Disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein has been keeping pretty mum on his sexual misconduct scandal since dozens of women came forward with allegations against him last year. A real quick trip to “rehab” (quotes mine) and we haven’t much from him since, other than his initial denials. Perhaps that’s why it may strike you as a little strange that Weinstein is going after Rose McGowan, one of the most outspoken actresses in Hollywood on the issue of sexual assault. In her new book, Brave, McGowan details how Weinstein raped her at the Sundance Film Festival in 1997. Weinstein has denied the allegations, and now he’s using emails from Ben Affleck to make his case.
As Deadline reports, Weinstein’s lawyer, Ben Brafman, has offered emails from McGowan’s former manager Jill Messick and Ben Affleck to Weinstein, as evidence that his client is innocent. According to McGowan’s recounting of her assault, she immediately told Affleck what had happened, and Affleck angrily dismissed her. However, this email from Affleck to Weinstein paints a very different story.
As per Brafman, the email reads, “She never told me nor did I ever infer that she was attacked by anyone. Any accounts to the contrary are false. I have no knowledge about anything Rose did or claimed to have did.”
It’s worth mentioning that the Affleck’s email was sent on July 26, predating the New York Times report on Weinstein’s behavior. There’s also the fact that Affleck had gone on the Today Show on Nov. 17, 2017 where he said he believed McGowan and supported her.
In another email to Weinstein from Jill Messick, Messick says, “When we met up the following day, she hesitantly told me of her own accord that during the meeting that night before she had gotten into a hot tub with Mr. Weinstein. She was very clear about the fact that getting into that hot tub was something that she did consensually and that in hindsight it was also something that she regretted having done.”
Neither Affleck nor Messick have offered comment on the emails, which have surfaced just as McGowan begins the press tour for her book and to promote her new E! show. McGowan pulled precisely zero punches with this gem of a NSFW tweet by way of response.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I can handle another email scandal this soon after Hillary Clinton’s.
