Harvey Weinstein, the disgraced Hollywood producer and sexual predator who has just reached a tentative settlement with his accusers, has proven that power really knows no moral bounds. And he has the gall to play the victim card.
As the New York Post put it, “More than 80 women have accused him of sex assault or harassment — but for Harvey Weinstein, it’s still all about himself.”
In a recent interview with the paper, Weinstein complained that in light of all this scandal, his real work with women has been erased.
“I feel like the forgotten man,’’ he said. “I made more movies directed by women and about women than any filmmaker, and I’m talking about 30 years ago. I’m not talking about now when it’s vogue. I did it first! I pioneered it!”
Weinstein, who bumbled to court in a walker last week, and was seen without it a few days later, said he only agreed to the interview to prove that he’s truly ill. (Weinstein said he required a spinal surgery due to a car accident this summer.) He’s not faking this for sympathy, and he wants you to know. Just like he’s not burnishing his track record with women just so the entire country won’t hate him.
In January, Weinstein will face trial for rape. This month, he and his gluttonous legal team reached a tentative $25 million settlement with his accusers. If the deal goes through, he won’t have to personally compensate his accusers and, more importantly, he won’t have to admit that he did anything wrong.
That would be a great deal for Weinstein, who has never learned the meaning of mea culpa. Undeterred by his past actions, Weinstein maintained that he has long been a champion of women, even Gwyneth Paltrow.
“Gwyneth Paltrow in 2003 got $10 million to make a movie called ‘View from the Top,’” Weinstein said. “She was the highest-paid female actor in an independent film. Higher-paid than all the men.”
Yet, Paltrow claimed that while filming another project, Weinstein invited her to his hotel suite to discuss work before he put his hand on her and suggested they get massages. She joined many other high-profile actresses in accusing Weinstein of sexual harassment.
But Weinstein is right about one thing: He made many films starring and about women. One of them was Frida, in which Selma Hayek claims he tried to force her to participate in a lesbian sex scene with full nudity and threatened to end the project if she didn’t do it.
Just like James Franco, who calls himself a feminist but has been accused of teaching acting classes just to watch young women practice sex scenes, Weinstein should have learned by now: Being woke isn’t a literal get out of jail free card. Yet, the New York Post reports: “When asked if he felt that the torrent of disturbing allegations against him had canceled out his charitable deeds and perhaps left him in the karmic red, he snapped, ‘I’ll move on.’”
Weinstein can dodge the press all he wants, but that won’t change public opinion. We know what he’s done, and we can sniff out transparent lies and pleas for sympathy. Oh, your life was ruined after you spent your career allegedly abusing women? Good.
Even though Weinstein’s absurd appeals to his feminist aspirations might make for a good bit of irony, they actually make sense. If you spend years manipulating people to maintain your own power, the only truth that matters is the one you create inside your head. The #MeToo reckoning will never change the minds of Weinstein and the yes-men who have enabled him.
The best we can now hope for is justice for his accusers.
