Hollywood and people around the world received a significant hit when the first allegations against Harvey Weinstein emerged. Now, the Los Angeles Police Department and London Police opened an investigation into the man currently accused of sexually harassing multiple women, most of them actresses.
As the weeks pass, celebrated individuals keep appearing with hard comments and strong accusations against the American film producer and former film studio executive. Quentin Tarantino, the director of billionaires movies — like Inglorious Basterds, Death Proof, Reservoir Dogs, and Pulp Fiction — recently opened about the allegations and said that he “knew enough” to do “more” than he did.
Woody Allen, on the other side, showed himself very comprehensive with Weinstein.
“You also don’t want it to lead to a witch hunt atmosphere, a Salem atmosphere, where every guy in an office who winks at a woman is suddenly having to call a lawyer to defend himself,” said the American filmmaker, known for movies like Midnight in Paris and Annie Hall, according to CNN. “That’s not right either.”
Several women are now publicly opening about the sexual encounters forced by Weinstein. Although these cases should first pass through court to verify if they’re right, they are very touching because most of the victims are known for their work around the world. On Monday, actresses Reese Witherspoon (Legally Blonde) and America Ferrara (Ugly Betty) accused the producer of raping them in their childhoods.
Decenes of Weinstein’s victims have opened these last weeks
The Ugly Betty star posted this Monday on Instagram a photo explaining what happened to her. She used the #MeToo, a hashtag people use to express their feelings about these events. According to Ferrera, the first time she remembers being sexually assaulted was when she was “9 years old.”
However, she did not say anything because of how embarrassed she felt. The actress assured that she lived with the “shame and guilt” because she felt responsible “for the actions of a grown man.”
Reese Witherspoon, who played Elle Woods on Legally Blonde, said that she felt “true disgust” at Weinstein and “anger” at the agents and the producers who made her feel that “silence was a condition of (her) employment.” This was after the producer “raped” her when she was just 16 years old.
The Legally Blonde actress assured that Weinstein is not the only man who has raped her in her life. Witherspoon also said that she has had “multiple experiences of harassment and sexual assault,” but she doesn’t speak about it very often.
Weinstein, through a spokesperson, has “unequivocally” denied “allegations of non-consensual sex although obviously can’t respond to anonymous allegations.”
After all these accusations, the police said that the “investigation is ongoing” – according to the LAPD’s Twitter account.
Around 40 women have spoken about allegations of sexual harassment or assaults committed by the American producer since the first time that the New York Times published the article exposing decades of Weinstein’s alleged misdeeds. The Guardian published a long list with some of these histories.
Source: CNN