Harvey Weinstein: ‘I put myself in positions that were stupid, I want to respect women’

I’m waiting to see what comes out of the Harvey Weinstein story in the days and weeks to come. When the New York Times published their bombshell yesterday afternoon, it felt like the floodgates were opening. Women were going to start going on the record. Victims would come forward. A one-time bigwig was coming down. While I don’t doubt that this is the end of Harvey Weinstein as Hollywood bigwig, it’s worth noting, again, that this was a longtime coming. Rebecca Traister at The Cut (New York Mag) wrote a piece about how long the stories about Weinstein have been around, and how powerful he once was – go here to read. In 2000, Weinstein got in her face and called her a “c–t” and beat the sh-t out of her reporter boyfriend, and no one could touch Weinstein for that back then. Traister theorizes that the only reason why the NYT could publish their story now was because Weinstein’s power has been diminished enough. She’s probably right.

Meanwhile, Weinstein is still “fighting.” I would have thought that any good crisis manager – and Harvey is employing a small army of them – would have told him to simply step down from the Weinstein Company, go into rehab (or whatever) and disappear for a year. But Harvey’s not doing that. He released an unhinged-sounding statement – claiming he was going after the NRA – and his lawyer announced plans to sue the New York Times for $50 million. Harvey then sat down and gave an interview to the New York Post – you can read the full thing here. Some highlights (if you want to call them that):

Why he’s suing the Times for $50 million: “What I am saying is that I bear responsibility for my actions, but the reason I am suing is because of the Times’ inability to be honest with me, and their reckless reporting. They told me lies. They made assumptions. The Times had a deal with us that they would tell us about the people they had on the record in the story, so we could respond appropriately, but they didn’t live up to the bargain. The Times editors were so fearful they were going to be scooped by New York Magazine and they would lose the story, that they went ahead and posted the story filled with reckless reporting, and without checking all they had with me and my team.

He thinks the Times has a vendetta against him: “They never wrote about the documentary I did with Jay-Z about Rikers Island, they never write that I raised $50 million for amfAR, nor my work with Robin Hood – instead they focus on trying to bring me down. This is a vendetta, and the next time I see Dean Baquet [the executive editor of the Times] it will be across a courtroom.”

He says the Times based their reporting on a 2014 memo written by Lauren O’Connor, who detailed Weinstein’s history: “The Times used that entire memo as the basis of their story, but in reality it was withdrawn two days after it was written, O’Connor withdrew her complaint, and withdrew her claims made in the memo. The document doesn’t stand up.”

The Ashley Judd statement: “They spent six months researching this article then they gave us just 24 hours to answer it. They did tell us that Ashley Judd was on record, but we thought it would be along the lines of what she told Variety… But she changed her story when giving it to the Times. I know Ashley Judd is going through a tough time right now, I read her book [her memoir “All That Is Bitter and Sweet”], in which she talks about being the victim of sexual abuse and depression as a child. Her life story was brutal, and I have to respect her. In a year from now I am going to reach out to her… I never laid a glove on her. After this supposed incident, which she says was in 1997 while filming ‘Kiss The Girls,’ I took her to an Academy Award party where we were photographed smiling. She claimed to the Times she never worked with me again. She did two movies with me — ‘Frida’, which came out in 2002, and ‘Crossing Over’ with Harrison Ford, released in 2009.”

He’s committed to changing or whatever: “I have got to change, I’ve got to grow, I’ve got to deal with my personality, I’ve got to work on my temper, I have got to dig deep. I know a lot of people would like me to go into a facility, and I may well just do that – I will go anywhere I can learn more about myself. I want to be able to look at the people I have hurt and say, ‘I am sorry, I have changed and I’ve progressed.’ I am terribly embarrassed for my company, my staff and the only person who could fix this is me. I am going to fix myself, I am going to fix how I deal with women and how I deal with my temper and power.”

Once again, he came of age in the ‘60s: “I came of age in the ’60s and ’70s, when all the rules about behavior and workplaces were different. I worked at a record company that, if you were five minutes late, they’d hit you with a baseball bat. I also have the worst temper known to mankind, my system is all wrong, and sometimes I create too much tension. I lose it, and I am emotional, that’s why I’ve got to spend more time with a therapist and go away. My temper makes people feel intimidated, but I don’t even know when I’m doing it. In the past I used to compliment people, and some took it as me being sexual, I won’t do that again. I admit to a whole way of behavior that is not good. I can’t talk specifics, but I put myself in positions that were stupid, I want to respect women and do things better.”

[From Page Six]

He also tells the Post that his wife, Georgina Chapman, “stands 100% behind me.” Which I believe – I think Georgina will stand by him… until she doesn’t, until she can’t put up with it anymore. But for now, she’s Camille Cosby-ing this situation. As for this interview… from a PR/media relations perspective, I just don’t get how this was a good idea? We don’t live in a world where Harvey Weinstein’s word is gospel anymore. We don’t live in a world where men who have just been “outed” in the New York Times as being a decades-long sexual harasser get to give interviews where they blame everything on their age and call their victims liars. Also: “I can’t talk specifics, but I put myself in positions that were stupid, I want to respect women and do things better.” WANT TO RESPECT WOMEN. Wanting to respect is not the same as respecting, obviously. And he acts like he just happened to sexually harass women for decades accidentally, like what was he supposed to do? When in Rome/Cannes/New York!