The avalanche of assault accusations against Harvey Weinstein yesterday grew as more actresses came forward with explosive charges against the movie mogul, whose lurid behavior has opened a Pandora’s Box of Hollywood harassment and hypocrisy.
The new claims landed as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as well as the Cannes Film Festival organization declared the abusive behavior repugnant, but also as film figures warned that such actions have gone virtually unchecked in an industry that for years has seen itself in a progressive light.
Weinstein, 65, has denied all charges, according to a statement from his spokeswoman Sallie Hofmeister.
Photo: AFP
The list of Weinstein’s victims also reportedly now includes Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie, Rosanna Arquette and French actress Judith Godreche, but a new angle to the allegations emerged when three women, including an Italian film star, claimed that Weinstein raped them.
The latest allegations portray Weinstein as a ruthless sexual predator, who on at least one occasion sought to engage an actress in a threesome with another woman.
“He asked us to kiss and she began some sort of advances upon his direction,” actress Cara Delevingne said in an Instagram post detailing an encounter at a hotel.
When Delevingne got up to hurriedly leave, she wrote, “he walked me to the door and stood in front of it and tried to kiss me on the lips.”
Some of the worst misconduct allegations emerged in a New Yorker magazine investigation on Tuesday, which details charges by Italian actress Asia Argento that Weinstein forced oral sex and intercourse on her 20 years ago.
She told the publication she had maintained her silence until now for fear that Weinstein would “crush” her.
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