Earlier today I wrote about Reese Witherspoon’s claim last night that she was sexually assaulted by a director when she was just 16-years-old. But there have been several more well-known actresses who have made fresh accusations today so I’m going to offer a round-up. First off, Lena Headey, who plays Cersei Lannister on Game of Thrones, tweeted about her two awkward interactions with Harvey Weinstein:
— lena headey (@IAMLenaHeadey) October 17, 2017
— lena headey (@IAMLenaHeadey) October 17, 2017
— lena headey (@IAMLenaHeadey) October 17, 2017
— lena headey (@IAMLenaHeadey) October 17, 2017
If Weinstein’s room card had worked, this story might have a very different ending. Maybe she’d have snapped out of it and run or maybe he’d have forced her into the room.
Over at the New Yorker, actress Molly Ringwold recalls working with Weinstein in the early days before he’d reached the height of his power. He never made a move on her then but goes on to say that several other men in the industry did, starting when she was just a child:
I have had plenty of Harveys of my own over the years, enough to feel a sickening shock of recognition. When I was thirteen, a fifty-year-old crew member told me that he would teach me to dance, and then proceeded to push against me with an erection. When I was fourteen, a married film director stuck his tongue in my mouth on set. At a time when I was trying to figure out what it meant to become a sexually viable young woman, at every turn some older guy tried to help speed up the process. And all this went on despite my having very protective parents who did their best to shield me. I shudder to think of what would have happened had I not had them.
Also today, a producer for the TV show The Mist has accused Bob Weinstein (Harvey’s brother) of harassing her by repeatedly asking her on dates for weeks after she had said she wasn’t interested:
Bob Weinstein continued to ask Segel out to dinner between June and August of 2016 joking at times that he was her boss and could fire her if she didn’t agree. Segel agreed to another dinner with him in which she was accompanied by “Mist” executive producer and writer Christian Torpe. Weinstein was clearly unhappy with Torpe’s presence at the dinner, according to Segel.
Eventually, Weinstein stopped the unwanted attention toward Segel. During a notes conference call with network executives about the show, Segel says Weinstein became angry and screamed at Segel over a production issue that she says was out of her control. When questioned about the outburst by others on the call, Segel expressed her view that she had been sexually harassed by Weinstein for three months. After that incident, Segel had her lawyer contact TWC executives with the ultimatum that she would leave the show if Weinstein did not stay away from her.
Through lawyers, Segel eventually agreed to remain on the show so long as she never had to be in the same room as Bob Weinstein. Weinstein denies any sexual harassment. His spokesman told Variety, “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.” It sounds to me like Bob is suggesting he’s no Harvey, which seems to be true but that’s a pretty low bar.
And in a follow-up to a story I wrote about last week, Roy Price, the head of Amazon Studios, has resigned from his job. Price was accused of making sexual comments to a producer of one of Amazon’s series. Rose McGowan also claimed she had told Price about being assaulted by Harvey Weinstein.
Finally, there’s another story circulating today about an A-list actor who was accused Friday on Twitter of assaulting “a loved one.” The Daily Mail and other sites aren’t identifying the actor by name so I won’t either. But this older actor has been accused of carrying on with young men for years.
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