to happen, you just don't know exactly when.

I'm sure that if you talked to his co-workers at Miramax, they would all be amazed that he got away with it this long.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

I doubt very much that he harassed Malia. I think that is a line a liberal would not cross. She is the daughter of a president Hollywood adores and she wasnt dependent on him to further her career. I think any harassment would have resulted in a visit from the Secret Service which would not have been very pleasant for Weinstein.

Meade said...

"Which way does the imbalance of power go in the casting couch."

One way it definitely goes is against all the fools who take rom-coms seriously. Fools and their money.

Etienne said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Paul said...

Weinstein was just another Bill Clinton type. Hillary loves Bill Clinton types!

Comanche Voter said...

But but! Ol Harvey probably wore a pussy hat--so he should get a pass.

Humperdink said...

From an appearance perspective, Weinstein makes Roger Ailes looks downright attractive.

Bay Area Guy said...

Earlier we had BLM v ACLU

Now, we have Hollywood Harvey v NYT

This is shaping up as a good day. What's next?

Maybe, Antifa sues UC Berkeley for violating is civil rights or something.

Bay Area Guy said...

AA: "Hillary looks rather fabulous there, doesn't she? Positively actressy. Kittenish!"

Heh! From the neck up? Possibly.

From the neck down? Nyet, nyet, a thousand times nyet!

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

Bay Area Guy:

Dont forget the Cam Newton Story. Sexism vs. racism! What a quandary for Leftists!

heh.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

Pop culture is filth.
Hollywood is a sewer and the Hollywood/Media Democrat alliance is more of a "culture of corruption" than anything those penny-ante Repubs of days gone by could ever embody.

But please, Jimmy Kimmel & Colbert, lecture me on ethics and morality. Can't wait!

HoodlumDoodlum said...

It's just this war and the NRA and that lying son of a bitch Trump!

It'd be funny if it wasn't so transparently pathetic.

Bad Lieutenant said...

Dear Althouse,

I feel compelled to tell you this just so that you have the feedback, not to wound you.

I've really been bored with the site lately. Tired froth, you're phoning it in.
Some of your stuff is at least topical but even much of that, as in this case, are so louche that it is a pity our gaze must be lowered to such matters. But this is no worse than two-thirds of the news about President Trump, or any news, dammit.

I don't mean to sound pompous, but is there anything more elevated we could talk about? Art Is Right Out. Forget religion and sports. We've managed to mutilate the weather. What the hell else is there to talk about?

Feel free to skewer me for the impertinence of my essay; I'm sure you'll do it up brown. But hell, that's your idea of stimulating your audience, trolling them.

Pretty compulsive reader of your site but can the thrill be waning? I don't know. Perhaps it's mutual, that's the thing. Are you getting bored?

Big Mike said...

Ted Kennedy was also a liberal lion, and he skated on a rape charge because of his money and power, and he was guilty of sexual assaulting at least one Washington waitress. Joe Biden publicly perves on wives and children of Obama appointees and waved his schlong at female Secret Service agents. Scratch a lib, find a pervert.

Bad Lieutenant said...

As for Weinstein, that reads like a script somebody pitched him that he decided to buy into. Some sort of Disgrace and Redemption Arc, rhhardin probably has the DVD. Assuming everything is done very well , and there are no further shoes, no more business rivals or Qataris with the knives out, I will not be surprised if he recovers. I'm sure he'll continue to be received everywhere. No one will picket him or throw batteries.

YoungHegelian said...

@Hoodlum,

...the Hollywood/Media Democrat alliance is more of a "culture of corruption"...

Oh, yes, it most certainly is. But, what you have to understand about the "high" part of the Democratic "high/low" coalition is that it's corruption for & by the "right" people. They are, in their own minds, doing well by doing good, and all they ask of us deplorables is to get with the program, keep quiet, & keep the dollars flowing. Liberals are real big on the concept of "systemic evil", just as long as it's not their "system" that's on the hot seat.

It's this shared loathing of limousine liberal self-regard while being greedy shits that unites the Bernie Bro wing of the Left to the Republican Righties.

mockturtle said...

He reminds me of a greasy dress-shop owner I remember from my youth. My mother warned me that he would peek into the dressing rooms. His name was Weinstein, also.

Anonymous said...

What's going on here is liberalism as a religion.

Mr. Weinstein is a true believer. Even the true believer sins -- everybody sins, which is what gives the church its power to control its members by imposing conditions on their redemption. But a true believer who confesses his sin and who atones in an approved manner (often involving gifts to the church) is entitled to forgiveness.

But let the heretic (conservative) beware! The heretic's sins can never be forgiven, because he or she continues to reject the true church.

Zach said...

You know it's over when people hire David Boies. He's the guy people hire when they're on the wrong side of the law but don't want to go quietly:

-Gore in Bush v. Gore
-Napster
-Andrew Fastow, chief financial officer of Enron
-SCO, who tried to claim ownership of Linux
-Jamie McCourt, former Dodgers owner, in her divorce from equally scummy Frank McCourt (As I recall, Jamie, who has a law degree, claimed she didn't understand her ironclad prenup when she signed it.)
-Theranos
-and to top it off, he's part of Lawrence Lessig's legal team opposing the Electoral College.

It's not just that those are all scummy clients, although they are. It's that they all had terrible cases.

FullMoon said...

Harvey is not attractive, so having sex with women who would not give him the time of day is a feather in his cap. Imagine how special he would feel if Hillary gave him a blow job. As much money as he can raise, would it be out of the question?

Laslo Spatula said...

No one seems to care that Harvey took great risks of getting sexual diseases from these Hollywood starlets.

Hell, half of the women in Hollywood have herpes: 50+ Famous People Who (Probably) Have Herpes

Of course, many of them got it from Derek Jeter.

I am Laslo.

D.D. Driver said...

So a sexual predator wants to limit a woman's right to armed self-defense. Maybe the gun control movement could use a better spokescreep.

Laslo Spatula said...

My favorite non-Jeter herpes story form " 50+ Famous People Who (Probably) Have Herpes":

"Tawny Kitaen reportedly contracted herpes on a mission in Rwanda."

Was that before or after her smearing herself on the Jaguar in the Whitesnake video?

I am Laslo.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

The Hold Steady - Girls Like Status
https://g.co/kgs/EFzPxc

Bix Cvvv said...

RFK is said to have ordered his goons to throw - physically throw, as in a Three Stooges movie - to throw onto the street, out the front door of the French embassy in Washington (I have walked by that embassy, the concrete would hurt if goons were to throw you onto it) - a young woman (French) who was insisting, after having slept with him, that he pay more attention to her - poor girl, she believed he cared about her, and the concrete must hurt when that is what you meet after being thrown out of your own embassy by goons in the employ of a Kennedy who you thought, just an hour ago, loved you, but who was annoyed that you thought the fact he slept with you meant he cared about you. But that was then, in another country. John Lennon admitted to being a domestic violence addict; many of us smiled at his repentance when he sang about it. And bought his albums, and said so many things about what a wonderful, thoughtful guy he was. Well they both eventually tried to make up for the harm they did to others, and God Bless them: but they were charismatic and handsome, and F**k you if you think it is funny to criticize Weinstein's (admittedly stupid - but who did not know he is a stupid man) apologia and if you bought Lennon's albums without even the smallest sense of doing something wrong (I used to be cruel to my woman I beat her and kept her from the things she loved - his words, not mine - poor sap) and F''k you if you think it is hilarious to laugh at Weinstein and you never laughed at RFK (assuming that RFK was not slandered - if you care, you know what the likelihoods are.) If you don't care and you still made fun of Weinstein, and did not make fun of Lennon and RFK, because you think Weinstein is fat and ugly, and you thought RFK and Lennon were cool and good-looking - Sad! Their female victims did not look at it that way. That being said - it is important to remember that the victims of the RFKs and the Lennons and the Weinsteins of this world are the real story here. Not that many people care, the victims will never be beloved celebrities and Oscar Winners. Nobody talks about obscure victims. Well, I do - I know who the McCorveys of the world are.

bgates said...

Imagine how special he would feel if Hillary gave him a blow job.

I wonder if he ever asked her to wipe it.

Like with a cloth or something.

Wince said...

"I came of age in the 60’s and 70’s, when all the rules about behavior and workplaces were different. That was the culture then."

"Things got a little out of hand. It's just this war... and that lying son of a bitch Johnson! "

bgates said...

I came of age in the 60’s and 70’s, when all the rules about behavior and workplaces were different. That was the culture then.

On top of everything else, he's plagiarizing notorious son of the Confederacy Larry David - "Was that wrong? Should I not have done that? I tell you, I gotta plead ignorance on this thing, because if anyone had said anything to me at all when I first started here that that sort of thing is frowned upon... you know, cause I've worked in a lot of offices, and I tell you, people do that all the time."

Anonymous said...

A short message to feminists who consistently enable sexual predators that espouse correct (leftist) politics : "Character counts!".

If you lie with the dogs, you shouldn't complain about the fleas.

eric said...

This is why liberal and Democrat women think all men are pigs and rapists.

It's because all the liberal, Democrat men that they know are pigs and rapists. So they assume if the feminist men are pigs and rapists, how much worse must those other guys be!

Wince said...

Blogger HoodlumDoodlum said...
It's just this war and the NRA and that lying son of a bitch Trump!

Sorry, HD, commented before I read the whole thread.

Thought of the Trump update myself but wanted to play up HW's absurd 1960s reference and use video clip.

What's interesting about the Forest Gump clip is how contemporary and well-played the "Wesley" character is: an ostensible liberal full of rage, hostile to the actual women in his life, who tries to find social approbation in the militant embrace of the "correct" politics.

Anonymous said...

As for Weinstein; be a man and own it, you pussy.


(Never complain and never explain.)

Anonymous said...

HollyWooders who decry "gun violence" should be beat to death (slowly) with large branches as they have become zillionaires peddling violence porn.

Freeman Hunt said...

Remember Mr. Basketball who nobody knew was into racial discrimination until his not-girlfriend taped him? This is similar. Nobody knew. "Nobody."

Ralph L said...

Bad LT, stick around.
The cast of The Mikado want to say hi.

Drago said...

All of Hollywood is....COMPLICIT.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

I don’t know. I think this will all blow over. He won’t be banished for ever.

LilyBart said...

Weinstein = the boss in the movie 9 to 5.

RY said...

I suspect he hired Lisa Bloom to neutralize her so she won't show up in front of the cameras with a string of accusers in tow. Cheaper and safer to put her on retainer and keep her mouth shut except for friendly little remarks.

M Jordan said...

@Laslo

Thx for the herpes list. It was chock full of good information, such as who has herpes. Well sourced, too. Made me laugh.

nbks said...

Weinstein's victims didn't get much. I suspect folks are willing to go public after seeing the mega $$$ paid out by FoxNews. It'd be ironic if Bill O'Reilly fall ultimately leads to Weinstein's

sdharms said...

and here is what is deplorable: countless people KNEW reporters KNEW, women who were harassed KNEW and all enabled him.

Ron Winkleheimer said...

Roman Polanski raped a 13 year old girl and most of the Hollywood set seems to be OK with that. Weinstein is probably pretty shocked that behavior that a couple of years ago would have rated a "meh" among his peers is now suddenly going to end his career.

And of course the mention of going after the NRA and Trump is just an attempt to buy a pass on his behavior. "Sure, I'm a scumbag, but I'm a leftist so I should get a pass, just like always."

I wonder who he pissed off to get in someone's sights like this?

Humperdink said...

Recall that every time some kook shows to support Trump, the media shoves a microphone(s) at his spokesperson demanding he denounce that person.

We need to do the same to Hillary at these book signings. And then ask a follow of her: "Does Weinstein's behavior remind her of her husband Bill?".

Bandit said...

A Ted Kennedy protege

Ron Winkleheimer said...

My guess as for why now, Obama faction is moving against Clinton faction. The far, far left are currently ascendant in the Democrat party and Bill and Hillary are basically considered KKK by that faction. Triangulation and Super Predator anyone? Hell, Bill once dissed a black woman! That's why Weinstein's "apology" mentions the NRA and Trump and that he is totally down with the cause. None of this is actually about behavior that happens every day in Hollywood and New York. Its about who controls the Democrat party.

tim in vermont said...

"I've brought on the rapists...."

FIFY

tim in vermont said...

He's hoping that the reporters will offer him blow jobs, like they did his boon companion Bill.

tim in vermont said...

I guarantee you that I could have scored a blow job from any woman who ever but her arms on me like that.

It reminds me of the tweet "Find a love who looks at you the way the press looks at Hillary."

AllenS said...

All of this is so foreign to Hillary, because nobody wants her sexually. Not even Bill.

Martin said...

Makes me think of Edward M. Kennedy, a sexual predator with a woman's life to answer for, who doubles down on bullsh*t "feminist" issues to cloud the fact of his misogynism and moral depravity. And the liberals who love him for it.

I'll worry about horndogs like Donald Trump when the "right people" stop making excuses for the real evil, predators like Bill Clinton and Ted Kennedy.

tim in vermont said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Xmas said...

What tweaks me is that Harvey used this hotel room and bathrobe schtick for 20+ years. I am thinking it must have worked more often than it failed, or worked enough to make it worthwhile. If anything, most of the women left there without making a big complaint about it.

Vet66 said...

The 'hunting grounds' necessarily includes variations on the so-called and apt "Casting Couch." and Al Gore's aka Mr. Stone at a Portland hotel looking for a "happy ending." The usual DENY DENY DENY leaves the accuser having insufficient evidence and the charges dropped. The happy ending turned into a divorce. The rich and famous....

Lloyd W. Robertson said...

One of Ann Coulter's better lines is that if there is a party waging war on women, it is the Democrats, and the only one with a confirmed kill is Ted Kennedy. Once you get into show business, New York and LA, I don't know if there's much difference between the parties. There are stories that Ronnie Reagan arranged with Warner Bros to have young women who were new in town sent to see him in a bungalow that was part of a hotel. One can imagine the line: "Ronnie has a lot of experience, and he'll be pleased to offer you advice, even be a kind of mentor." Thanks, that will be wonderful.

Daniel Jackson said...

In an oblique way, I believe his explanation about coming of age in the sixties. I can relate since I spent the epoch known as the Round Man. In the late sixties, I listened to the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band song, Even Fat Boys Can Make It In Santa Monica.

Even fat boys can make it in Santa Monica
Where the white surf meets the sand
You don't have to play the harmonica
Or be in a rock and roll band.

There's Dolores and Betty and Eunice and Ann
Frolicking daily at the beach
They're lying out there half-baked in the sand
But to the fat boys they're never out of reach.

You don't have to play the harmonica
Or be in a rock and roll band
Even fat boys can make it in Santa Monica
Where the white surf meets the sand.

When I finished college, I moved to Southern California and found that it was TRUE!

So, Fat Man Harvey did the same and found all those half-baked babes in the sand who were more than willing to give it up for a chance before the camera. Setting aside our "moral outrage," did the recipients of "every inch of mah luv" get zero in return (aside from a mess to clean up)? Surely SOME female actors in "the business" knew that in exchange for grabbing Fat Harvey by the dick they could get a few minutes on the big screen. This sort of exchange WAS the coin of the realm in that epoch. Still is.

Regardless, 'tis the season for repentance and atonement to mitigate a bad judgement and Reb Weinstein has until Simchat Torah to be inscribed into The Book Of Life for the coming year. He's getting a bit long in the tooth to be grazing with the bimbos and bobos of Santa Monica. Retire. Do the DAF HAYOMI. Be a grandfather. Support a Shul. Stop fuckin' around.

tcrosse said...

There are stories that Ronnie Reagan arranged with Warner Bros to have young women who were new in town sent to see him in a bungalow that was part of a hotel.

FWIW, in those days Reagan was a Democrat.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Reading this post about Harvey Weinstein and the previous about Cam Newton, I have come to the conclusion that I live under a rock.

Of the list of Weinstein's hundreds of productions I have seen just a few. Sin City, Inglorious Bastards, Pulp Fiction, Good Will Hunting, Highlander End Game, Project Runway and maybe a couple of others. I did see a couple episodes of Mad Men and might watch it some more. I especially like all the scenery, clothing, furniture and decor :-) That stuff is really in style again.

I have zero idea who Cam Newton or anyone else in the article are. None, Nada, Zip.

I think I like living under my rock more and more, as we see more of these people.

Caligula said...

"The Hunting Ground," a documentary shocker about rape on American college campuses, is a must-watch work of cine-activism." -- Manohla Dargis The NYTimes

Reviews of "The Hunting Ground" in the NYT and elsewhere, mostly seem to say more about the reviewers politics than about the movie.

So, how should one review a "documentary"? The word "documentary" itself is a poor description, as practically all such movies are more advocacy-pieces than attempts to document anything. And the best one can reasonably expect from advocacy is that the advocate tell the truth, as no one expects an advocate to tell the whole truth.

So, expecting a "documentary" to provide a balanced view of its subject is probably not reasonable; nonetheless, the ratio of truth to fabulation (or outright falsehood) is important.

Or is it? If the purpose of a movie is advocacy, should the sole criterion on which it is judged be whether it is effective regardless whether it is true (or grossly dishonest, or somewhere in-between)?

Which brings us back to reviewers, and reviews: how should one review a movie like this, and should the reviewer at least briefly state the criteria on which the movie is being evaluated?

Ron Winkleheimer said...

@DBQ

Cam Newton was the quarterback for Auburn when it won the national title a few years ago. Alabama fans like to grouse that he received remuneration for signing with Auburn. Auburn fans hear Alabama fans say things like that and laugh.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Harvey Winestein just didn't meet the right kind of girls. Several reporters wanted to give Bill Clinton a blow job for "keeping abortion legal". Surely they would've given Harvey one, for donating to the Clinton campaig

Or for making Cider House Rules...

traditionalguy said...

Harvey liked women who acted like they liked sex with him. That is the only product Hollywood sells. It's all about acts by actors acting like our fantasies act out.

Now they accuse the bum of Hypocracy. Hmm.

walk don't run said...

It seems to me that this has less to do with political affiliation and more to do with fame. There is a saying that power corrupts but I think that fame has even more of a corrupting influence. Once you are famous like Harvey Weinstein, Bill Cosby, Tiger Woods, Bill Clinton, the Kennedys, David Letterman etc. (come to think of it most of these are liberal!) people will defer to you and in time you develop a strong sense of entitlement that you can get away with things that the little people can't. Somehow the world owes you whatever your appetite demands and you are not subject to the same constraints and limitations as ordinary people because you are very, very, very special! Not only that people let you get away with it for so long. Isn't it strange that so many of these situations have gone on for years without being revealed. It shows you the power and allure of fame.

The second thing that comes to mind is that Harvey's approach was really crude. Camille Paglia's wonderful article this week on Hugh Hefner and the lost art of seduction brings to mind how we have lost our way when it comes to sex. Harvey's approach was the antithesis of seduction. Great seducers like David Niven loved the chase and the women that fell to his charms probably really enjoyed the pursuit. My sense is that most really good seducers would never dream of bedding a woman who didn't really want it. In fact that would defeat the very purpose of seduction. Perhaps we need a new Hugh Hefner to emerge and remind us that sex is more about seduction than about the act of sex.

rcocean said...

"There are stories that Ronnie Reagan arranged with Warner Bros to have young women who were new in town sent to see him in a bungalow that was part of a hotel."

LOL. Yeah, "Stories".

Reagan didn't become a star - aka anybody - at WB until *after* he married Jane Wyman. One reason Wyman divorced Reagan was that he was a boring "straight arrow" who liked reading/talking politics to party going.

BTW, I've heard "stories" that Hillary has wild Lesbian sex with the girls Bill Clinton brings home.

rcocean said...

Can explain the whole "watch me take a shower" statement?

Is that like "Come up to room at 3 AM and lets have coffee?"

OR did Weinstein just like to take a shower naked (and presumably pleasure himself) while a girl watched?

Jim at said...

"But Ann would never do a post about a conservative Republican congressman encouraging his mistress to have an abortion."

Yeah. A no-name Republican - who's already resigned - is the same thing as a Hollywood Kingpin committing decades upon decades of sexual harassment. And worse.

You're pissed because your precious Democrats are covered from head to toe in Weinstein's shit. So, of course, change the subject.

Won't work.

Jim at said...

"Hollywood producer preys on young actresses, news at 11." - ARM

"Leftist mega-donor commits countless acts of sexual harassment." - Reality