Meryl Streep has struck out at Harvey Weinstein’s lawyers for using her name in an attempt to get a class action lawsuit against the disgraced movie mogul dismissed.
The triple Oscar-winning actress said their action was “pathetic and exploitative” after they cited her saying was never harassed by the producer in an attempt to shut the case down.
The lawyers were on Tuesday responding to six women suing Weinstein and the “Weinstein Sexual Enterprise”, which they say includes his brother Bob and a studio they co-founded, The Weinstein Company.
In a statement, Streep said: “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 exploitative.
“The criminal actions he is accused of conducting on the bodies of these women are his responsibility, and if there is any justice left in the system he will pay for them — regardless of how many good movies, made by many good people, Harvey was lucky enough to have acquired or financed.”
While the lawyers did not go as far as to say Streep’s comment was evidence he was not abusive to others, they did argue the case should be dismissed because it is “fatally overbroad” and would include all women he has ever met.
Lawyers Phyllis Kupferstein and Mary E. Flynn wrote this would include actresses such as Streep and Jennifer Lawrence who have not made allegations of sexual misconduct.
They pointed to Streep saying Weinstein had always been respectful with her during their collaborations in a statement to the press.
They did not mention that Streep also praised the “heroes” who made allegations about his behaviour, which she said was “inexcusable” and an “abuse of power”.
The lawyers also pointed to Lawrence saying in an interview that Weinstein “had only ever been nice to me”.
They did not mention her adding: “Except for the moments that he wasn’t, and then I called him an asshole.”
The lawyers also tried to undermine claims by saying Gwyneth Paltrow went on to work with the powerful mogul again after he allegedly harassed her.
They were arguing against the New York lawsuit claiming the statute of limitation on allegations do not not apply because the accusers were allegedly under duress not to make the claims earlier.
“Paltrow was not so offended that she refused to work with Weinstein again, nor did her career suffer as a result of her rebuffing his alleged advances,” the lawyers wrote.
Weinstein, 65, has been accused of sexual harassment and assault by dozens of women. He denies all allegations of non-consensual sex.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here