Meryl Streep would like Harvey Weinstein’s legal team to keep her name out of their defense strategy for the disgraced producer. Earlier today, “Page Six†reported on legal documents in which Weinstein’s lawyers used Jennifer Lawrence and Streep as proof that he is not a sexual predator, since neither woman has attested to being molested by him. But the Hollywood icon did not take kindly to Weinstein’s team using her to try and exonerate their client. “Harvey Weinstein’s attorneys’ use of my (true) statement — that he was not sexually transgressive or physically abusive in our business relationship — as evidence that he was not abusive with many OTHER women is pathetic and exploitive,†Streep told Deadline. “The criminal actions he is accused of conducting on the bodies of these women are his responsibility, and if there is any justice left in the system he will pay for them — regardless of how many good movies, made by many good people, Harvey was lucky enough to have acquired or financed.â€
According to “Page Six,†the lawyers justified invoking Streep because she “stated publicly that Weinstein had always been respectful to her in their working relationship,†but neither actress spoke in explicit defense of Weinstein. Streep has said she never knew about his alleged abuse until the first exposés were published about him last fall, while Lawrence characterized his presence as a “paternal†one in their interactions, though added she was aware he was “a dog†and “a brute.†In interviews since the early days of the Weinstein scandal started unfolding, Lawrence said the news made her feel “sick in my bones,†and Streep has said, “The behavior is inexcusable, but the abuse of power familiar.â€