Actors Hour Apologizes, Says Harvey Weinstein Will Not Return
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Actors Hour issued a lengthy apology on Friday for allowing Harvey Weinstein to attend a performance at a Lower East Side bar on Wednesday night.
One of the performers, comedian Kelly Bachman, told Variety she felt traumatized by Weinstein’s presence. Another attendee, Zoe Stuckless, yelled at Weinstein and was escorted out, as was Bachman’s friend, Amber Rollo.
The performance venue, run by Alexandra Laliberte, posted a brief apology on Thursday before taking it down. On Friday, Laliberte issued a lengthier version on Facebook and Instagram.
“I want to sincerely apologize to any people — male or female — who were re-traumatized, hurt, or felt disrespected this week at Actors Hour,” the statement read, in part. “Mr. Weinstein will not be attending any future Actor’s Hour events.”
Laliberte also said Stuckless should not have been asked to leave. “Then and there, I should have shut down the event or given her the microphone to vocalize her feelings, but I was in total shock and I let my fear and inexperience paralyze my decision-making ability,” the statement read.
Weinstein had attended an earlier Actors Hour performance. In the statement, Laliberte said when she “did not receive any feedback on his presence, I chose not to turn him away when he returned. I was subsequently not prepared to handle such a high-energy situation.”
Actors Hour and the Downtime Bar, where the event was held, have each faced significant backlash. Actors Hour was scheduled to hold another event at House of Yes, a club in Brooklyn, in November. However, on Friday morning the club tweeted that had reached out to Actors Hour to see whether the organization would denounce Weinstein, ban him from further events, and apologize.
“We are moving forward with canceling the event while the producers take their time to collect their thoughts and figure out how to heal the harm they caused by having Harvey Weinstein present at 2 of their events,” the club posted.
Read Actors Hour’s full statement below.
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