Few things are more entertaining to witness that a shameful public backpedal. That’s exactly what Harvey Weinstein and his attorney found themselves doing this week, when Weinstein issued an apology to Meryl Streep and Jennifer Lawrence after his legal team used their names in an attempt to get a sexual misconduct lawsuit dismissed.
The defamed mogul’s attorneys said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, "Mr. Weinstein acknowledges the valuable input both Meryl Streep and Jennifer Lawrence have contributed to." They added, "Moving forward, Mr. Weinstein has advised his counsel to not include specific names of former associates and to avoid whenever possible, even if they are in the public record."
Further, Weinstein's attorneys said their client "has been informed that his civil counsel responded in court to a class action lawsuit which improperly sought to include all actresses who had previously worked with Mr. Weinstein, even where those actresses have made no claim of wrongdoing. Even though Mr. Weinstein has worked with hundreds of actresses and actors who had only professional and mutually respectful experiences with him, Mr. Weinstein has directed in the future that no specific names be used by his counsel, even where those actors have made previous public statements about him."
I don’t think I heard the word “sorry” once in there, but I guess you can’t win ‘em all.
On Tuesday, the alleged plant masturbator asked a New York federal judge to dismiss a racketeering lawsuit six women filed against him. His attorneys fired back, saying the class-action status of the suit didn't hold any water, as it applies to “all women who ever met with Weinstein, regardless of whether they claimed to have suffered any identifiable harm,” and then went on to cite Lawrence and Streep as examples of women who made no such claims against their client.
J-Law clapped back, saying, “Harvey Weinstein and his company are continuing to do what they have always done, which is to take things out of context and use them for their own benefit. This is what predators do, and it must stop. For the record, while I was not victimized personally by Harvey Weinstein, I stand behind the women who have survived his terrible abuse and I applaud them in using all means necessary to bring him to justice whether through criminal or civil actions. Time's up."
Streep similarly denied being the victim of any sexual misconduct, but still expressed resentment for the fact her name was used in the producers defense: “Harvey Weinstein's attorneys' use of my (true) statement — that he was not sexually transgressive or physically abusive in our business relationship — as evidence that he was not abusive with many OTHER women is pathetic and exploitive,” Streep said.
