Oprah Speaks On Weinstein’s Behavior: “Hideous!”

She added: “I believe a shift is coming.”

By Sarah Kuta on October 13, 2017
(Photo by Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images for Tribeca TV Festival)

NEW YORK (AP) — The Latest on sexual harassment allegations against Harvey Weinstein (all times local):

6:12 p.m.

Oprah Winfrey says Harvey Weinstein’s behavior is “hideous” and she agrees with others who also blame enablers in Hollywood.

She took to Facebook to say she hasn’t “been able to find the words to articulate the magnitude of the situation.” Winfrey cited a statement from filmmaker and former head of Focus Features, James Schamus, that the scandal is a “story of one predator and his many victims; but it is also a story about an overwhelming systemic enabling” by underlings and others in the entertainment industry.

Winfrey said that thanks to the brave voices of women who have accused Weinstein, “many more will now be emboldened to come forward EVERY time this happens.” She added: “I believe a shift is coming.”

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5:30 p.m.

Vogue editor Anna Wintour is praising the bravery of women coming forward to allege Harvey Weinstein sexually harassed them.

“Behavior like this is appalling and unacceptable. I feel horrible about what these women have experienced and admire their bravery in coming forward,” Wintour says in a statement.

“We all have a role to play in creating safe environments where everyone can be free to work without fear.”

Wintour has featured in her magazine the clothing label Marchesa, co-created by Weinstein’s wife, Georgina Chapman, and she and Weinstein have previously teamed up to appear on red carpets and for Barack Obama fundraisers.

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5:25

Harvey Weinstein and The Weinstein Co. will be removed from three shows they produce for A&E Network channels.

The company said Friday that includes Lifetime’s “Project Runway” and spinoff “Project Runway All Stars,” as well as the History channel military drama “Six.”

A Weinstein link remains: The next season of “Project Runway All Stars” has already been taped with the movie mogul’s estranged wife, fashion designer Georgina Chapman, taking part.

A&E Networks said an air date for “All Stars” has yet to be set.

Chapman announced she is separating from Weinstein in the wake of his sexual misconduct scandal.

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3:55 p.m.

Bob Weinstein claims business is continuing “as usual” for the Weinstein Co. and that the company’s board is not exploring a sale or shutdown.

In a statement Friday, the Weinstein Co. co-chairman disputed reports that the company’s future is in jeopardy. Weinstein, who is Harvey Weinstein’s brother, said “our banks, partners and shareholders are fully supportive of our company.”

Weinstein also said reports of a sale or closure of The Weinstein Co. were “untrue.” He even touted several upcoming film releases for the company, claiming that its animated sequel “Paddington 2” is testing “through the roof.”

The Weinstein Co. is currently exploring a change of name. On Sunday, it fired Harvey Weinstein after numerous allegations of sexual harassment surfaced against the film mogul.

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3:50 p.m.

The founder of an organization working to protect models says “exploitative, bullying behavior” along the lines of sexual assault and harassment accusations against Harvey Weinstein is “more prevalent in the fashion industry than many people would like to acknowledge.”

Sara Ziff, who is also the director of the Model Alliance, says in a statement Friday that “numerous models have accused power brokers in the fashion industry of sexual abuse.”

She did not cite complaints or identify accusers.

In many cases, Ziff said, allegations go beyond harassment in fashion, an industry where models often begin their careers between the ages of 13 and 16.

Ziff added her voice to those who stand with “brave individuals who have come forward.”

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3:35 p.m.

Minka Kelly has recounted a private meeting with Harvey Weinstein in which she nervously turned down his romantic advances and apologized for staying quiet about it and “protecting his behavior.”

The actress says in a Friday post on Instagram that after meeting Weinstein at an industry party, he invited her to his hotel room. Uncomfortable with that, they instead met at a hotel restaurant, joined by an assistant who left shortly afterward.

Kelly says Weinstein suggested he’d give her “a lavish life filled with trips around the world on private planes” if she agreed to be his girlfriend. She declined and said she wanted to keep things professional and excused herself. He responded, she says, by saying “I trust you won’t tell anyone about this.”

Kelly, who had a role in “Lee Daniels’ The Butler,” which was produced by Weinstein’s company, said she spoke out to add her voice to those demanding such abuses end.

At least 30 women allege that Weinstein sexually harassed them or made unwanted advances. Weinstein has denied any nonconsensual sexual conduct with any women.

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3:15 p.m.

Showtime says it won’t move forward with an Oliver Stone drama in development, “Guantanamo,” unless the Weinstein Co. is removed as a producer.

The drama about detainees at Guantanamo Bay had not yet been approved for a series and scripts are currently being written. Showtime was a partner with the Weinstein Co. in the project but the network said on Friday that “we do not intend to move forward with the current configuration of the project and are exploring our options.”

Still, the network said it was eagerly awaiting the scripts that are being written.

Stone, who had agreed to help produce and direct the series, also said on Facebook he wouldn’t stay involved if the Weinstein Co. didn’t drop out.

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3:10 p.m.

NBC’s Megyn Kelly called on Twitter to “do better” enforcing its rules.

Kelly spoke in reference to the social media company’s decision to temporarily suspend Rose McGowan’s account, saying the actress violated its rules by posting a personal phone number in connection with a message about sexual harassment. The tweet was deleted and McGowan’s account was reinstated.

Kelly noted that two years ago then-presidential candidate Donald Trump’s lawyer had retweeted someone else’s message regarding Kelly, saying “we can gut her.” Trump was angry at Kelly, then at Fox News Channel, for her questioning during a Republican debate.

She said Twitter didn’t rush to enforce rules against harassing or inciting harassment against another person when it came to her.

The company said it had no comment on Kelly’s remarks.

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3 p.m.

Now that Harvey Weinstein is out of the picture, Mika Brzezinski is sticking with her publisher.

The “Morning Joe” co-host had threatened to cancel her 3-book deal with Weinstein Books in the wake of multiple allegations of sexual assault and harassment against Weinstein.

But Hachette Book Group, which had a co-publishing deal with Weinstein, announced on Thursday that it had cancelled Weinstein Books and would publish works under contract through the Hachette Books imprint. That was good enough for Brzezinski, who on Friday said on “Morning Joe” that she had spoken with Hachette CEO Michael Pietsch and that she looked forward to working on her upcoming books.

A Hachette spokeswoman confirmed Friday that Pietsch and Brzezinski had spoken and that she would publish with Hachette.

Brzezinski’s first Hachette book will be a re-release of “Knowing Your Value,” which first came out in 2011.

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2:30 p.m.

Emma Thompson says in a new interview that she spent her 20s “trying to get old men’s tongues out of my mouth” and Harvey Weinstein falls into an endemic pattern of “extreme masculinity” at the top of the Hollywood power structure.

Speaking Thursday to Emily Maitlis on BBC Two’s “Newsnight,” the Oscar-winning star of “Howards End” who appears in the new film “The Meyerowitz Stories” called the more than 30 accusations of sexual assault and harassment against Weinstein a symbol of a “crisis” not only in Hollywood but society overall.

She called Weinstein a “predator” and compared him to the late English TV and radio host Jimmy Savile, who was at the center of several hundred sexual abuse accusations, including children as young as 8. Many of the complaints were lodged after his 2011 death.
Weinstein has denied any nonconsensual sexual conduct with any women.

Thompson says she had only “business contact” with Weinstein but recalled his “bullying behavior” in that arena.

The actress says there are “many” men in Hollywood in the Weinstein vein and took issue with whether it matters if such men claim one victim or many. Thompson asked, “Does it only count if you really have done it to loads and loads and loads of women or does it count if you do it to one woman, once? I think the latter.”

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10:15 a.m.

Director Quentin Tarantino says he is “stunned and heartbroken” about the sexual harassment allegations lodged against movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, but needs time to wrap his head around it.

In a brief statement via Twitter relayed by Amber Tamblyn, Tarantino, whose films “Reservoir Dogs,” ”Pulp Fiction” and “The Hateful Eight” were produced by Weinstein, says he will address the issue soon.

“For the last week I’ve been stunned and heartbroken about the revelations that have come to light about my friend for 25 years Harvey Weinstein. I need a few more days to process my pain, emotions, anger and memory and then I will speak publicly about it.”

Weinstein has denied any nonconsensual sexual conduct with any women.

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9:45 a.m.

The sexual harassment allegations swirling around Harvey Weinstein has prompted actress Tippi Hedren to remind everyone that actresses have long been preyed upon by powerful movie heads.

“This is nothing new, nor is it limited to the entertainment industry,” Hedren wrote in a tweet this week. “It has taken 50 years, but it is about time that women started standing up for themselves as they appear to be doing in the Weinstein case. Good for them!”

Hedren in 2016 released a memoir “Tippi,” in which she alleged director Alfred Hitchcock sexually assaulted her on the set of “Marnie,” when she was alone in her dressing room.

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3:00 a.m.

Rose McGowan has shown she will not be easily silenced, emerging from a brief suspension on Twitter Thursday to post her most pointed allegation at disgraced film mogul Harvey Weinstein.

McGowan tweeted that a person with the initials “HW” had raped her, an apparent reference to Weinstein. The Hollywood Reporter later said McGowan confirmed she was referring to the Oscar-winning producer.

Weinstein’s representative Sallie Hofmeister says her client denies all allegations of non-consensual contact.

McGowan’s tweet and several others directed at Amazon head Jeff Bezos capped the end of a wild week since The New York Times first reported detailed allegations of harassment allegations against Weinstein that spanned decades.

By day’s end, Amazon Studios had placed its chief, Roy Price, on leave after a producer alleged Price sexually harassed her.

Some people were responding to a call to boycott Twitter on Friday in response to McGowan’s suspension, using the hashtag WomenBoycottTwitter.

(© Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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