If Harvey Weinstein is hoping to drum up support ahead of his January criminal trial, he’s chosen an odd way to do it: lamenting his lost career to the New York Post. “I feel like the forgotten man,†the disgraced producer said Friday, while recovering from spine surgery at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, having reportedly suffered a back injury in an August car accident. “I made more movies directed by women and about women than any filmmaker, and I’m talking about 30 years ago. I’m not talking about now when it’s vogue. I did it first! I pioneered it! It all got eviscerated because of what happened. My work has been forgotten.’’
Weinstein told the Post he wanted to give the interview in part to dispel rumors he had only recently started using a walker to garner sympathy. “I want this city to recognize who I was instead of what I’ve become,â€Â he said. However, it would seem Weinstein couldn’t help but brag on his track record at least a little bit while he was at it.
“Gwyneth Paltrow in 2003 got $10 million to make a movie called View from the Top,†Weinstein said of the Miramax movie. “She was the highest-paid female actor in an independent film. Higher paid than all the men.†Paltrow has previously alleged that she, too, was the target of Weinstein’s sexual harassment when she was 22.
The former studio head also pointed to his work distributing films with a social-justice bent, including Paris Is Burning and Transamerica, as well as his efforts to raise money for 9/11 first responders. “I made a success out of myself. I had no money, and I built quite an empire with Miramax and decided to give back,†concluded Weinstein. “If you remember who I was then, you might want to question some of this.†Meanwhile, his upcoming predatory sexual assault trial is currently scheduled to begin on January 6. Weinstein has denied all wrongdoing.
Update Sunday evening: Twenty-three women who have previously accused Weinstein of various acts of sexual misconduct, from sexual harassment to rape, issued a response to his Post interview under the collective moniker The Silence Breakers:
Harvey Weinstein is trying to gaslight society again. He says in a new interview he doesn’t want to be forgotten. Well, he won’t be. He will be remembered as a sexual predator and an unrepentant abuser who took everything and deserves nothing. He will be remembered by the collective will of countless women who stood up and said enough. We refuse to let this predator rewrite his legacy of abuse.
The Silence Breakers include Rosanna Arquette, Jessica Barth, Zoe Brock, Rowena Chiu, Caitlin Dulany, Dawn Dunning, Lucia Evans, Louisette Geiss, Louise Godbold, Larissa Gomes, Dominique Huett, Ashley Judd, Katherine Kendall, Jasmine Lobe, Sarah Ann Masse, Rose McGowan, Emily Nestor, Tomi-Ann Roberts PhD, Erika Rosenbaum, Melissa Sagemiller, Lauren Sivan, Melissa Thompson and Paula Williams.