-New Urban Film News -Hollywood's Widening Harvey Weinstein Scandal Reveals Itself Amongst Famous Black Actresses
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| Singer-Actress Jill Scott and Oscar© Winner Lupita N'yongo Join the Long List of Actresses Speaking Out Against Harvey Weinstein |
As the co-founder of Miramax Films and The Weinstein Company, Harvey Weinstein's power in the movie industry has been global, reaching as far back to the 1970s, with over 150 films to his credit as a financier, executive producer and/or director. Beginning his career as a music promoter who branched into concert films (Paul Mc Cartney's "Rockshow"), Weinstein eventually evolved into the worldwide powerhouse behind such acclaimed cinematic hits as Sex Lies, & Videotape, The Crying Game, Good Will Hunting, Shakespeare in Love, Frida, The Quiet American, Fahrenheit 9/11 and The English Patient. The former corporate leader also executive produced the mainstream hits Scream, Rambo, Madonna:Truth or Dare, and an additional list of titles far too long and exhaustive to list. As the now terminated head of Miramax and The Weinstein Co., Weinstein has been the executive force behind movies by such film makers as Quentin Tarrantino, Michael Moore, and Pedro Alvomodar, and his companies have been the business hand that edits and distributes Asian and European art house films to American audiences (e.g., Shaolin Soccer, Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!). Weinstein is (or was as of his recent firing) also the Executive Producer of America's hit tv competition show, Project Runway, starring German supermodel and international fashion industry icon, Heidi Klum. Before his termination as the head of The Weinstein Company on October 17, 2017, Harvey Weinstein's authority and controlling influence over a singular industry has been near-infallible for decades.
After years of being feared in Hollywood for his ruthless business acumen and savage managerial style, it had earlier been revealed this month that over forty actresses and counting have stepped forward to allege that Harvey Weinstein has committed every manner of sexually improper behavior against them - allegations ranging from blackmail to sexual harassment, to sexual entrapment and outright sexual assault (i.e. rape). Originally, the scandal appeared not to affect women of color in the film industry, as the allegations came primarily from Caucasian actresses, but as of this past week, black actresses have been stepping forward to share that they too, have had unsavory encounters with the alleged sexual predator at the top of Tistletown's totem pole.
Although known primarily for her career as a Grammy award-winning vocalist and songwriter, singer/actress Jill Scott has over 20 screen roles to her credit on both the small and big screen, most notably in films by Tyler Perry ("Why did I get Married" and its' sequel) and a host of television shows and tv movies. From 2008-2009, Scott starred in cable channel HBO's #1 show, "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency", in which she played a Bostwanian private detective named Precious Ramotswe. Filmed on location in South Africa, the mystery series was based on the book by the same same name, and produced in conjunction with and funded by none other than Harvey Weinstein and The Weinstein company. On meeting Weinstein for the first time, Jill Scott, who was pregnant at the time, took to Twitter last Friday to share how disparagingly Weinstein treated the star of his tv investment for being with child:
" 1) When I met Harvey Weinstein, he was RUDE. In the NASTIEST tone he said “Who told you to get pregnant?!” And rolled his eyes in disgust. "
" 2) I stayed away from him after. Who acts that way towards a pregnant woman?? Power to all the women bullied by assholes. Power in general. "
Before Jill Scott shared her account of meeting Weinstein as the lead character of "Ladies No. 1..." Kenyan actress and Oscar winner Lupita Nyong'o ("12 Years a Slave") stepped forward on October 19th to write an entire op-ed in the New York Times - detailing a more frightening incident with Harvey Weinstein that revealed his alleged predilection towards darker, more sexually predatorial tendencies. Nyong'o was introduced to Weinstein as a Yale School of Drama student at a Berlin awards ceremony in 2011, where she recounts:
"As an aspiring actress, I was of course eager to meet people in the industry but cautious about strangers..." in describing her first impressions of Weinstein, the actress says,
"....I found him to be very direct and authoritative, but also charming. He didn’t quite put me at ease, but he didn’t alarm me, either". Nyong'o then describes how the two met again after their initial introduction in Germany:
"Not long after we met in Berlin, Harvey wrote to me inviting me to attend a screening of a film — a competitor’s film similar to one he had produced. He said we would be watching it with his family at his home in Westport, Conn., which was not far away from New Haven, where I was living at the time. He would send a car to pick me up. I accepted the invitation".
On meeting Nyong'o in Connecticut, the actress states Weinstein insisted they stop at a local restaurant for lunch, where he tried to get the actress to drink alcohol, which she repeatedly declined.
When they arrived at his home, she says they met Weinstein's domestic staff and young children. They then went to the property's private screening room. However, 15 minutes into the film, Lupita describes Weinstein luring her to another part of the house, arriving at what she realized was his bedroom, where he asked for a massage.
Nyong'o then writes, “I thought he was joking at first. He was not. For the first time since I met him, I felt unsafe. I panicked a little and thought quickly to offer to give him one instead: It would allow me to be in control physically, to know exactly where his hands were at all times.” She added: “I began to massage his back to buy myself time to figure out how to extricate myself from this undesirable situation.”
Before long, Nyong'o states Weinstein said he said he wanted to take off his pants. Nyong'o refused and, unlike several actresses in Hollywood who allege they found themselves in similar circumstances, she escaped Weinstein's trap.
In future screenings of Weinstein Company films, Nyongo says she would find herself in situations where she was allegedly baited, switched, and cornered by the powerful executive, declining his sexual advances even at his suggesting he could make her career. The actress states that the final confrontation between the two ended with Weinstein being rejected yet again, then ominously implying that Nyong'o would be fine, but that he didn't know about her "career".
Lupita was able to avoid Harvey Weinstein thereafter until 2014, when she made her great American debut as both film ingenue and Oscar nominee in the Brad Pitt production of "12 Years a Slave", a role for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. Interestingly enough, it has always been hush-talked that Brad Pitt, an actor turned powerful film producer in his own right, had previously had a severe public row with Weinstein in 1998 over allegedly sexually harassing his then- former girlfriend Gwyneth Paltrow while she was in production for the the film , "Emma". At the time a young Pitt (who is from Springfield, MI.) loudly and famously threatened to give Weinstein a Missouri a*s whooping at a theatre premiere if he ever disrespected Paltrow again . Paltrow, it should be noted, has fared a lot better in her career than many in the long line of women speaking out this scandal; being the daughter of a respected actress and acclaimed director afforded her a buffer of protection that has insured she had her own access to elite decision making circles in Hollywood from an early age - with a strong support system, never really having to fear real and actual reprisal from rejecting Weinstein. When Twitter fans asked, for example why Jill Scott never spoke out against how terribly she was treated by the man who held the purse strings over the hit TV show she headlined, another fan added that they didn't understand how Hollywood and the music industry could work with such predators, and Scott replied via her social media account:
“I do. It’s all about the dream. Some powerful assholes have the juice to crush them.”
In the wake of her Academy Award win, Weinstein apologized to Lupita Nyong'o the night of the Oscars, and subsequently sent her scripts and offers for various roles. Lupita declined all offers, and personally vowed to herself she would never work with Weinstein or his company. Says the actress of her traumatic experiences in past meetings with the mogul:
“I do. It’s all about the dream. Some powerful assholes have the juice to crush them.”
In the wake of her Academy Award win, Weinstein apologized to Lupita Nyong'o the night of the Oscars, and subsequently sent her scripts and offers for various roles. Lupita declined all offers, and personally vowed to herself she would never work with Weinstein or his company. Says the actress of her traumatic experiences in past meetings with the mogul:
“I had shelved my experience with Harvey far in the recesses of my mind, joining in the conspiracy of silence that has allowed this predator to prowl for so many years", Nyong’o says in the article she wrote for the Times. “I had felt very much alone when these things happened, and I had blamed myself for a lot of it, quite like many of the other women who have shared their stories.”
As of the publishing of this blog post, the number of women who have come forward to accuse former Hollywood executive Harvey Weinstein of sexual misconduct has risen to 54. NUy40+ will continue to follow this story.
As of the publishing of this blog post, the number of women who have come forward to accuse former Hollywood executive Harvey Weinstein of sexual misconduct has risen to 54. NUy40+ will continue to follow this story.
