There was a point, mid-way through this trial where I wanted to give up. I couldn’t find a definitive angle, the morale divide was messy, and I wasn’t sure what impact it offered as far as cultural reckoning was concerned. The explosive revelations had come and gone. To an extent, the implosion of Harvey Weinstein, the single most dominating force in Hollywood, felt like old news. Convincing people to care about it again (after a well-publicized NY trial) was a challenge.
There was a point, mid-way through this trial where I wanted to give up. I couldn’t find a definitive angle, the morale divide was messy, and I wasn’t sure what impact it offered as far as cultural reckoning was concerned. The explosive revelations had come and gone. To an extent, the implosion of Harvey Weinstein, the single most dominating force in Hollywood, felt like old news. Convincing people to care about it again (after a well-publicized NY trial) was a challenge.
It had all the elements that draw me to a lengthy court case: abuse of power, sex complexities, corrupt industry protection, and horrific Hollywood scandal masked by glittering gowns and dazzling award shows, but being in that courtroom every day confronting the perverse realities that muddy the path to fame, felt at best like a dismal reality check. If only because it exposed a vapid industry that operates on the notion that sex can leverage fame and power can negate law & consequence so long as the deal get done.
Weinstein possessed a defining sense of old-school bullying tactics that combined baiting the promise of fame with threatening demeanor. His style of business fed on fear and gratitude. It worked for over twenty years as rumors of sexual harassment and assault trailed him. His behavior was an open secret in Hollywood, kept under wraps until October 2017, when the stories he tried so hard to dispel finally went to print.
The LA trial was the last of this grand unveiling.
We heard all the gruesome details of these decade-old hotel hunts. His patterned assaults were predictable and collectively overlooked by all levels of Hollywood.
Admittedly, it was hard not to judge these women for their continued communications, perpetuating scenarios that set them up for repeated abuse for the sake of elevated fame and status. One woman who testified was assaulted twice by Weinstein at the same hotel during the Toronto Film Festival. Once in the ’90s and again at the same event 20 years later, after she called out to Harvey as he passed her table in the bar and met him later that night in his hotel suite where the same scene led to the same outcome two decades later.
Last weekend, out of the blue I received a message from a woman (an ex actress) on IG wanting to speak publicly (for the first time) about her assault with Harvey Weinstein. Her request was to remain anon. But she offered proof of her indentity. Someone you would recognize in a few 90’s films. The message she wanted to convey was valuable, regarding the complexities of this trial. That it “can be both.” Consensual / transactional, and still rape. The first time she met Harvey was at Ciperani’s in NY. She had been drinking. She introduced herself to him seated at a table with friends and jokingly said he should put her in one of his movies. The introduction moved to the 2nd floor club then to the rooftop where he stunned her by unzipping his pants and placing his penis in her hand. When she resisted, he assured her that it “was ok.” A week later he called. She met him alone at a New York apartment (previously owned by Nicole Kidman) filled with family items, high chairs, luggage, etc. In the bedroom he ripped her clothes off and went down on her.
