Bob Weinstein Denies Sexual Harassment Claims From ‘The Mist’ Showrunner
UPDATED with response from Segel’s lawyer: The Mist executive producer/showrunner Amanda Segel says the Weinstein Company co-founder Bob Weinstein sexually harassed her during production of the Spike TV series. Segel’s allegations, reported by our sister publication Variety and later denied by Weinstein’s lawyer Bert Fields, said the alleged harassment began in summer 2016 and continued on and off for about three months until Segel’s lawyer told TWC executives that she would leave the show if it didn’t stop.
Fields says his client is not guilty of sexual harassment.
“Variety’s story about Bob Weinstein is riddled with false and misleading assertions by Ms. Segel and we have the emails to prove it, but even if you believe what she says it contains not a hint of any inappropriate touching or even any request for such touching,” the attorney said. “There is no way in the world that Bob Weinstein is guilty of sexual harassment, and even if you believed what this person asserts there is no way it would amount to that.”
TWC earlier said in a statement to Variety: “Bob Weinstein had dinner with Ms. Segel in LA in June 2016. He denies any claims that he behaved inappropriately at or after the dinner. It is most unfortunate that any such claim has been made.”
Segel’s attorney Suann MacIssac of Kinsella Weitzman Iser Kump & Aldisert LLP reaffirmed her client’s claims later in the day after Weinstein’s response to the allegations. “Amanda Segel was the victim of sexual harassment by Bob Weinstein,” MacIssac said in statement. “As she eloquently put it, ‘the word “no” should be enough’ for any woman. Unfortunately, it was not in her case. Ms. Segel should be applauded for coming forward with her truthful allegations. The efforts to deny the harassment are shameful.”
Series creator Christian Torpe and Segel were executive producers of The Mist. Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein and David Glasser were exec producers for TWC-Dimension Television. The Spike series based on the Stephen King novella was canceled in September after one season.
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The allegations come among a slew of women who have come forward accusing Bob Weinstein’s brother, TWC co-founder Harvey Weinstein, of sexual harassment and assault after a pair of exposés in The New York Times and New Yorker. Harvey Weinstein has been terminated from TWC and has lost membership in the Film Academy, the Producers Guild and BAFTA since the reports first surfaced.
According to Segel, Bob Weinstein repeatedly made romantic overtures to her after a June 2016 dinner at Dan Tana’s in Los Angeles, afterward asking her to join him for private dinners, parties and hotel visits among numerous emails that summer. “ ‘No’ should be enough,” she told Variety today. “After ‘no,’ anybody who has asked you out should just move on. Bob kept referring to me that he wanted to have a friendship. He didn’t want a friendship. He wanted more than that. My hope is that ‘no’ is enough from now on.”
Variety also reported that Segel’s lawyer David Fox of Myman Greenspan informed TWC COO David Glasser of the harassment. A company rep today denied Glasser was contacted by Fox. It also said a deal was reached “that Segel would continue her work on the show but arrangements were made that she was never to be in the same room as Weinstein or on telephone calls with him, an agreement that was honored by Weinstein. It was also agreed that TWC would let Segel out of its option to keep her on the show if it was picked up for a second season.”
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