Harvey Weinstein responds to Lupita Nyong’o harassment claims
You may have read the piece that Lupita Nyong’o wrote for the New York Times about her experience with Harvey Weinstein and it turns out so did he. Weinstein has now responded to her claims of harassment.
Through a representative, the disgraced movie mogul has denied the accusations made against him.
“Mr. Weinstein has a different recollection of the events, but believes Lupita is a brilliant actress and a major force for the industry. Last year, she sent a personal invitation to Mr. Weinstein to see her in her Broadway show Eclipsed.”
While she was a student at the Yale School of Drama, Nyong’o has stated she was invited to a private screening at Weinstein’s home. While she was there Weinstein asked if he could give her a massage.
She says she felt “unsafe” and she “panicked” and offered to give him a massage instead but when he began to remove his pants she fled the home.
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Then, a few months later, he propositioned her at a restaurant. She declined.
She is just one in a long line of women who have come out and accused Weinstein of inappropriate behavior. Other famous faces include Angelina Jolie, Kate Beckinsale, Cara Delevingne and Rose McGowan who claims she was raped by Weinstein. He denies he ever forced a woman to have sex with him though he paid a settlement to McGowan years ago.
“I share all of this now because I know now what I did not know then, I was part of a growing community of women who were secretly dealing with harassment by Harvey Weinstein,” Nyong’o penned.
“I hope we are in a pivotal moment where a sisterhood — and brotherhood of allies — is being formed in our industry. I hope we can form a community where a woman can speak up about abuse and not suffer another abuse by not being believed and instead being ridiculed. That’s why we don’t speak up — for fear of suffering twice, and for fear of being labeled and characterized by our moment of powerlessness. Though we may have endured powerlessness at the hands of Harvey Weinstein, by speaking up, speaking out and speaking together, we regain that power. And we hopefully ensure that this kind of rampant predatory behavior as an accepted feature of our industry dies here and now.”
