Rose McGowan cancels film festival appearance in wake of Harvey Weinstein allegations
Rose McGowan has canceled a film festival appearance scheduled for Thursday night, where she was set to receive the special Ad Astra award.
The Tallgrass Film Festival, which takes place in Kansas, confirmed the news on its website, explaining her absence is “due to compounding factors surrounding recent revelations in the Harvey Weinstein sexual harassment case.” McGowan alleged publicly on Twitter last week that Weinstein sexually assaulted her. (Weinstein’s rep denied McGowan’s claims.) Previously, the New York Times reported that McGowan had reached a $100,000 settlement with him after an undisclosed hotel room encounter during the Sundance Film Festival in 1997.
“While we’re disappointed that Rose cannot be here with us in person, we understand that her well being is the priority. We support her and our thoughts are with her. We’ll seize this opportunity to amplify her message and celebrate all the women filmmakers with works here at the 15th annual festival,” Tallgrass Creative Director Lela Meadow-Conner said in a statement. “The whole world is now aware, in large part due to Rose’s efforts, about the rampant sexual harassment within the entertainment industry, and so in her honor, we have pulled together a panel of women filmmakers who will be attending the festival with their films, for a frank conversation, because the message doesn’t stop here.”
More than 40 women have now accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct. Last Thursday, McGowan revealed on Twitter that she’d repeatedly told ousted Amazon Studios boss Roy Price “HW raped me,” only for Price to allegedly tell her that it “hadn’t been proven.” She added that there is “rot in Hollywood” and that Bezos’ company, Amazon, should “stop funding rapists.” Weinstein, through a representative, has denied any allegation of non-consensual sex.
1) @jeffbezos I told the head of your studio that HW raped me. Over & over I said it. He said it hadn’t been proven. I said I was the proof.
— rose mcgowan (@rosemcgowan) October 12, 2017
2) @jeffbezos I had already sold a script I wrote to your studio, it was in development. When I heard a Weinstein bailout was in the works
— rose mcgowan (@rosemcgowan) October 12, 2017
3) @Jeffbezos I forcefully begged studio head to do the right thing. I was ignored. Deal was done. Amazon won a dirty Oscar.
— rose mcgowan (@rosemcgowan) October 12, 2017
4) @jeffbezos I called my attorney & said I want to get my script back, but before I could, #2 @amazonstudios called to say my show was dead
— rose mcgowan (@rosemcgowan) October 12, 2017
4) @jeffbezos I am calling on you to stop funding rapists, alleged pedos and sexual harassers. I love @amazon but there is rot in Hollywood
— rose mcgowan (@rosemcgowan) October 12, 2017
