Women in Hollywood on Friday expressed relief, hope and vindication as movie producer Harvey Weinstein was charged with rape after decades of alleged sexual misconduct.
Weinstein was met by dozens of photographers and camera crews as he walked into a New York City police station to be charged with two counts of rape and one count of a criminal sexual act involving two unidentified women.
He was later released on a US$1 million cash bond, and agreed to surrender his passport and be fitted with a GPS monitoring device.
Photo: Pool via Reuters
Weinstein, 66, denies having nonconsensual sex with anyone, and his attorney said his client would plead not guilty.
Italian actress Asia Argento, one of more than 70 women who have accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct, live-tweeted his surrender.
“This is the only movie Harvey Weinstein will be remembered for #perpwalk,” Argento wrote. “Today Harvey Weinstein will take his first step on his inevitable descent to hell.”
Weinstein was charged after a seven-month investigation in New York and more than 20 years of alleged misconduct.
Actress Rose McGowan, who has accused Weinstein of raping her in 1997, said on NBC’s Megyn Kelly Today program that she never believed this day would come.
“We got you, Harvey Weinstein, we got you,” McGowan later tweeted.
The accusations against the co-founder of the Miramax film studio helped give rise to the #MeToo movement, in which people shared stories of sexual abuse, and the Time’s Up campaign against workplace sexual harassment.
In a statement, the Time’s Up campaign welcomed the charges against “a man whose actions were so egregious that they spawned a global reckoning.”
Boogie Nights actress Heather Graham, who has spoken of unsettling encounters with Weinstein in the early 2000s, wrote on Twitter that instead of focusing on him, she would be celebrating powerful women.
“This is just the beginning #TheFutureIsFemale,” Graham tweeted.
Mighty Aphrodite star Mira Sorvino tweeted “#Justice” next to a news report about Weinstein.
Louisette Geiss, another of Weinstein’s accusers, tweeted that it was about time.
“Elated and so proud to stand next to the brave women & men who are creating a new normal,” she tweeted.
There was no immediate public reaction from other stars who have spoken of being harassed by Weinstein, including Angelina Jolie, Ashley Judd and Salma Hayek.
New York Times journalist Jodi Kantor, who shared a Pulitzer Prize for her reporting on the Weinstein allegations, on Twitter listed the reactions she had heard from victims. They included tears of relief and irreparable loss, outright joy and nausea.
“The common denominator: trouble sleeping last night,” Kantor wrote.
Additional reporting by AFP
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in