All the latest news in the mushrooming Harvey Weinstein sexual misconduct scandal. Refresh for updates.
UPDATES BELOW: All times Eastern…
Last week’s full livewire can be accessed here.
Update – 4:09 p.m.: Volker Schlondorff, the director of Death of a Salesman, defended Dustin Hoffman against Anna Graham Hunter’s allegations that the actor sexually harassed her while she was a 17-year-old intern working on the set of the 1985 TV-movie film.
“Calling Dustin Hoffman a predator is simply going too far,” Schlondorff wrote in a statement. “Slapping her butt on the way to the car, with driver, stage manager and PAs around, may have happened, but again in a funny way, nothing lecherous about it. He was a clown, it was part of the way we portrayed Willy Loman as well — but he never played the power play. He was teasing the young, nervous interns, mostly to make them feel included on the set, treating them as equals to all the senior technicians. She may have got it wrong, confiding it to her diary then, but as a grown-up 30 years later she should know that his was no ‘sexual harassment,’ and not call him a ‘predator.'”
More here.
Update – 2:20 p.m.: David Guillod, the Co-CEO of film and music firm Primary Wave Entertainment, has taken a leave of absence following allegations from actress Jessica Barth that he sexually assaulted her.
The company, founded in 2008, released a statement addressing the matter:
“Following recently reported accusations, David Guillod is taking a leave of absence from Primary Wave Entertainment, effective immediately, in order for this matter to be thoroughly investigated. We take any accusations of sexual misconduct very seriously. Our company’s greatest strength is our culture of respect, and we have a zero tolerance policy toward harassment or abuse of any kind.”
Barth reported the incident to the LAPD, Deadline reports.
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Update – 12:34 p.m.: London authorities have launched an investigation into embattled actor Kevin Spacey following an allegation that he sexually assaulted an aspiring, then-23-year-old British actor in London nearly a decade ago.
From Variety:
The man, who has not been identified, told authorities this week that he had approached Spacey in 2008 asking for help with his career, according to the Sun newspaper. The double Oscar winner then invited the young man, who was 23 at the time, to his home in South London. Spacey was artistic director of The Old Vic theater, a post he held from 2004 to 2015.
The aspiring actor, now 32, told police that he and Spacey smoked marijuana, after which he passed out, the Sun reported. The man alleges that, upon regaining consciousness, he found Spacey performing oral sex on him. He told the “House of Cards” star to stop, then fled the house. Spacey allegedly warned him not to tell anyone what had happened.
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“On 1 November, City of London Police referred an allegation of sexual assault to the Metropolitan Police Service [Scotland Yard],” the statement said. “It is alleged a man assaulted another man in 2008 in Lambeth. Officers from the Child Abuse and Sexual Offences Command are investigating.”
More here.
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Update – 12:00 p.m.: Actor Corey Feldman alleged to Dr. Oz that actor John Grissom molested him while the two were working on a film together in the 1980s.
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Update – 11:23 a.m.: Actress Paz de la Huerta claims Harvey Weinstein raped her twice in 2010, an accusation that the Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. said has been assigned a senior sex crimes prosecutor to investigate.
From CBS:
“A senior sex crimes prosecutor is assigned to this investigation, and the Office has been working with our partners in the NYPD since the new allegations came to light,” a statement read. “As this is an active investigation, we will not be commenting further.”
The New York Police Department tells CBS News, “We are aware of the sexual assault complaints. We are actively investigating them. The NYPD continues to work with the Manhattan District Attorney’s office on the case. The investigation is ongoing.”
Weinstein hasn’t commented on the latest accusation. Weinstein representative Sallie Hofmeister reiterated in a statement to The Associated Press Thursday that the 65-year-old Weinstein denies all allegations of non-consensual sex.
More here.
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Update – 10:46 a.m.: Actor Jeremy Piven will not be seen on Friday’s episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert following a number of sexual harassment allegations against the actor.
Piven recorded an interview to promote his new CBS crime drama Wisdom of the Crowd. “Since we were unable to address recent developments in that interview, we are replacing that segment with a new guest,” a CBS spokesperson told Variety. Piven has denied the accusations, while the network said it is “looking into the matter.”
More here.
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Update – 10:11 a.m.: Melanie Kohler, a former employee of the Endeavor Talent Agency, has accused Hollywood super-producer Brett Ratner of rape in a Facebook post obtained by Variety.
More here.
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Update – 9:28 a.m.: A throng of country music legend — including Dolly Parton, Kid Rock, Kenny Rogers, Hank Williams Jr., Billy Ray Cyrus, Big & Rich, Cyndi Lauper, Kiefer Sutherland — have cut ties with Nashville-based PR giant Webster PR after a series of sexual harassment claims were brought against the company’s president and CEO Kirt Webster.
More here.
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Update – 9:06 a.m.: Alec Baldwin — who has admitted that he has “treated women in a very sexist way. I’ve bullied women. I’ve overlooked women. I’ve underestimated women” — says he wants to see sexual harassment rooted out in Hollywood.
More here.
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Update – 9:02 a..m.: CAA the major Hollywood talent agency that has represented embattled actor Kevin Spacey since 2009, has parted ways with the House of Cards star following numerous sexual harassment allegations. Spacey’s longtime publicist, Staci Wolfe of Polaris, has also cut ties with him.
More here.
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Update – 8:49 a.m.: Eight former and current employees who worked on the set of the hit Netflix political drama House of Cards have accused Kevin Spacey of creating a “toxic” work environment by sexually harassing them, according to a report — one incident allegedly occurred during the first season in 2012, in which Spacey was said to have put his hand down a production assistant’s pants.
“I was in a state of shock,” he said of the incident that allegedly happened during a car ride. “He was a man in a very powerful position on the show and I was someone very low on the totem pole and on the food chain there.”
“I have no doubt that this type of predatory behavior was routine for him and that my experience was one of many and that Kevin had few if any qualms about exploiting his status and position,” a production assistant said. “It was a toxic environment for young men who had to interact with him at all in the crew, cast, background actors.”
More here.
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Update – 6:12 p.m.: A man has alleged that he engaged in an ongoing consensual sexual relationship with Kevin Spacey when he was 14 and the House of Cards star was a 24-year-old teacher in Westchester County, outside of New York. The alleged relationship, according to the man, ended in attempted rape.
More here.
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Update – 1:51 p.m.: Actress Joanna Krupa defended actor Jeremy Piven against allegations that he sexually assaulted or harassed women.
“I love Jeremy Piven. I’ve known Jeremy Piven for a very long time. He’s like the nicest f–king guy I’ve ever met, so I think people are taking advantage of the whole situation with [Harvey] Weinstein, and they’re trying to make a living or they’re trying to get famous,” said Krupa of Piven, who denies the allegations against him.
The Real Housewives star added: “Jeremy never did anything wrong to me. He’s always been an amazing friend to me, so I support him.”
Krupa also said that she “knew about Harvey Weinstein over 10 years ago” but never had “any issues” with him, Page Six reports.
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Update – 11:11 a.m.: Producers for Netflix’s House of Cards reportedly sent staff a memorandum requiring that that take an online course on sexual harassment, just weeks before Kevin Spacey faced multiple accusations of sexual harassment.
From Page Six:
“With this issue being front and center in the news right now, this couldn’t come at a better time,” said a memo distributed two weeks before the show was shut down amid shocking harassment allegations against its star. “We feel it is important for everyone in the workplace to understand and live these principals.”
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The memo added, “At the top of each production year, we have forwarded our ‘Harassment-Free Workplace Policy and Procedure’ as part of all staff’s employment package.” But for Season 6, “we decided to take it a step further and worked to create a program entitled ‘Risky Business’ . . . a [one-hour program] designed to help our personnel navigate any difficult issues that may arise. It will also give you the tools to handle and/or avoid any ‘risky situations.’ ”
The memo, seen by Page Six, was sent to staff members by MRC’s head of TV business & legal affairs. All employees were required to complete the “Risky Business” course within a couple of weeks. But two weeks later, actor Anthony Rapp revealed that Spacey made sexual advances toward him, in 1986, when Rapp was just 14. Spacey apologized and announced that he’s gay, and has since been hit with more claims.
More here.
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Update – 9:35 a.m.: Amid multiple allegations of sexual harassment, House of Cards star Kevin Spacey is set to seek “treatment” and “evaluation.”
“Kevin Spacey is taking the time necessary to seek evaluation and treatment. No other information is available at this time,” Spacey’s rep said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter.
The Netflix star has been accused by three men of sexual harassment or assault, including Star Trek star Anthony Rapp who said a 26-year-old Spacey made sexual advances at him when he was just 14. Spacey apologized to Rapp in a statement, in which he came out as gay.
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Update – 9:21 a.m.: Actor Gilles Marini, who rose to fame in 2008 as a fan favorite love interest on Sex and the City, told People that his newfound popularity made him a target for Hollywood honchos.
“I was approached by extremely powerful people, especially after Sex and the City,” the actor and model said. “I became a piece of meat for many executives in Hollywood.”
More here.
Update – 9:01 a.m.: Warner Bros. has decided to cut ties with embattled director-producer Brett Ratner, falling multiple allegations of sexual harassment. But Ratner and the major Hollywood studio will continue working together through March on several blockbuster titles, including Clint Eastwood’s 15:17 to Paris and Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One.
From The Hollywood Reporter:
“In light of the allegations being made, I am choosing to personally step away from all Warner Bros.-related activities,” Ratner said in a statement. “I don’t want to have any possible negative impact to the studio until these personal issues are resolved.”
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Ratner still remains a partner in the RatPac-Dune Entertainment slate financing facility, which was established in 2013 with a $450 million financing agreement signed by the studio. At the time, Ratner was partnered with James Packer and now U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin as well as silent investors like the Koch brothers and Bill Gates. (Packer has since left, with Ukrainian-born billionaire Len Blavatnik taking his place.)
The studio will honor the financing deal through the end of its contract in March. RatPac-Dune Entertainment is financing several films that remain on the studio’s upcoming slate: the upcoming Justice League movie (due out Nov. 17), Father Figures, Clint Eastwood’s 15:17 to Paris, Game Night, the Tomb Raider reboot and Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One.
More here.
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Update – 8:27 a.m.: Writer and producer Wendy Riss Gatsiounis says she was sexually harassed by actor Dustin Hoffman in the early 1990s.
From Variety:
“I go in, and this time it’s, like, Dustin Hoffman’s really different,” Riss Gatsiounis said. “He says, ‘Before you start, let me ask you one question, Wendy — have you ever been intimate with a man over 40?’” Flustered, Riss Gatsiounis attempted to laugh off the comment. But Hoffman persisted.
“I’ll never forget — he moves back, he opens his arms, and he says, ‘It would be a whole new body to explore,’” she said. “I’m trying to go back to my pitch, and I’m trying to talk about my play. Then Dustin Hoffman gets up and he says he has to do some clothing shopping at a nearby hotel, and did I want to come along? He’s like, ‘Come on, come to this nearby hotel.’”
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“The whole thing was just a source of torment for me,” Riss Gatsiounis said. “I was just this writer and he had been my hero, and it stayed with me for a long time.” She recalled the self-doubt that she experienced in the “months and months and months” that followed, as she wondered whether she had blown an opportunity to advance her career by rebuffing Hoffman: “It was one voice in my head saying, ‘I was such an idiot. I should have just gone.’ And the other voice in my head saying, ‘Well, clearly he just wasn’t interested [in the play]. Why don’t you just realize he just wasn’t interested?’”
Riss Gatsiounis is the second women to accuse Hoffman of sexual harassment. Read the full story here.
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Update – 4:14 p.m.: A British village is set to burn a 36-foot effigy of Harvey Weinstein.
Artists Frank Shepherd and Andrea Deans put the finishing touches to the Edenbridge Bonfire Society effigy, which has been unveiled as Harvey Weinstein, for Bonfire Night in Edenbridge, England, Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2017. (Gareth/PA via AP)
Update – 3:41 p.m.: Playboy has put Brett Ratner’s long-planned Jared Leto-starring biopic of Hugh Hefner on hold following multiple allegations that he sexually harassment or assaulted several women.
“We are deeply troubled to learn about the accusations against Brett Ratner,” said a Playboy Enterprises spokesperson. “We find this kind of behavior completely unacceptable. We are putting all further development of our projects with RatPac Entertainment on hold until we are able to review the situation further.”
Update – 3:16 p.m.: Hollywood stars and celebrities took to social media Wednesday to condemn super-producer Brett Ratner, who has been accused of sexual harassment or assault by several women.
Harvey Weinstein accuser Asia Argento tweeted Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins — who presented Ratner with a Tree of Life award at Sunday’s Jewish National Fund dinner, after Gal Gadot backed out at the last minute. “Hey, @PattyJenks, still feeling inspired after today’s sexual harassment allegations on your buddy @BrettRetner?” Argento tweeted, with a link to the video of Jenkins’ remarks to Ratner.
Argento later tweeted: “This article is what we’ve all been waiting for @BrettRatner – you’ve been fucking busted.”
Other stars ripped Ratner and praised the women who spoke out.
Update – 2:04 p.m.: Michael Oreskes has resigned as senior vice president of news and editorial director at NPR following allegations that he sexually harassed two women in the late 1990s, while he worked for The New York Times.
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Update – 1:46 p.m.: An anonymous Canadian actress is suing Disney, which owned the Harvey Weinstein-founded film company Miramaz, over two alleged sexual assaults she claims occurred in 2000.
More here.
Update – 1:17 p.m.: Mexican actor Roberto Cavazos, who starred in several plays at London’s Old Vic theater when Kevin Spacey was artistic director there from 2004 to 2015, has accused the House of Cards star of sexual harassment.
“It seems the only requirement was to be a male under the age of 30 for Mr Spacey to feel free to touch us,” Cavazos wrote in a recent Facebook post.
Cavazos said “there are a lot of us who have a ‘Kevin Spacey story.'”
“Those of us who crossed paths with (Spacey) in London when he was director of the Old Vic know a whole lot more people will find the courage to tell their stories in the coming days and weeks,” he wrote. “It wouldn’t surprise me if there were similar numbers to Weinstein’s.”
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Update – 10:11 a.m.: Hollywood veteran Dustin Hoffman has been accused of sexually harassing a 17-year-old high school student while working on the 1985 drama Death of a Salesman.
Anna Graham Hunter, writing in The Hollywood Reporter, says she was interning as a production assistant on the Hoffman-starring film when the two-time Oscar-winner groped her and repeatedly talked about sex.
More here.
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Update – 9:36 a.m.: Veteran Hollywood director and producer Brett Ratner has been accused of sexual assault or harassment by six women, including actresses Olivia Munn and Natasha Henstridge.
Henstridge, who claimed Ratner forced her to perform oral sex, and the five other women told their stories to the Los Angeles Times.
Read them here.
Update – 9:13 a.m.: The Beverly Hills Police Department is investigating Harvey Weinstein and director James Toback following complaints from numerous individuals.
“These cases are currently under investigation and no further information will be released at this time,” police said in a statement, TheWrap reports.
To date, more than 60 women have accused Weinstein of sexual harassment or rape. For Toback the number of accusers is over 300.
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Update – 9:21 p.m.: Hours after CBS issued a brief statement that it is “looking into” sexual harassment allegations made against Jeremy Piven, the Wisdom of the Crowd star released a statement of his own, “unequivocally” denying the accusations from TV personality and actress Ariane Bellamar.
“I unequivocally deny the appalling allegations being peddled about me. It did not happen,” Piven said in the statement to ET Canada. “It takes a great deal of courage for victims to come forward with their histories, and my hope is that the allegations about me that didn’t happen, do not detract from stories that should be heard.”
Update – 9:01 p.m.: NBC ratings giant This Is Us has scrapped a reference to Kevin Spacey following the growing number of sexual harassment accusations leveled against the Netflix star.
Spacey-referencing scenes were reportedly filmed almost a month before Spacey was accused of making sexual advances at a young male actor and groping another in 2003.
Update – 8:46 p.m.: The Weinstein Co. will not release a film this calendar year as the embattled company has pushed its November release of The Current War to 2018 and will not release the Dimension Films horror Polaroid in November.
Update – 8:31 p.m.: HBO released a statement following sexual harassment allegations against Entourage star Jeremy Piven made by TV personality and actress Ariane Bellamar.
“Today, via the press reports, is the first we are hearing about Ariane Bellamar’s allegations concerning Jeremy Piven,” the premium cabler said in a statement. “Everyone at HBO and our productions is aware that zero tolerance for sexual harassment is our policy. Anyone experiencing an unsafe working environment has several avenues for making complaints that we take very seriously.”
Piven starred in all 96 episodes of HBO’s hit series Entourage, which aired from 2004 to 2011.
Update – 8:17 p.m.: CBS — the network that produces the new crime drama Wisdom of the Crowd — issue a brief statement Tuesday, saying that it is “looking into” the sexual harassment accusations leveled against its star Jeremy Piven.
“We are aware of the media reports and are looking into the matter,” the network said, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
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Update – 6:45 p.m.: Filmmaker and actor Tony Montana is the latest person to accuse House of Cards star Kevin Spacey of sexual harassment. Montana, speaking to Radar Online, said that Spacey grabbed his crotch.
“I went up to order a drink and Kevin came up to me and put his arm around me,” Montana told the outlet. “He was telling me to come with him, to leave the bar. He put his hand on my crotch forcefully and grabbed my whole package.”
Montana said he pushed Spacey away only for the Netflix star to follow him to the restroom. Montana said the incident gave him post traumatic stress disorder.
From Radar:
“I never talked to anyone about it except for therapists,” the Overnightfilmmaker said. “I had PTSD for six months after. It was an emasculating thing for someone to do to me. Whenever I went to the bar I would see if he was there or have my back against the wall.”
After reading Rapp’s story, he chose to come forward to Radar.
“This wasn’t something people were talking about openly,” he said. “It still feels awkward. I still feel what I felt then. I put it into the back of my mind until I saw him come forward. When you’re trying to accomplish something in the industry, you have things that inspire you, that can help move you forward. You have set backs and haunted experiences. No matter what happens you have to keep going.”
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Update – 5:04 p.m.: An anti-sexual harassment march has been planned for Nov. 12 in Hollywood.
“We are marching in protest of sexual harassment in the workplace and to send a message to the people who commit it and to those who are complicit by allowing them to do it and covering it up. Enough,” a Facebook event description reads. “We are gathering to demand that action be taken, so that every woman or man no matter the industry has the resources and the support to end sexual harassment in the workplace. Every woman has a ‘story.’ And today those stories end.”
From the L.A. Times:
On Saturday, KTTV-TV Channel 11 reporter Lauren Sivan —who alleged she was harassed by Weinstein in 2007 — was announced as the celebrity chair of the event.
“We’re also looking at specific legislation and policies in our government that we can demand be implemented so that no man or women, regardless of the industry, has to face this ever again,” author and comedian Tess Rafferty, who is also the march’s co-organizer, wrote on Facebook.
The march is scheduled to begin with protesters gathering at the Hollywood & Highland shopping center at 10 a.m. before starting at 11 a.m.
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Update – 4:52 p.m.: Grey’s Anatomy star Caterina Scorsone is the latest women to accuse filmmaker James Toback of sexually harassment.
“In response to James Toback’s crass denial in Rolling Stone, I feel I must corroborate the stories of these women,” Scorsone wrote on her Instagram. “I want to be clear that the predatory director I wrote about in the article I posted a few days back, was James Toback. The article was written 17 years ago. Many industry people knew about it and encouraged me to stay silent. I didn’t, and it directly affected my career. I stand with all the women who were brave enough to tell their stories. I also stand with all the women who don’t feel that they can speak up, even now. Let’s shine light into all the darkest corners.”
Update – 4:45 p.m.: Michael Oreskes, senior vice president of news and editorial director at the Washington-based public broadcasting organization NPR, has been accused of sexual harassment by two women.
From The Washington Post:
head of its news department made unwanted physical contact with them while he was employed by another news organization nearly two decades ago.
The women, both journalists at the time of the alleged incidents, made the accusations in recent weeks against Michael Oreskes, senior vice president of news and editorial director at the Washington-based public broadcasting organization.
In separate complaints, the women said Oreskes — at the time, the Washington bureau chief of the New York Times — abruptly kissed them while they were speaking with him about working at the newspaper. Both of them told similar stories: After meeting Oreskes and discussing their job prospects, they said he unexpectedly kissed them on the lips and stuck his tongue in their mouths.
More here.
Update – 4:27 p.m.: CBS has been hit with a lawsuit from locations assistant and office manager Kelly Tolar who says she was repeatedly harassed by a co-worker for more than a year while working on the network’s hit show Hawaii Five-0.
More here.
Update – 3:55 p.m.: London’s Old Vic theater — where actor Kevin Spacey was artistic director from 2004 until 2015 — said it’s “deeply dismayed to hear the allegations levied against” the House of Cards star.
“Inappropriate behavior by anyone working at The Old Vic is completely unacceptable. We aim to foster a safe and supportive environment without prejudice, harassment or bullying of any sort, at any level, as set out in our joint statement with the theatre industry on 23 October,” the theater said in a statement. “We want our employees to feel confident, valued and proud to be part of The Old Vic family. Any behavior we become aware of which contravenes these goals will not be tolerated.”
Update – 1:58 p.m.: Production on season six of Netflix’s House of Cards has been suspended indefinitely following sexual harassment allegations against Kevin Spacey.
More from Deadline here.
Update – 1:41 p.m.: Actor-director Sean Mathias said that a “very powerful” entertainment industry figure “coerced” him into a “sexual act” and making it known that his career would be over if he didn’t comply.
“So, if anybody forced themselves on me in any way, I felt it probably was safer for me to give in to that,” Mathias said during an interview on Radio 4’s Today show.
“Later on a very powerful man who could influence my career took me out for dinner and after dinner suggested we go back to his office, which I found fairly alarming, alarm bells went off, but I thought he was trying to be nice and kind,” he explained. “We went back to his office and he coerced me into a sexual act with him and making it perfectly clear that if played along my career would go in the right direction and if I didn’t it would not.”
“And I did play along that time and felt terrible shame and weakness and vulnerability for it and didn’t talk about it for years and years and I’ve hardly talked about it. I was 19 or 20,” Mathias said.
Asked about Kevin Spacey’s announcement that he is gay, while apologizing for allegedly harassing actor Anthony Rapp when he was 14, Mathias said: “The last thing the gay movement needs is to be associated with paedophilia, which it has endlessly battled against.”
“Because you are gay doesn’t mean you want to sleep with children and that, unfortunately, in some people’s minds, that misconception will now be heightened,” he added.
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Update – 1:11 p.m.: Actor Alec Baldwin says he has never been aware of any sexual harassment or abusive behavior of the kind that filmmaker James Toback has been accused by more than 300 hundred women.
“In all the time I’ve known Jimmy, I never had one conversation about his sex life, which is not unusual for me because I’m not sitting down with some guy and he’s saying to me, ‘Man, you should have seen what I did last night with this girl in this hotel.’ I don’t go there,” Baldwin said an interview with the L.A. Times.
“He had an appetite for going up to women and saying salacious and provocative things to them and introducing himself with his credentials and so forth, and laying that on people to seduce them,” he added. “I never knew any details of what he did that was assault in nature or rape in nature or criminally actionable. Never, never, never.”
Harvey Weinstein accuser Asia Argento tweeted a photo last week of Baldwin, Toback, and convicted child rapist Roman Polanski at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival.
Baldwin — who worked with Toback on the 2013 documentary Seduced and Abandoned and again this year on The Private Life of a Modern Woman — said he’s talked to Toback, describing the director as being “crushed by all of this.”
“I did call him, and I think he understands how people are,” Baldwin said of Toback, describing him as “one of the smartest” and “cleverest” people” he knows. “There’s not much people can do for him now.”
Read the article here.
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Update – 10:42 a.m.: Actor Jeremy Piven has been accused of groping by actress Ariane Bellamar while the pair were allegedly in a trailer on the set of HBO’s Entourage.
Bellamar tweeted Monday night:
No response yet from Piven.
Update – 10:20 a.m.: Actor Andy Dick has been fired from the upcoming comedy film Raising Buchanan following accusations of sexual harassment on set.
From The Hollywood Reporter:
The Hollywood Reporter was not able to reach any of the alleged victims, however, two sources detailed Dick’s inappropriate behavior, which included groping people’s genitals, unwanted kissing/licking and sexual propositions of at least four members of the production. It’s unclear if those involved were actors or crew.
Late Monday, THR spoke to Dick, who confirmed he was let go from his small role in the film. Though he vehemently denied groping claims, he said it’s possible that he licked people and he confirmed that he did make advances on others.
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“I don’t grope people anymore. I don’t expose myself anymore,” he said by telephone. (Also well-documented is his history of exposing his genitals in public and on stage.) “I do understand that the temperature in the world right now is delicate.”
More here.
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Update – 9:58 a.m.: London police are investigating 11 alleged sexual assaults by Harvey Weinstein in what authorities are reportedly calling “Operation Kaguyak.”
From Variety:
Three accusers have come forward within the past week, Scotland Yard said Tuesday. In total, the allegations involve 11 incidents that occurred from the 1980s up through 2015.
The investigation has been code-named Operation Kaguyak and is run out of Scotland Yard’s sexual offenses unit. The Yard is one of at least three forces in Britain and the U.S. that have launched investigations into Weinstein, along with police in New York and Los Angeles.
The British investigation began earlier this month when Merseyside Police, in the north of England, passed along to Scotland Yard an allegation of an assault by Weinstein in West London in the late 1980s. The latest complaint was lodged with police over the weekend and concerns an alleged assault in the British capital in 1994.
More here.
Update – 9:36 a.m.: Netflix is reportedly moving forward with spinoffs for its popular political drama House of Cards, the streaming giant’s flagship series starring embattled actor Kevin Spacey.
From Variety:
Variety has learned that the streaming service and producer Media Rights Capital are in very early stages of development on multiple ideas for a potential spinoff. One concept revolves around Doug Stamper, the political aide-de-camp played by actor Michael Kelly in the first five seasons of the political drama, with Eric Roth set to write. Roth served as an executive producer on the first four seasons of “House of Cards” and is currently exec producing TNT’s “The Alienist.”
At least two other spinoff ideas are also being explored, though writers have not yet been attached to all of them. All the potential series take place in the same universe as “House of Cards,” a political thriller about Frank Underwood, a devious congressman played by Kevin Spacey who ascends to the role of President of the United States through political and criminal machinations.
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Plans for the spinoff have not been impeded by the uncertainty around the sixth season of “House of Cards” that surfaced Sunday with allegations against Spacey of sexual assault. Netflix on Monday confirmed that “House of Cards” will end after the upcoming sixth season, currently in production in Baltimore. In a statement, the streaming service and MRC also said that they had sent executives to Baltimore Monday to meet with cast and crew after actor Anthony Rapp told Buzzfeed in an interview that Spacey had sexually assaulted him when Rapp was 14 years old.
More here.
Update – 9:06 a.m.: Rose McGowan reacted to the news of a warrant being issued for arrested, calling it “horse**it.”
Update – 8:55 a.m.: An arrest warrant was issued this week for actress Rose McGowan for felony possession of a controlled substance, the Associated Press reports.
From the AP:
The felony charge stems from a police investigation of personal belongings left behind on a United flight arriving at Washington Dulles International Airport on Jan. 20. Police say the items tested positive for narcotics. The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Police Department obtained the warrant on Feb. 1
Police say they’ve attempted to contact McGowan so she can appear in a Loudoun County, Virginia, court. The warrant has been entered into a national law enforcement database.
The warrant comes as McGowan — who accused Harvey Weinstein of raping her in 1997 — has become the leading voice against the disgraced movie mogul and the entertainment establishment that protected him and other alleged serial abusers.
More here.
Update – 8:31 a.m.: The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced Monday that it will not honor Kevin Spacey following multiple allegations of sexual assault against the House of Cards star.
“The International Academy has announced today that in light of recent events it will not honor Kevin Spacey with the 2017 International Emmy Founders Award,” the organization said in a statement, THR reports.
More here.
Update – 7:58 a.m.: Harvey Weinstein has been banned for life from the Producers Guild of America, the group announced Monday. The organization began the process of expulsion on October 16, calling the final vote “an unprecedented step.”
More here.
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Update 8:31 p.m.: Rosie O’Donnell ripped Kevin Spacey, comparing him to disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, and said that “we all knew” about the House of Cards star’s alleged sexual predations in a series of tweets Monday.
“u don’t remember the incident – 30 years ago? – fuck u kevin – like Harvey we all knew about u – I hope more men come forward,” O’Donnell tweeted at Spacey.
O’Donnell later thanked actor Anthony Rapp, who alleged that Spacey made sexual advances at him when he was 14.
The comic later called Spacey a “pedophile.”
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Update – 6:51 p.m.: Becky Steenhoek, a former Bachelor and Bachelorette producer, is suing Warner Bros. and five producers of the reality TV show over sexual harassment she claims occurred in 2016 set of The Bachelorette.
From the L.A. Times:
In the complaint filed Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court, Becky Steenhoek said that she was repeatedly asked questions about her sex life during production of the 2016 season of “The Bachelorette” featuring JoJo Fletcher.
“We take all allegations of workplace harassment very seriously,” Warner Bros. said in a statement. “These allegations were brought to our attention and were thoroughly investigated earlier this year. Our findings did not support the plaintiff’s characterization of the events claimed to have taken place, which is why we are disappointed by the filing of this lawsuit.”
Steenhoek said five of the show’s executive and cast producers asked her graphic personal questions including, “Is your vagina shaved?,” “Have you ever fondled [testicles] before?” and “Have you ever sat under a shower faucet or touched yourself to masturbate?”
More here.
Update – 6:16 p.m.: Some 40 women gathered to protest convicted child rapist Roman Polanski Monday in Paris, France.
The event, held at the film institute La Cinematheque Francaise, was a retrospective honoring of the director’s work. Two members of the Femen activist group went topless, according to the Associated Press.
More here.
Update – 5:59 p.m.: Four more women have gone on-the-record — two of whom claim the Harvey Weinstein raped or assaulted them in the 1970s — to accuse the disgraced movie mogul of abuse.
From The New York Times:
Hope Exiner d’Amore said Harvey Weinstein raped her in a hotel room in the 1970s, when he was a young concert promoter in Buffalo. Cynthia Burr said that during this time, he assaulted her in an encounter that began in an elevator and ended with forced oral sex in a hallway. Ashley Matthau, a dancer with a bit part in one of his movies, said that in 2004, he pushed her down on a bed and masturbated while straddling her. Days later, she said, he paid her to remain silent.
Three weeks after complaints of sexual harassment and misconduct by Mr. Weinstein were first reported in The New York Times, women from different continents, fields and generations have come forward with allegations of rape, sexual assault and groping. New accounts include one previously undisclosed settlement with Mr. Weinstein and expand the time frame of alleged wrongdoing to the 1970s.
Together, the accounts provide a widening tally of alleged abuses, and illustrate the toll on women who say they felt ashamed and isolated as they watched the Hollywood producer walk red carpets, pile up Oscars and showcase his ties to prominent figures.
More here.
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Update – 3:56 p.m.: Netflix will move forward with the sixth and final season of it’s Kevin Spacey-starring political drama House of Cards, as the two-time Oscar-winner faces a growing number of sexual misconduct accusations.
From TV Line:
News of the political drama’s impending swan song comes less than 24 hours after actor Anthony Rapp accused House of Cards leading man Kevin Spacey of making a sexual advance at him when he was 14. Multiple sources confirm, however, that the decision to bring HoC to an end was made months ago and was not in response to the allegations. (A Netlix rep confirms this.)
Last June, TVLine asked House of Cards co-showrunners Melissa James Gibson and Frank Pugliese about an end date, to which they responded, “It’s not entirely up to us,” before acknowledging that the show is in “new terrain” creatively.
…
Production on House of Cards‘ sixth and final season began earlier this month despite the fact that Netflix never officially confirmed that it had even ordered a Season 6. (The streamer has always played by its own unique rules when it comes to announcing renewals.)
More here.
Update – 3:11 p.m.: Fashion icon Donna Karan apologized for a fourth time in a month in an interview Monday on Good Morning America for initially defending Harvey Weinstein against the numerous accused that he had sexually harassment and assaulted young women over a period of decades.
Update – 3:02 p.m.: Actress Ashley Judd, one of Harvey Weinstein’s accusers, has teamed up with Teen Vogue in a new PSA meant to help give tips on how to combat unwanted sexual advances and sexual harassment.
The actress acts out several different hypothetical scenarios teach women how to stand up and respond to would-be harassers and disrupt “harassment as it’s happening.”
Judd also explains the instance in which she claims Weinstein asked her to watch him shower.
Update – 2:26 p.m.: Hamilton Fish, publisher of the far-left publication The New Republic, has been placed on leave after several women came forward with sexual harassment accusations against him.
“I have been made aware that a number of employees have come forward in the last few days to express concern about certain workplace interactions that have created an uncomfortable environment for them,” New Republic owner Win McCormack wrote in a memo Sunday, Deadline reports. “As I understand them, these concerns relate specifically to interactions between Ham Fish and a number of women employees. I appreciate the candor our employees have displayed in coming forward with their concerns, and I take the concerns very seriously.”
McCormack reportedly commissioned an independent investigation.
Last week, The New Republic’s longtime literary editor Leon Wieseltier was accused by several women of sexual harassment and “inappropriate advances.”
More here.
Update – 12:11 p.m.: Longtime CNN producer Eleanor McManus, who accused disgraced former NBC News analyst Mark Halperin of sexual assault, said Halperin’s alleged behavior was an “open secret.”
“Everyone knew this was the way he was but the problem was, this was the normalization of the behavior,” McManus told Megyn Kelly Monday on Today. “Everyone thought, ‘That’s just normal. That’s just newsroom behavior. That’s just what happens in newsroom.’ And I think we need to understand that’s not the right thing.”
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Update – 12:08 p.m.: GLAAD released a statement Monday blasting Kevin Spacey for coming out as gay while apologizing to Anthony Rapp for, who accused Spacey of making unwanted sexual advances at him when he was 14.
“Coming-out stories should not be used to deflect from allegations of sexual assault,” said Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of GLAAD, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “This is not a coming-out story about Kevin Spacey, but a story of survivorship by Anthony Rapp and all those who bravely speak out against unwanted sexual advances. The media and public should not gloss over that.”
Update – 12:01 p.m.: Actor Corey Feldman vowed to release names of Hollywood pedophiles during Today show interview on Monday.
Feldman, who launched a campaign last week to raise $10 million to finance a documentary meant to espose pedophiles in Hollywood, told Megyn Kelly that “somebody tried to kill me the other day, I’ve been arrested, this is no joke.”
Update – 11:40 a.m.: The Weinstein Company’s Amityville: The Awakening grossed just $742 total at 10 locations in its single day theatrical release on Saturday.
The Bella Thorne, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jennifer Morrison, and Cameron Monaghan-starring sequel was the first film to see a wide release in the wake of the sexual misconduct scandal that has engulfed Harvey Wesintein and much of the news and entertainment industry.
The film became available for free exclusively on Google Play from Oct. 12 and will stream on the platform until Nov. 8.
More here.
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Update – 11:31 a.m.: Former House of Cards show runner Beau Willimon said Anthony Rapp’s sexual misconduct allegations against Kevin Spacey are “deeply troubling” and said he never saw and was not aware of any inappropriate behavior during his four seasons working on the hit Netflix drama.
Wilson, who is also president of the Writers Guild of America East, released a statement on Twitter:
Update – 11:07 a.m.: Seth MacFarlane’s Family Guy appeared to joke about Kevin Spacey — whom actor Anthony Rapp claims made a sexual advance toward him when he was 14 — in a short clip more than a decade ago.
In the 2005 episode, infant character Stewie is seen running naked through a crowd yelling: “Help! I’ve escaped from Kevin Spacey’s basement!”
MacFarland — who told a joke, at the 2013 Oscar nominations ceremony, meant to demean Harvey Wesintein over his alleged abuse of actress Jessica Barth — has not commented on Spacey or said what inspired the Family Guy joke.
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Update – 10:48 a.m.: Actress Rose McGowan ripped actor Kevin Spacey and blasted the media for failing to “BE THE VICTIM’S VOICE,” after actor Anthony Rapp accused the House of Cards actor of sexual misconduct.
“Help us level the playing field,” McGowan tweeted.
“Bye bye, Spacey goodbye, it’s your turn to cry, that’s why we’ve gotta say goodbye,” she later tweeted,
Spacey apologized for the alleged encounter with Rapp, who was 14-year-old during the alleged assault. Spacey also came out as gay in his apology statement, leaving many celebrities accusing the star of conflating his homosexuality with alleged pedophilia.
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Update – 10:39 a.m.: Disgraced political analyst Mark Halperin’s contract has been terminated by NBC News, TheWrap reports.
The comes days after Showtime announced its decision to drop Mark Halperin as the host of its political documentary The Circus.
Penguin Press canceled an upcoming book on the 2016 election by Halperin, and HBO axed a planned adaptation of the book. Numerous women have come forward to accuse Halperin, a former NBC and MSNBC contributor, of sexual misconduct in the 1990s and early 2000s.
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Update – 10:25 a.m.: Film executive Andrew Kramer — who spent seven years at The Weinstein Co., working as the embattled firm’s president of business and legal affairs and general counsel — has exited Lionsgate following allegations that he harassed a subordinate.
More from The Hollywood Reporter.
Update – 10:07 a.m.: The Los Angeles Police Department is investigating fired APA talent Agent Tyler Grasham, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
“There was a crime report that was taken against Tyler Grasham,” an LAPD spokesperson said in a statement Sunday. “The incident occurred in early 2017. At this point, because of the nature of the offense, we have no further information to release. An investigation continues.”
The police report was filed by actor Tyler Cornell, THR reports, who is one of what is a growing number of men to accuse Grasham of sexual misconduct and offering to help them break into acting in return for sexual favors.
According to Deadline, the police report revolves around accusations of sodomy.
More here.
Update – 9:51 a.m.: Actress Ross McGowan reportedly refused to accept a million-dollar settlement offer to keep quiet just before the New York Times broke its explosive a story earlier this month on decades of allegations of sexual misconduct and assault by Harvey Weinstein.
McGowan, who accused Weinstein of raping her in 1997, told the Times in a report published on Saturday that she told actor Ben Affleck that Weinstein had assaulted her.
More here.
Update – Mon., 10/30 – 9:37 a.m.: Actor Anthony Rapp accused veteran Hollywood A-lister Kevin Spacey of making a sexual advance at him when he was 14-year-old.
From Breitbart News:
In an interview with BuzzFeed News Sunday, Star Trek: Discovery and Broadway star Rapp — now 46 — claimed that Spacey made an unwanted sexual advance advance on him in 1986, when both actors were performing on different Broadway shows.
Rapp alleged that Spacey, then 26, invited him to his apartment for a party. When the party had concluded and the other guests had left, Rapp claimed Spacey carried him on to his bed and climbed on top of him.
“He picked me up like a groom picks up the bride over the threshold. But I don’t, like, squirm away initially, because I’m like, ‘What’s going on?’ And then he lays down on top of me.”
Spacey apologized for the alleged encounter in a statement, in which he also came out as gay.
More here.
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Update – 10:39 a.m.: The sexual misconduct scandal currently swirling around Hollywood and its once-powerful producer, Harvey Weinstein, continued to weigh heavily on the minds of producers at the Producer Guild of America’s “Produced By” conference in New York City Saturday.
During a panel discussion about the scandal, PGA co-president Lori McCreary called on her colleagues to “stop and do something a little different,” and also vowed that the industry was not going to allow rampant sexual misconduct to “perpetuate for another 30 years.”
From Variety:
William Horberg, VP of PGA East and a film veteran, likened the challenge of addressing sexual harassment to the issue of on-set safety a generation ago. The responsibility should be on producers to ensure that those working on a production feel there is an open door to address problems.
“We have to lead and create a culture,” Horberg said. “As producers who have to be those people who say, this is our film, this is our crew, this is our set and this is the way it’s going to run.”
More here.
Update – 8:45 a.m.: Anthony Bourdain slammed director Quentin Tarantino for what he called his “complicity” in Harvey Weinstein’s behavior. Tarantino previously told the New York Times he “knew enough” to do more than he did over the years.
Bourdain is dating actress Asia Argento, who has accused Weinstein of raping her.
When talking about the consequences of doing business with someone terrible, Bourdain took aim at frequent Weinstein collaborator, Quentin Tarantino.
Talking about the prospect of working with that unnamed partner, Bourdain said, “It would have been a slow-acting poison that eventually would have nibbled away at our souls until we ended up like Quentin Tarantino, looking back on a life of complicity and shame and compromise,” he said as the crowd laughed.
More here.
Update – Sun., 10/29 – 7:37 a.m.: Showtime has dropped Mark Halperin as the host of its political documentary The Circus, the network said in a statement late Saturday. Halperin had hosted the first two seasons of The Circus alongside John Heilemann and Mark McKinnon.
The move comes after Penguin Press canceled an upcoming book on the 2016 election by Halperin, and HBO axed a planned adaptation of the book. Numerous women have come forward to accuse Halperin, a former NBC and MSNBC contributor, of sexual misconduct in the 1990s and early 2000s.
More at the Associated Press.
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Update – 3:23 p.m.: A fourth woman has accused George HW Bush of groping her during a photo-op.
Amanda Staples told the Portland Press Herald that she was groped by the former president in 2006 in Kennebunkport.
More here.
Update – 1:34 p.m.: A third woman has come forward with accusations that E! News correspondent Ken Baker sexually assaulted her, groped and tried to kiss her.
The woman said the alleged encounter happened in after a 2006 party at the Playboy Mansion when Baker was West Coast editor at Us Weekly. Baker, who was pulled this week by E News! from all on-air duties, denies the alleged encounter.
“Harassment allegations are to be taken very seriously. That said, I’ve never touched anyone inappropriately — ever. Any suggestion otherwise is pure fiction,” Baker told TheWrap. “The anonymous allegations are simply not true, and, frankly, are heartbreaking to hear.”
Read the full story here.
Update – 12:04 p.m.: Embattled filmmaker James Toback has denied that sexually harassed the more than 300 women who have spoken out against him. Toback lashed out at his accusers, telling Rolling Stone that his accusers are “lying” and that wants to spit in his or her [expletive] face.”
“Lemme be really clear about this. I don’t want to get a pat on the back, but I’ve struggled seriously to make movies with very little money, that I write, that I direct, that mean my life to me,” Toback said. “The idea that I would offer a part to anyone for any other reason than that he or she was gonna be the best of anyone I could find is so disgusting to me. And anyone who says it is a lying [expletive] or [expletive] or both. Can I be any clearer than that? … Anyone who says that, I just want to spit in his or her [expletive] face.”
Asked about specific individuals and lurid accusations, Toback said: “It’s too stupid to dignify. It’s pathetic lies. It’s just too [expletive] embarrassing and idiotic. And if I were you, I wouldn’t go repeating it, unless you really knew it were true, because it isn’t. So that’s all I have to say. This is not worth wasting another second on.”
Read the full story here.
Update – 11:45 a.m.: Actress Gal Gadot has backed out of an awards celebration honoring veteran Hollywood director and producer Brett Ratner, who has been accused of masturbating in front of actress Olivia Munn on a movie set, apologized for falsely stating that the two slept together, and is a longtime friend of embattled director James Toback, who is facing more than 300 accusations from have recently accused of sexual harassment.
Gadot was to present the Tree of Life Award to Ratner at a dinner for the Jewish National Fund on Sunday.
More here.
Update – 11:23 a.m.: Actress Daryl Hannah accused Harvey Weinstein of sexually harassing her, the first time, according to The New Yorker, was in Cannes during which he “pounded on her hotel room door until she, in one case, escaped out a back entrance.”
Hannah, who starred in the Weinstein-produced hit films Kill Bill Vol. 1 and Kill Bill Vol. 2, said years later the disgraced producer rushed into her hotel room during Kill Bill Vol. 2‘s Italian première in Rome and told her to put on a dress and head downstairs to a party.
Hannah said there was no party. She turned back to the elevator to find Weinstein standing in the entrance. He asked her if her breasts were real and if he could feel them. She responded, “No, you can’t,” and he allegedly said, “At least flash me then.”
Hannah said she told a producer for the film, anybody in power who would listen, and the film’s director and longtime Weinstein collaborator Quentin Tarantino — but she said no one seemed to care.
From The New Yorker:
Several years later, while she was promoting “Kill Bill: Volume 2,” Hannah was in Rome for the film’s Italian première. She and the rest of the cast were scheduled to depart the following morning on a private plane belonging to Miramax. The première was followed by a reception, after which Hannah was in her suite at the Hassler Roma hotel with another hair-and-makeup artist, Steeve Daviault. The two had changed into their pajamas and were sitting on Hannah’s bed with an order of room-service spaghetti, watching a Sophia Loren movie, when Weinstein entered the bedroom. “He had a key,” Hannah recalled. “He came through the living room and into the bedroom. He just burst in like a raging bull. And I know with every fibre of my being that if my male makeup artist was not in that room, things would not have gone well. It was scary.” Daviault remembered the incident vividly. “I was there to keep her safe,” he told me.
When Hannah asked Weinstein what he was doing, he became flustered and angry, she said. Weinstein demanded that she get dressed and attend a party downstairs. Hannah pointed out that no one had ever mentioned a party. Weinstein stormed out, and she quickly took off her glasses and pajamas, donned a dress, and headed downstairs. When she arrived at the reception room Weinstein had mentioned, it was “completely empty,” Hannah recalled. “And it wasn’t even like there had been a party there. I didn’t see drinks around.” As she turned to leave, Weinstein was standing by the elevator. Hannah asked him what was happening and Weinstein replied, “Are your tits real?” Then he asked if he could feel them. “I said, ‘No, you can’t!’ And then he said, ‘At least flash me, then.’ And I said, ‘Fuck off, Harvey.’ ” She took the elevator back to her room and went to sleep.
“I experienced instant repercussions,” she told me. The next morning, the Miramax private plane left without Hannah on it. Her flights for a trip to Cannes for the film’s French première were cancelled, as were her hotel room in Cannes and her hair-and-makeup artist for the festival. “I called everybody,” she recalled, including her manager, a producer on the film, and its director, Quentin Tarantino, who has since told the Times that he knew enough, from his years collaborating with Weinstein, to have done more to stop him, and regrets his failure to do so. “I called all the powers that be and told them what had happened,” Hannah said. “And that I thought that was the repercussion, you know, the backlash from my experience.”
“And it didn’t matter,” Hannah said. “I think that it doesn’t matter if you’re a well-known actress, it doesn’t matter if you’re twenty or if you’re forty, it doesn’t matter if you report or if you don’t, because we are not believed. We are more than not believed—we are berated and criticized and blamed.”
Read the full story here.
Update – 11:03 a.m.: Actress Annabella Sciorra claims she was violently raped by Harvey Weinstein in the early 1990s.
“He shoved me onto the bed, and he got on top of me,” Sciorra told The New Yorker of the alleged attack. “I kicked and I yelled,” Sciorra said, adding that “when he was done, he ejaculated on my leg, and on my nightgown.”
Sciorra — who starred in Miramax’s The Night We Never Met, said Weinstein forced his way into her apartment after a dinner meeting.
The Sopranos star said she was depressed, sought therapy, and never told any one of the assault — and said Weinstein harassed her several times after allegedly raping her.
From The New Yorker:
In the weeks and months that followed the alleged attack, Sciorra didn’t tell anyone about it. “Like most of these women, I was so ashamed of what happened,” she said. “And I fought. I fought. But still I was like, Why did I open that door? Who opens the door at that time of night? I was definitely embarrassed by it. I felt disgusting. I felt like I had fucked up.” She grew depressed and lost weight. Her father, unaware of the attack but concerned for her well-being, urged her to seek help, and she did see a therapist, but, she said, “I don’t even think I told the therapist. It’s pathetic.”
Read the full report here.
Update – 10:30 a.m.: Mark Halperin has issued a lengthy statement, saying he is “profoundly sorry for the pain and anguish” he caused with “past actions.”
“The world is now publicly acknowledging what so many women have long known: Men harm women in the workplace,” Halperin said in the statement. “For a long time at ABC News, I was part of the problem. I acknowledge that, and I deeply regret it. As I said earlier in the week, my behavior was wrong. It caused fear and anxiety for women who were only seeking to do their jobs.”
Halperin has been accused of sexually assaulting or harassing more than dozen women during his time as political director at ABC News.
Penguin Press announced that it will not publish Halperin’s planned book about the 2016 presidential campaign, HBO said it cancelled its plans to produce a miniseries about the 2016 presidential election with Mark Halperin, and Showtime said it will “evaluate” whether Halperin will continue to co-host the cabler’s political docuseries The Circus.
Read Halperin’s statement below:
Update – 10:00 a.m.: Four more women claim disgraced NBC analyst Mark Halperin sexually assaulted or harassed them while he was political director at ABC News — bringing the total number of accusers to over a dozen.
From CNN:
The new accusations from the four women include that Halperin masturbated in front of an ABC News employee in his office and that he violently threw another woman against a restaurant window before attempting to kiss her, and that after she rebuffed him he called her and told her she would never work in politics or media. The alleged incidents occurred while Halperin was in a position of significant authority at ABC News, while the women were young and had little power.
Halperin denies that he masturbated in front of anyone, that he physically assaulted anyone, or that he threatened anyone in the way described in this story.
Update – 4:31 p.m.: The BBC has launched an investigation into one of the network’s radio presenters — who can’t be named for legal reasons — after at least eight women made sexual harassment allegations against him.
Some women reportedly said they were afraid come forward for fear of losing their jobs.
More here.
The presenter, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is said to have assaulted at least eight female BBC staff, the Daily Mail reports.
Update – 4:06 p.m.: Film director Julie Taymor, who helmed the 2002 Minimax-produced drama Frida, slammed Harvey Weinstein Thursday.
“I think he should go to jail, I had extraordinary experiences with him — not illegal ones, just brutal ones,” she explained about the headline-making blowouts between her and Weinstein.
“But what I’ve read and what I’ve heard, that’s criminal,” she said. “And there are many others, right up to the top, who I think have to be taken to task for that kind of behavior. He’s getting his just desserts. What can I say?”
More here.
Update – 3:41 p.m.: Actress and activist Jane Fonda spoke about Harvey Weinstein and sexual assault scandal consuming Hollywood Thursday at The annual Women’s Media Awards, where she made the point that more attention is being paid to sexual harassment because most of the women speaking out are “famous and white.”
“It feels like something has shifted,” Fonda said, Variety reports. “It’s too bad that it’s probably because so many of the women that were assaulted by Harvey Weinstein are famous and white and everybody knows them. This has been going on a long time to black women and other women of color and it doesn’t get out quite the same.”
Hillary Clinton, Weinstein accuser Ashley Judd, and feminist activist Gloria Steinem also spoke at the star-studded event.
Update – 3:21 p,m.: Actress Jessica Barth — who claimed Weinstein asked her to give him a naked massage in his hotel room bed in 2013 — has launched Who is your Harvey? which is “an effort to expose serial abusers of sexual violations.”
“Due to legal ramifications, it may be difficult to name your assaulter publicly. So I have set up an email account where both women and men can share their stories naming their abusers,” the Ted wrote star in an essay.
“If you have experienced sexual abuse from someone who may be a serial abuser and would like a safe place to share your story and possibly connect with other victims in the hope of coming forward together, please email: whoisyourharvey@gmail.com — or share your story through #whoisyourharvey,” Barth wrote.
Read her full statement here.
Update – 1:47 p.m.: BBC Worldwide has severed its partnership with The Weinstein Company to produce the TV adaptation of Les Miserables, Variety reports.
Update – 1:29 p.m.: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced plans this week to develop a policy for “evaluating alleged violations and determining if action regarding membership is warranted.”
From The Hollywood Reporter:
Academy CEO Dawn Hudson said in an email sent Thursday to the organization’s members.
“Like you,” she wrote, “the Academy’s Board of Governors is concerned about sexual harassment and predatory behavior in the workplace, especially in our own industry. We believe our Academy has a role to play in fostering a safe and respectful atmosphere for the professionals who make motion pictures. To this end, we are taking steps to establish a code of conduct for our members, which will include a policy for evaluating alleged violations and determining if action regarding membership is warranted.”
More here.
Update – 11:29 a.m.: Actress Rose McGowan addressed the crowd Friday in Detroit at the Women’s Convention, her first public speech since taking to Twitter to accuse disgraced TWC mogul Harvey Weinstein of raping her, and blasted what she called Hollywood’s culture of fear.
“We are all Me Too’s. I have been silenced for 20 years. I have been slut shamed. I’ve been harassed. I’ve been maligned … We are one massive collective voice, that is what #RoseArmy is all about … no more will we be shunted to the side,” McGowan said, imploring her pears to name and shame their abusers.
“No more will we be hurt. It’s time to rise. It’s time to be brave.” Her full speech, where she never names her “monster” is below. “No more,” she said to cheers. “Name it. Shame it. Call it out … It’s time to clean house!,” she said.
Her full speech:
Allies. Good Morning. Thank you Tarana Burke. Thank you to all of you fabulous, strong, powerful Me Too’s. Because we are all Me Too’s. Thank you to Tarana for giving us two words and a hashtag to help free us.
I have been silenced for 20 years. I have been slut-shamed. I have been harassed. I’ve been maligned. And you know what? I’m just like you. Because what happened to me behind the scenes, happens to all of us in this society. And that cannot stand, and it will not stand. We are free. We are strong. We are one massive collective voice. That is what RoseArmy is about. It’s about all of being roses in our own life. Not me, but the actual flower because we have thorns, and our thorns carry justice. And our thorns carry consequence.
No more will we be shunted to the side. No more will we be hurt. It’s time to be whole. It’s time to rise. It’s time to be brave. In the face of unspeakable actions, from one monster we look away to another. The head monster of all right now. And they are the same. And they must die. It is time. The paradigm must be subverted. It is time. We’ve been waiting a very long time for this to happen, but we don’t need to wait anymore because we’ve got this. We’ve got this. I know it!
My sisters, our allies, our brothers. We are no nation. We are no country. We belong to no flag. We are a planet of women, and you will hear us roar.
I came to be a voice for all of us who have been told that we are nothing. For all us who have been looked down on. For all of us who have been grabbed by the motherfucking pussy.
No more. Name it. Shame it. Call it out. Join Me. Join all of us as we amplify each other’s voices and do what is right for us, for our sisters, and for this planet, Mother Earth.
There are so many women that inspire me on a daily basis. And if I can be one ounce of that at any moment in time for any of you, I send all of the strength that I have.
Hollywood may seem like it’s an isolated thing, but it is not. It is the messaging system for your mind. It is the mirror that you’re given to look in to. This is what you are as a woman. This is what you are as a man. This is what you are as a boy, girl, gay straight, transgender but it’s all told through 96% males in the Directors Guild of America. That statistic has not changed since 1946. So we are given one view, and I know the men behind behind that view — and they should not be in your mind and they should not be in mine.
It’s time to clean house.
I want to thank you for being here for giving me wings during this very difficult time. The triggering has been insane, the monster’s face everywhere. My nightmare, but I know I”m not alone because I’m just the same as the girl in the tiny town who was raped by the football squad, and they had full dominance and control over their little town newspaper. There really is no actual difference. It’s the same situation and that situation must end because it is not our shame. The Scarlett Letter is theirs. It is not ours. We are pure. We are strong. We are brave and we will fight.
Pussies grab back! Women grab back! We speak! We yell! We march! We are here! We will not go away!
My name is Rose McGowan and I am brave, and I am you.
Thank you.
Update – 11:02 a.m.: Novelist Christina Baker Kline is the third woman to claim that former president George H.W. Bush groped her, writing in an essay at Slate that Bush squeezed her butt while taking a photo during a 2014 event for the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy.
“My husband stood on one side of the wheelchair, and I stood on the other. President Bush put his arm around me, low on my back. His comic timing was impeccable. “David Cop-a-feel,” he said, and squeezed my butt, hard, just as the photographer snapped the photo. Instinctively, I swiped his hand away,” Kline wrote.
More here.
Update – 10:31 a.m.: Actress Rose McGowan is set to give opening remarks at The Women’s Convention in Detroit on Friday, her first public speech since accusing disgraced movie producer Harvey Weinstein of rape.
McGowan will also participate in a panel on sexual abuse in schools, the Associated Press reports.
Update – 10:11 a.m.: Michael Podraza, a business and legal affairs manager at Lionsgate, is the fourth man to accused former Agency for the Performing Arts (APA) talent agent Tyler Grasham of sexual harassment.
Podraza told Deadline that he looked to Grasham in 2013 to help him get a “foot in the door with the entertainment industry” but instead, Grasham offered to help in exchange for sex.
“I vividly remember a text message conversation where Tyler made several inappropriate sexual comments. Before shutting down the conversation, I very briefly played along for a few minutes (strictly via text message), because I wanted to know exactly what he was offering,” Podraza told Deadline. “He explicitly said he would look at my resume and help me if I had sex with him. I declined. I showed my partner the text messages at the time. I was surprised when I found the email exchange I posted on social media, because I didn’t think I had any record of what occurred. Finding that email exchange helped me find the courage to speak up.”
Grasham, who later denied offering his help Podraza in exchange for sexual favors, was fired earlier this month by APA.
Disney star Cameron Boyce and Stranger Things star Finn Wolfhard fired Grasham after the allegations of sexual misconduct were reported.
Update – 9:51 a.m.: Longtime E! News correspondent Ken Baker has been accused by two women of sexual harassment, including allegations that in 2015 he offered to gift one woman a sex toy with his name on it and in 2011 forced a kissed on another woman.
“I am very disturbed by these anonymous allegations, which make my heart ache. I take them very seriously,” Baker said in a statement to TheWrap. “I care deeply for people’s feelings and sincerely live in a way that treats people with dignity and respect.”
However, the outlet published text messages purportedly sent from Baker to one of his accusers. Baker was also accused of inviting a female employee, in 2012, into his “dimly lit office and, after a few minutes, invited her to sit on his lap.”
More here.
Update – 9:40 a.m.: Penguin Press is the latest company to cut ties with Mark Halperin, announced that it will not publish the former NBC News analyst’s planned book about the 2016 presidential campaign.
“In light if the recent news regarding Mark Halperin, the Penguin Press has decided to cancel our plans to publish a book he was co-authoring on the 2016 election,” Penguin said in a statement, referencing the accusations that he sexually harassed five women.
Update – 9:16 a.m.: HBO has cancelled its plans to produce a miniseries about the 2016 presidential election with Mark Halperin, following the accusations that he sexually harassed five women.
“HBO is no longer proceeding with the project tied to the untitled book co-authored by Mark Halperin and John Heilemann on the 2016 Presidential election,” the network said Thursday in a statement. “HBO has no tolerance for sexual harassment within the company or its productions.”
Update – 9:01 a.m.: Rick Najera, writer-producer and longtime director of CBS’ annual Diversity Sketch Comedy Showcase, has left CBS after being investigated for harassment and reportedly making lewd comments for a period of years.
“In March 2017, CBS became aware of inappropriate comments made during the production of the Diversity Comedy Showcase, and remedial action was taken at that time, which the company felt was appropriate to the matter. Subsequent information has recently emerged,” a network spokesperson said in a statement, Variety reports. “After looking into these reports and a discussion with Mr. Najera, he has resigned from his role with the Diversity Comedy Showcase.”
From Variety:
Among the complaints were a 2009 incident in which he allegedly said he and his wife were in an open relationship, implying to the performer that he was interested in pursuing a relationship, as well as a 2014 incident in which he was accused of making lewd comments to a second performer.
More here.
Update – 6:31 p.m.: Harvey Weinstein has reportedly sued The Weinstein Co., TMZ reports, “in an effort to access records he can use to defend himself and the company against potential liability from women who have sued TWC for allegedly enabling Harvey’s predatory behavior.”
From TMZ:
In the suit, Harvey says he wants all emails sent to and from his account and his complete employment file. He says he also wants these docs to help prevent the company from being forced to pay out “unjustified settlements,” claiming he’s “in a unique position to offer insight, and further explain and contextualize his emails.”
As one of the largest TWC shareholders, Harvey claims money that’s paid out in settlements essentially comes out of his pocket. TMZ broke the story … actress Dominique Huett sued TWC claiming the company had knowledge of past behavior.
Update – 4:55 p.m.: Actress Rachel McAdams detailed to Vanity Fair an alleged sexual assault at the hands of director James Toback, when she was a 21-year-old aspiring star.
McAdams was vying for a role in Toback’s Harvard Man, and was asked by the director to meet in his hotel room to “rehearse a bit.”
“Pretty quickly the conversation turned quite sexual and he said, ‘You know, I just have to tell you. I have masturbated countless times today thinking about you since we met at your audition.'” McAdams recalled.
The actress says she was asked to read reviews of Toback’s films, while he went to the bathroom.
“I kept thinking, ‘When are we getting to the rehearsal part?’ Then he went to the bathroom and left me with some literature to read about him,” McAdams recalled. “When he came back he said, ‘I just jerked off in the bathroom thinking about you. Will you show me your pubic hair?’ I said ‘no.’”
McAdams said she called her agent, who was aware of Toback’s alleged sexual predations:
I had never experienced anything like that in my life. I was so naïve. I think I just didn’t want to believe that it could turn worse. But yes, there was this sinking feeling inside of me. Like, “Oh my god, I am in this hotel room alone with this person.” I just kept trying to normalize it—thinking, “This has to be some weird acting exercise. This is some kind of test. I just have to show that I am brave and this does not bother me and nothing can shake me.” I really was frozen. My brain was not catching up.
When I went home, I just couldn’t sleep. It was the worst way to start a new job. I got up very early in the morning and called my agent at the time. And she was outraged. She was very sorry. But she also said, “I can’t believe he did it again. This isn’t the first time that this has happened. He did this the last time that he was in town. He did this to one of my other actresses.” That is when I got mad, because I felt like I was kind of thrown into the lion’s den and given no warning that he was a predator. This was something that he was known for doing already. I was so surprised to hear that.
More here.
Update – 4:11 p.m.: Actress Selma Blair opened up to Vanity Fair about the shocking sexual assault she claims film director James Toback subjected her to in 1999, while she was auditioning for a part in the movie Harvard Man.
Blair says her representatives scheduled a hotel room meeting with Toback that, “40 minutes in,” turned into a “training” that saw the director say: “I need you to take your clothes off. I need you to do this monologue naked.”
As the meeting went on, Blair said Toback became more sexually aggressive — in a flash he allegedly went from rubbing “his penis through his pants” to asking Blair, “Would you f–k me?”
Blair says she made it clear that she wouldn’t have sex with Toback, to which she says he replied: “It’s O.K. I can come in my pants. I have to rub up against your leg. You have to pinch my nipples. And you have to look into my eyes.” Blair said: “I thought, ‘Well, if I can get out of here without being raped . . .’”
From Vanity Fair:
He walked me back to the bed. He sat me down. He got on his knees. And he continued to press so hard against my leg. He was greasy and I had to look into those big brown eyes. I tried to look away, but he would hold my face. So I was forced to look into his eyes. And I felt disgust and shame, and like nobody would ever think of me as being clean again after being this close to the devil. His energy was so sinister.
After he finished, he told me, “There is a girl who went against me. She was going to talk about something I did. I am going to tell you, and this is a promise, if she ever tells anybody, no matter how much time she thinks went by, I have people who will pull up in a car, kidnap her, and throw her in the Hudson River with cement blocks on her feet. You understand what I’m talking about, right?”
He looked at me with those bug eyes that had just raped my leg. And I said, “Yes. I understand.”
Read the full story here.
Update – 3:28 p.m: Talent agency WME has parted way with Bill O’Reily, announcing Thursday that it will no long represent the former Fox News host on future book releases.
“We no longer represent Bill O’Reilly for future deals,” WME said in a statement. “It is our fiduciary responsibility to service the existing deals we have under contract, but we will not be working with him moving forward.”
The news comes just days after top talent firm UTA announced that it had severed ties with O’Reilly, amid reports that he entered a seven-figure settlement over sexual harassment claims.
Update – 3:01 p.m.: Showtime says it will “evaluate” Mark Halperin’s position with the premium cabler as he faces numerous allegations of sexual harassment during his time as political director at ABC News.
Halperin was co-host of Showtime’s political docuseries The Circus. He was released from NBC News on Thursday.
“During Mark’s time working with us, we have not seen nor have there been allegations of any untoward behavior,” a Showtime spokesperson said in a statement. “We are aware of these reports and will continue to evaluate all options should we decide to move forward with another season of The Circus. There is no tolerance for sexual harassment within Showtime and its productions.”
Update – 10:59 a.m.: Actress Rose McGowan — who claims Harvey Weinstein raped her — is set to make her first major public appearance since canceling a string of speaking engagements, amid the mushrooming sexual harassment scandal consuming much of the news and entertainment world.
From TheWrap:
McGowan will deliver the opening remarks at the Women’s Convention this Friday in Detroit. The event is centered on empowerment and run by organizers of the various Women’s March protest held during and after the presidential election.
More here.
Update – 9:31 a.m.: Ronan Farrow is reportedly busy working on another bombshell Harvey Weinstein exposé.
From Page Six:
We’re told that Farrow’s making calls to potential sources for another New Yorker article to follow his blockbuster exposé on sexual harassment claims against the movie mogul.
“[Ronan] is hot right now and he wants to capitalize on the momentum of the first article. He seems impatient to get another piece out ASAP,” a source told us. “He’s speaking to former Weinstein employees and telling them he’s on ‘a tight deadline.’ ”
The insider said the piece may focus on the movie company’s culture, which allowed Weinstein to prey on women for years.
—
Update – 9:11 a.m.: Mark Halperin has been removed from his role as MSNBC analyst, a network spokesperson said Thursday.
“We find the story and the allegations very troubling,” MSNBC said in a statement, CNN reports. “Mark Halperin is leaving his role as a contributor until the questions around his past conduct are fully understood.”
More on the developing story here.
Update – 8:56 a.m.: Actress Ashley Judd spoke to Diane Sawyer in her first sit-down interview since it was revealed earlier this month in a New York Times exposé that the Kiss the Girls star was allegedly sexually harassed by Harvey Weinstein in his hotel room over two decades ago.
Judd said of the alleged hotel room encounter that she “no warning.”
The actress said her messaged to the disgraced movie mogul is: “I love you and I understand you are sick and suffering. And there is help for a guy like you, and it is up to you to get that.”
A portion of Judd’s interview aired Thursday on ABC’s Good Morning America.
Update – 8:49 a.m.: NBC News analyst Mark Halperin has been suspended from the network after multiple allegations of sexual harassment.
More here.
Update – 8:34 a.m.: The Weinstein Company has lost its financial lifeline. Private equity firm Colony Capital has pulled it pledge Wednesday to go forward with a cash infusion for the embattled film company, a move most observers say increases the chances that the studio may soon face bankruptcy.
The move comes just one week after Colony Capital founder Thomas Barrack entered an agreement with the Weinstein Co., offering a short term investment while Barrack mulled buying the fledgling movie studio.
More here.
Update – 8:18 a.m.: Daytime TV talk show host Ellen DeGeneres is facing fire from several viewers and social media users over a joke she made while wishing pop superstar Katy Perry a happy birthday.
DeGeneres tweeted a photo of herself staring at Perry’s breasts, which didn’t go over well.
“Happy birthday, @KatyPerry!” DeGeneres wrote on Wednesday, the singer’s 33rd birthday. “It’s time to bring out the big balloons!”
Notable critics, including actor Michael Rapaport and TV personality Piers Morgan, suggested that the tweet would cause controversy if a man had made the same joke.
Update – 8:00 a.m.: Veteran political journalist and NBC News analyst Mark Halperin has apologized and taken “a step back from day-to-day” work after reports surfaced that he engaged in sexual misconduct with five women.
Some of the women alleged that Halperin pressed his erect penis up against them, while others said “he just kissed me and grabbed my boobs[.]”
More here.
Update – 4:16 p.m.: More details on the allegations from Elektra actress Natassia Malthe, who claimed in a press conference Wednesday that Weinstein raped her in a hotel room at the Sunderson Hotel in London after the 2008 BAFTA Awards.
Natassia Malthe claims Harvey Weinstein burst into her room at the Sanderson Hotel in London after the 2008 BAFTA Awards and began masturbating in front of her while sitting on the bed.
Then, after telling her a number of A-list actresses he claimed to have bedded, Weinstein allegedly forced himself of Malthe and began having sex with her despite her pleas for him to stop.
He did not wear a condom.
Malthe, 43, claims he pulled himself out and then began to masturbate before ejaculating and leaving the room.
Full story here.
Update – 3:33 p.m.: Another accuser has come forward, in a press conference with attorney Gloria Allred, with new allegations against Harvey Weinstein.
Update – 3:05 p.m.: How Harvey Weinstein Used His Book Imprint to Cover His Tracks
But the roster of journalists who signed with Miramax/Talk and Weinstein is just as impressive, and now raises eyebrows, considering these are some of the same figures who might have published revelations about Weinstein’s serial harassment of women years before those claims came forward this month. Weinstein gave a low seven-figure advance to Arianna Huffington for Fanatics and Fools, about Republican leaders (and also a deal for a TV show). Vogue contributing editor Plum Sykes published the novel Bergdorf Blondes, Vanity Fair’s James Walcott had Attack Poodles and Other Media Mutants, about right-wing pundits,Page Six’s Paula Froelich wrote The It Guide to getting famous, MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski was signed for three books and her co-host Joe Scarborough was to write a still unpublished book on fatherhood). Variety editor Peter Bart contracted with Weinstein for three separate books. Several film critics had deals, including then Variety reviewer (and now THR critic) Todd McCarthy for a book about female race car drivers in the 1950s and New York Film Critics Circle chairman Marshall Fine for a biography of John Cassavetes.
Full story here.
Update – 12:35 p.m.: Writer-director-producer Judd Apatow says it is “sad” that more young actresses don’t “run” when offered roles in Woody Allen films.
Allen’s next film reportedly features a sexual relationship between an adult man (played by Jude Law), and a 15-year-old girl (played by actress Elle Fanning).
Update – 11:50 a.m.: Marilyn Manson has dismissed longtime bassist Twiggy Ramirez after the musician was accuse of rape by an ex-girlfreind this week.
“I have decided to part ways with Jeordie White as a member of Marilyn Manson,” Manson wrote in a tweet Wednesday. “He will be replaced for the upcoming tour. I wish him well.”
Update – 11:44 a.m.: Cable network Ovation will remove Harvey Weinstein from its Board of Directors, becoming the latest organization to cut ties with the disgraced mogul as the scandal surrounding his conduct has engulfed Hollywood.
From The Wrap:
Ovation is the latest entity to sever ties with Harvey Weinstein, as the arts-focused independent cable network began proceedings to expel the disgraced movie mogul from its board of directors.
Investors at the privately held network voted on Tuesday night to eliminate the board seat held by Weinstein and The Weinstein Company, the first in a series of required steps to remove them.
More here.
Update – 9:33 a.m.: Quebec TV star Eric Salvail has his media company amid sexual misconduct allegations dating back 15 years.
From The Hollywood Reporter:
Quebec media star and producer Eric Salvail has sold his TV production company, Salvail & Co., to rival TV producer Media Ranch after 11 people came forward with sexual misconduct allegations.
The sale, negotiated by Vivianne Morin, general manager Salvail & Co. and Sophie Ferron of Media Ranch, follows La Presse newspaper’s published story last week in which numerous claims were made by victims or witnesses to alleged sexual harassment by Salvail in the workplace over 15 years.
More at THR.
Update – 9:07 a.m.: Actress Dominique Huett has sued The Weinstein Company for $5.5 million in damages, for ignoring an alleged 2010 incident in which the disgraced Hollywood mogul allegedly lured her to his room at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills, demanded a massage, and forced oral sex on her, TMZ reports.
More on the story here.
Update – 3:41 p.m.: Another woman has come forward to accuse Weinstein of sexual assault, explaining in graphic detail an alleged 2006 incident during a press conference with Gloria Allred in New York City this afternoon.
Mimi Haleyi claims she met Weinstein at the premiere of The Aviator in 2004 and had a series of meetings with him over the next couple of years, as she worked on some productions for him in New York. It was after Weinstein had returned from Paris one time when the alleged incident occurred at his New York City apartment.
“He wouldn’t take no for an answer and backed me into a room which was not lit, but looked like a kid’s bedroom with drawings on the walls,” she said. “He held me down on the bed, I tried to get him off of me but it was impossible. He was extremely persistent and physically overpowering.”
She continued, “He then orally forced himself on me while I was on my period. He even pulled my tampon out. I was in disbelief. I would not have wanted anyone to do that with me even if the person had been a romantic partner.”
Near tears, she added, “I remember Harvey rolling onto his back afterwards saying, ‘Don’t you think we are so much closer to each other now?’ To which I replied, ‘No.'”
Full story here.
Update – 3:31 p.m.: A third Amazon Studios executive has left the company as Conrad Riggs, the former head of unscripted content at the studio, departed Tuesday.
That marks the latest executive departure for Amazon, after comedy and drama development head Joe Lewis also left Tuesday (but retained a development deal at Amazon), and former programming chief Roy Price exited amid sexual harassment allegations leveled against him.
From the Hollywood Reporter:
Riggs made a name for himself as one-time producing partner of reality rainmaker Mark Burnett. During his time with Burnett he served as a producer on both The Apprentice and Survivor, where he still holds a co-executive producer credit. Their partnership ended in a lawsuit, settled in 2012, though Riggs’ Cloudbreak Entertainment filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy three years later. Riggs, a friend of Price’s, also spent some time at the Walt Disney Company early in his career.
In the wake of all the Amazon turnover, Sharon Tal Yguado is taking over as head all of scripted for Amazon while Amazon Studios chief operating officer Albert Cheng assumes Price’s duties on an interim basis. It’s not immediately clear who will fill the unscripted void.
More here.
Update – 3:15 p.m.: Actress Juliette Binoche said she was never harassed by Harvey Weinstein because she knew right away that there was a “beast” inside him, and she was well-“armed” to deal with men in positions of power.
Binoche said she’d been shocked by the accusations of rape against Weinstein but ‘there may be actresses who are more easily influenced and less prepared for situations with people of power, especially when you start’.
‘In the face of Harvey’s corpulence, in the face of his energy, his voice, his speed, in the face of the words he uses, his beliefs, in approaching such a power, one must know where one puts one’s feet and awaken his intelligence not to be trapped,’ she said, adding that being an actress was a dangerous profession.
She added that she’d never been manipulated by Weinstein because ‘I learned early to be responsible’.
More here.
Update – 2:47 p.m.: Gloria Allred is expected to hold a press conference with a new Weinstein accuser in New York City this afternoon. The accusation, according to the attorney, represents a “new low, even for Weinstein.”
More later.
Update – 2:00 p.m.: George Clooney is “furious” about the allegations against Weinstein and wants to know “who knew.”
“Somebody knew,” Clooney added. “There were people that brought young actresses to his hotel room. Whoever had that story and didn’t write it should be held responsible. I want to know what kind of ad dollars were spent from The Weinstein Company and from Miramax, because we should have known this. This is violating women, this is assault. This is silencing women.”
Full story here.
Update – 1:08 p.m.: Actress Julianne Moore has added her name to the hundreds of women who have accused embattled filmmaker James Toback of sexual harassment.
“#JamesToback approached me in the 80’s on Columbus Ave with the same language – wanted me to audition, come to his apt.” Moore tweeted Tuesday.
“I refused. One month later he did it again with the EXACT same language,” the Suburbicon star wrote. “I said don’t u remember u did this before?”
Update – 12:03 p.m.: Billionaire Tom Barrack, who last week said his investment firm Colony Capital is “pleased to invest in The Weinstein Company,” says there’s still value and growth potential for the film company co-founded by disgraced movie producer Harvey Weinstein.
“There’s a big difference between the Weinsteins and the company,” Barrack said Tuesday in a Bloomberg Television interview. “Harvey, whatever the accusations are, his conduct was totally unacceptable, reprehensible, and unacceptable on any terms. No one is interested in salvaging a company which would benefit Harvey.”
“If the Weinstein element could be removed, if the toxicity of the liabilities that surround it could be addressed, and if the content of the company could continue on in a normal way, there’s some value,” Barrack said, adding that he would know “soon” if he’d purchase The Weinstein Company. “You have 150 individuals, you have a TV production company, you have an independent film company, you have a distribution company, which has counterparts that are relying on stability.”
“You have a patient that’s dying on the table,” he added. “You need to revive them to get them to breathe first. If you can do that then maybe you can see, can they walk? And if they can walk then perhaps you can get them in a race.”
More here.
Update – 11:36 a.m.: Celebrity chef John Besh has stepped down as the chief executive of his 12-restaurant emperor, Besh Restaurant Group, after twenty-five women told the New Orleans Times-Picayune that they were groped, pressured to have sex with their superiors, “sexually harassed, and verbally assaulted almost every day.”
In a statement, Besh admitted to being unfaithful to his wife with a member of his staff but said he has “never sexually harassed or tolerated such” behavior.
“I have to deal with the fact that I was not the best human being that I could be, that I had made mistakes, but even with the worst that I had ever been, I have never sexually harassed or tolerated such,” he told the Times-Picayune. “I’ve had my issues in my life. But I’ve never tolerated that sort of behavior.”
More here.
Update – 11:00 a.m.: Actress Julianne Moore said Harvey Weinstein is guilty of “criminal behavior.”
“I hope that he’s prosecuted for some of these things. I hope that some of the charges stand,” the Suburbicon star said Tuesday sitting alongside Matt Damon on NBC’s Today show.
“This is criminal behavior,” said Moore, who says she’s known Weinstein for more than two decades but was never alone with him. “Rather than continue to discuss what could have happened — what if? what if? — I think it’s important to think about, what we can do now? What can we do to prevent it? How can we communicate to people that it’s not OK, they should speak out, they will have support and that people will be taken to task?”
Update – 10:11 a.m.: The Daily Beast is out this morning with a piece detailing multiple allegations against five-time Oscar-nominated writer-director David O. Russell (Silver Linings Playbook, American Hustle).
Russell’s $160 million TV series starring Robert De Niro, which had been set up at The Weinstein Company, was axed by Amazon as the sex harassment scandal engulfed Harvey Weinstein.
The stories that former co-workers have told about David O. Russell should have been enough to render him unhireable. In fact, just glancing through a list of behaviors that Russell himself has admitted to would appear to bar the director from future employment. Instead, Amazon jumped on the Russell project, making a deal that was reportedly worth $160 million for just two seasons.
As Pajiba’s Kayleigh Donaldson recently wrote, “The multiple Oscar nominee behind American Hustle and Silver Linings Playbook has one of the industry’s most visible reputations as a nasty piece of work, both as a bullying colleague and a sexual abuser off-screen. He’s made multiple people’s lives hell and never faced the consequences.”
More here.
Update – 10:07 a.m.: More than 200 women have reached out to share their stories about sexual harassment or other misconduct at the hands of writer-director James Toback. Toback was previously accused of sexual harassment by 38 women in a Los Angeles Times exposé published Sunday.
Filmmaker James Toback has long had a bad reputation with women.
Stories about the writer-director often referred to him as a womanizer, but what that actually meant did not become clear until the Los Angeles Times published an investigation Sunday in which 38 women accused the writer-director of sexual harassment.
Within two days those numbers swelled as more than 200 additional women contacted The Times and, in emails and phone calls, recalled encounters with Toback similar to those detailed in the story. The majority of the new accounts, which have not been verified, told of Toback approaching women on the streets of Manhattan, offering them the chance at a part in an upcoming movie, and a wide range of unwanted sexual advances and behavior.
More here.
Update – 9:15 a.m.: Actress Anna Faris has become the latest to share a story about her own experience with sexual harassment in the film industry.
The House Bunny actress said on her podcast this week that she had been filming a scene on a ladder when the project’s director slapped her backside.
From Entertainment Weekly:
“I was doing a scene where I was on a ladder and I was supposed to be taking books off a shelf and he slapped my ass in front of the crew so hard,” said the Mom star. “And all I could do was giggle.”
Faris added, “I remember looking around and I remember seeing the crew members being like, ‘Wait, what are you going to do about that? That seemed weird.’ And that’s how I dismissed it. I was like, ‘Well, this isn’t a thing. Like, it’s not that big of a deal. Buck up, Faris. Like, just giggle.’ But it made me feel small. He wouldn’t have done that to the lead male.”
Update – 9:07 a.m.: Tom Hanks says “there were people who knew exactly” what was going on in Hollywood. Hanks said he’d only heard about various “shenanigans” himself, though.
Describing how these predatory men think, Hanks said: “They think, somehow, this is how it works. ‘Don’t you understand, this is how it works, I’m your boss and you will have to please me.'”
Hanks added that sexual harassment was a problem across society and not just Hollywood, and he hoped there will be better days ahead. “I think those days are close to [over]– I don’t know if they’ll ever be over.” He hoped that now people could come forward with their stories of sexual harassment in the workplace without fear.
More here.
Update – 8:52 a.m.: Scandal star Tony Goldwyn has become the latest male actor to say he was sexually harassed as a younger actor first making his start in Hollywood.
More on this from Breitbart’s Jerome Hudson:
Actor Tony Goldwyn revealed that he experienced ‘casting couch’ sexual harassment by a man early in his acting career.
The Scandal star’s revelation came in an interview with Access Hollywood, in which he explained why he decided to show public support for actress Lupita Nyong’o after she claimed she was sexually assaulted by Harvey Weinstein.
Update – 8:49 a.m.: Celebrity photographer Terry Richardson has been banned from working with major fashion magazines including GQ, Vogue, and Vanity Fair after previous allegations of sexual assault resurfaced.
Celebrity photographer Terry Richardson has been banned from working with several major fashion magazines amid resurfacing sexual harassment claims.
Vogue, GQ and Vanity Fair are among those who were told to ‘kill’ any scheduled shoots with the snapper by parent group Condé Nast International.
Richardson has been the subject of widespread allegations of sexually abusing models over his lengthy career — accusations he has constantly denied.
More here.
Update – 8:46 a.m.: Several new developments in the Weinstein scandal this morning…
A former assistant to Weinstein during his tenure at Miramax has broken her non-disclosure agreement to tell all about her experiences with harassment at the company.
Dozens of women have come forward in recent weeks with claims against Harvey Weinstein, accusing the veteran film mogul of sexual assault, harassment, misconduct and rape. Many of their stories carry the same details — from hotel rooms and manipulative behavior to intimidation tactics and aggressive cover-ups — while provoking the same questions: How much did his assistants know, how tightly wound were their non-disclosure agreements and where are they now?
Zelda Perkins, who worked for Weinstein during his tenure running Miramax Films, has just answered all three in a bombshell of an interview with Financial Times. In doing so, Perkins becomes the first former staffer to come forward and publicly denounce an NDA, shedding light on how Weinstein relied on a network of lawyers to help prevent staffers from speaking out about his alleged bad behavior. She also claims that there were clauses in her contract that could have led to Weinstein’s dismissal nearly two decades ago.
Full story here.