Meryl Streep slams 'inexcusable' Harvey Weinstein sexual harassment allegations
Meryl Streep is speaking out after multiple women accused Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein of sexual misconduct, calling his behavior “inexcusable” and the women who have spoken out against him “heroes.”
Streep’s representative provided the statement to HuffPost on Monday morning. In it, the Oscar winner — who worked with Weinstein on films like August: Osage County and The Iron Lady — says she did not know about the alleged “inappropriate, coercive acts” Weinstein was accused of in last week’s New York Times story or the financial settlements he reportedly reached with multiple women.
Streep also took issue with the idea that “everybody knew,” saying she wasn’t aware of his alleged misdeeds. “If everybody knew, I don’t believe that all the investigative reporters in the entertainment and the hard news media would have neglected for decades to write about it,” Streep said.
Read her full statement (via HuffPost) below:
“The disgraceful news about Harvey Weinstein has appalled those of us whose work he championed, and those whose good and worthy causes he supported. The intrepid women who raised their voices to expose this abuse are our heroes
One thing can be clarified. Not everybody knew. Harvey supported the work fiercely, was exasperating but respectful with me in our working relationship, and with many others with whom he worked professionally. I didn’t know about these other offenses: I did not know about his financial settlements with actresses and colleagues; I did not know about his having meetings in his hotel room, his bathroom, or other inappropriate, coercive acts. And If everybody knew, I don’t believe that all the investigative reporters in the entertainment and the hard news media would have neglected for decades to write about it.
The behavior is inexcusable, but the abuse of power familiar. Each brave voice that is raised, heard and credited by our watchdog media will ultimately change the game.”
Weinstein was fired from the production company he co-founded on Sunday in the wake of the revelations in Thursday’s New York Times story. Lisa Bloom, a lawyer then advising Weinstein, said Thursday that he “denies many of the accusations as patently false,” and Weinstein’s attorney Charles Harder said his client was preparing a lawsuit against the Times. Weinstein himself gave a statement to the paper apologizing for “the way I’ve behaved with colleagues in the past,” adding that he planned to take a leave of absence from the company “to deal with this issue head on.”
Streep joins a group of Hollywood women who have spoken out following the Weinstein allegations, including Lena Dunham, Amber Tamblyn, and Brie Larson. Rose McGowan, who the Times reports as one of the women who allegedly received a settlement from Weinstein back in 1997, also spoke to The Hollywood Reporter on Sunday, saying, “Hollywood’s power is dying because society has changed and grown, and yet Hollywood male behavior has not.”
