On Good Morning Britain, actress Rose McGowan said Asia Argento was “lying” about the nature of her relationship with accuser Jimmy Bennett.
While she called her personal feelings “very insignificant” in the situation, McGowan said “if we’re going to look for beauty in this really horrible situation,” it is that “boys have voices too.” Regardless, she expects to see “due process” in resolving the allegations.
“MeToo is not just for women,” McGowan said, adding:
I’ve had so many men share their stories of abuse, it’s never happened before in history and people are freaking out and trying to analyze and crunch the data, my response is to let it breathe, let people have their voice. If I feel like walking down the street naked, no one has the right to rape me. When I take my girlfriend, who is masculine presenting, to a gay club, oftentimes she gets grabbed. Everybody has the sovereign right to their body.
Last month, a New York Times bombshell report revealed the former child actor Jimmy Bennett had accused actress-director Asia Argento of sexually assaulting him during an encounter in 2013, when Bennett was under legal age. Argento reportedly arranged a $380,000 settlement to keep Bennett quiet about the claims in 2017, around the same time the Italian film star became a prominent figure in the #MeToo movement.
When host Piers Morgan mentioned the possibility of careers jeopardized by the movement’s accusations, McGowan fired back. “I don’t know if we know if careers are over because it’s been such a short period of time,” she answered in rebuttal. “The hell you go through just to speak truth really whittles down the false accusations. You can cut off the rot and let the good people come up. All we need to do is to have a collective conversation.”
McGowan called Harvey Weinstein the “cult leader” of Hollywood, but is not personally fearful of repercussions for her vocal opposition.
I was never really in love with Hollywood, for me it was my day job. I’m an artist in full, and always been a writer, and now a filmmaker, and a producer, and singing on an album that I’ve been creating for the past three years, while for the past four years pushing against Hollywood and societal constructs and pushing back at the rules we’re all meant to follow. What are they going to do, put me in time-out celebrity jail? It’s absurd.
While she remains unconcerned about the aforementioned “celebrity jail,” actual jail may not be so easily evaded. McGowan was indicted in June on a charge of cocaine possession in Virginia, a felony for which she was arrested — and then released — in November 2017.