Filipina model, accusers hail Weinstein convictions

MANILA, Philippines — Harvey Weinstein was convicted in New York on Monday of sexual assault and rape, more than two years after allegations of the disgraced movie mogul's sexual misconduct sparked the global #MeToo movement.

The 67-year-old was acquitted of the most serious charge of predatory sexual assault but faces a lengthy jail term.

The guilty verdicts were hailed as a landmark moment for the #MeToo movement, with accusers, activists and attorneys lining up to congratulate prosecutors.

Here is the best of the reactions:

'Jumping for joy'

Ambra Battilana Gutierrez, a Filipina-Italian model who reported Harvey Weinstein to the New York Police Department in 2015 for allegedly groping her during a meeting at his Tribeca office, reacts outside of court to the news that Weinstein was found guilty of a criminal sexual act and third degree rape on February 24.

In an interview with Court TV, Gutierrez said that she feels "happiness, pure happiness" for the verdict.

"Just jumping for joy! This was the verdict that I was really wishing for not just for myself but for a positive outcome and experience to everything, so we can move forward the conversation, so that things like this should not get to this point," she said in the video interview posted on her Twitter page.

Ambra was a Miss Italy finalist. She also competed at the Century Tuna Superbods competition in Manila in 2016 and won as a runner-up.

'Collective healing' 

Actress Ashley Judd, one of the first Weinstein accusers to go public with her allegations, thanked the six women who told the high-profile trial that the ex-Hollywood titan had sexually assaulted them.

"For the women who testified in this case, and walked through traumatic hell, you did a public service to girls and women everywhere, thank you. #ConvictWeinstein #Guilty," she wrote on Twitter.

Actress Ellen Barkin simply named them.

"Right now Harvey Weinstein is on his way to prison. These are the women who put him away... Mimi Haleyi, Jessica Mann, Annabella Sciorra, Dawn Dunning, Lauren Young, Tarale Wulff," she tweeted.

High-profile accuser Rose McGowan tweeted: "Today is a powerful day & a huge step forward in our collective healing."

Italian actress and director Asia Argento, who told the New Yorker magazine that Weinstein raped her in 1997, posted a photo of herself and another woman on Instagram.

"Harvey Weinstein is now a convicted rapist. Two survivors cry and celebrate. Thank you God," she wrote alongside it.

Actress Rosanna Arquette paid tribute on Twitter to "the brave women who've testified and to the jury for seeing through the dirty tactics of the defense."

Tarana Burke, founder of the #MeToo movement, said in a statement: "The implications reverberate far beyond Hollywood and into the daily lives of all of us in the rest of the world."

Sciorra lament 

Gloria Allred, attorney for Sciorra and Haleyi, told reporters outside court that, "It's no longer business as usual in the United States."

"This is the age of empowerment of women, and you cannot intimidate them anymore, because women will not be silenced," she said.

"They will speak up, they will have their voice, they will stand up and be subjected to your small army of defense attorneys cross-examining them, attempting to discredit them," Allred added.

Some took to social media to express regret that the jury failed to convict Weinstein of predatory sexual assault based on the testimony of "The Sopranos" actress Annabella Sciorra.

She testified that Weinstein raped her almost 30 years ago as the prosecution sought to portray him as a career sexual predator.

"HARVEY WEINSTEIN HAS BEEN HANDCUFFED & TAKEN TO JAIL!" tweeted actress Rosie Perez, who testified on Sciorra's behalf during the trial.

"GUTTED FOR MY DEAR FRIEND #ANNABELLASCIORRA WHO TOLD THE TRUTH! YET I CONGRATULATE HER & ALL WHO CAME FORWARD FOR THEIR BRAVERY. THIS IS NOT ENOUGH BUT SURVIVORS TAKE COURAGE! THIS IS STILL A GREAT WIN!" she wrote.

"#IBelieveAnnabellaSciorra," actress Alyssa Milano wrote on Twitter.

Journalist and former Miss America Gretchen Carlson simply tweeted: "I hope the handcuffs are tight..." — With AFP in New York

philstar.com

Harvey Weinstein ‘Casting Couch’ statue unveiled ahead of Oscars

LOS ANGELES | Harvey Weinstein won’t be going to Sunday’s Oscar ceremony, but the film producer’s presence is still being felt in Hollywood.

Los Angeles-based street artist Plastic Jesus on Thursday unveiled a statue called “Casting Couch,” depicting a life-size Weinstein, clothed in a bathrobe, sitting on a golden colored couch and holding an Oscar. It was installed near the Hollywood venue where the Academy Awards ceremony will be held.

More than 70 women have accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct, including rape. Weinstein has denied having nonconsensual sex with anyone.

His representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the installation.

The accusations against Weinstein triggered a flood of allegations of sexual impropriety by other celebrities that have rocked Hollywood and dominated this year’s movie awards season.


“Whilst many thought the ‘casting couch’ was a thing of the past it was clearly still a part of the Hollywood culture,” Plastic Jesus said in a statement on his Facebook page.

“Hopefully now in the light of recent allegations against many leading figures in Hollywood the industry will clean up it’s (sic) act,” he said.

Weinstein was one of the movie industry’s most influential men, powering independent movies such as “The King’s Speech” and “Shakespeare in Love” to Oscar best picture wins.

He was expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences last year and fired from his company, the Weinstein Company. The company said on Sunday it planned to file for bankruptcy.

The ‘Casting Couch’ statue followed the appearance in Los Angeles on Wednesday of billboards designed by street artist Sabo that accused the entertainment industry of staying silent about sexual misconduct.

Plastic Jesus said the Weinstein statue was a collaboration with the artist Joshua “Ginger” Monroe and took two months to produce. It was paid for by donations through their websites.

Plastic Jesus and Ginger were also responsible for producing naked statues of Donald Trump that appeared in various U.S. cities in 2016, before he was elected U.S. president.

Insurer Chubb Ltd is refusing to pay for Weinstein’s legal defense against 11 lawsuits that accuse the movie producer of sexually harassing or assaulting women over the past three decades, according to a court document filed on Wednesday.

Units of the insurer have together issued 80 policies to Weinstein and his family between 1994 and 2018, including coverage for personal liability, according to Chubb. That would normally cover legal costs to defend against claims of damage or injury caused accidentally, but the insurer said Weinstein’s conduct was intentional.

He faces many legal cases, including one brought by New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman accusing him of civil and human rights violations.

Chubb Indemnity Insurance Co and several other Chubb units asked New York State Supreme Court to issue a judgment declaring that the policies’ terms exclude defending charges in the lawsuits, specifically sexual assault, discrimination and intentional acts.

The Weinstein Co on Thursday reached a deal to sell assets to a group led by a former Obama administration official who plans to use a majority-female board to rebuild the Hollywood studio tarnished by sexual misconduct allegations.

In a statement, Maria Contreras-Sweet said she plans to launch a new company, save about 150 jobs, protect the small businesses that are owed money, and create a victims’ compensation fund that will supplement existing insurance coverage for those who have been harmed.

“This next step represents the best possible pathway to support victims and protect employees,” Contreras-Sweet, the former head of the Small Business Administration, said in the statement.

With reports from Lisa Richwine and Suzanne Barlyn

source: interaksyon.com

Uma Thurman accuses Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault

LOS ANGELES | Actress Uma Thurman has accused movie producer Harvey Weinstein of sexually assaulting her at a London hotel after they worked together on the 1994 hit film “Pulp Fiction.”

In a New York Times article on Saturday by columnist Maureen Dowd, Thurman broke her silence after saying in October that she would wait to speak out about inappropriate behavior in the workplace because she did not want to say anything in anger.

Thurman became the latest of more than 70 women who have accused 65-year-old Weinstein of sexual misconduct, including rape. Weinstein’s lawyer said on Saturday that the producer had immediately apologized to Thurman for making an “awkward pass” at her 25 years ago, but that her claims about being physically assaulted were untrue.

In the Times article, Thurman, 47, said Weinstein pushed her down when she met him in his suite at London’s Savoy Hotel.

“He tried to shove himself on me. He tried to expose himself. He did all kinds of unpleasant things. But he didn’t actually put his back into it and force me,” she told the newspaper.


Asked for further comment by Reuters, a representative for Thurman said the Times article spoke for itself.

Weinstein’s lawyer, Ben Brafman, said the producer was stunned and saddened by what he considered false allegations from someone he worked closely with for more than two decades.

“Mr Weinstein acknowledges making an awkward pass at Ms Thurman 25 years ago which he regrets and immediately apologized for,” Brafman said in a statement.

“Why Ms Thurman would wait 25 years to publicly discuss this incident and why according to Weinstein, she would embellish what really happened to include false accusations of attempted physical assault is a mystery to Weinstein and his attorneys.”

Brafman said Thurman’s statements to the Times were being carefully examined and investigated “before deciding whether any legal action against her would be appropriate.”

As well as starring in “Pulp Fiction” by director Quentin Tarantino, Thurman was the lead actor in his two-film “Kill Bill” action series, which were produced by Weinstein’s Miramax studio and earned more than $330 million at global box offices.

source: interaksyon.com

Weinstein brothers sue Time Warner for $75M over ‘Hobbit’ films

NEW YORK | Movie producers Bob and Harvey Weinstein have sued Time Warner Inc for at least $75 million over its decision to divide the screen adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s book “The Hobbit” into three parts, and refusing to pay them for the second and third films.

In a complaint filed on Tuesday in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan, the Weinstein brothers and Miramax LLC said executives at Warner Brothers and its New Line Cinema unit chose to split “The Hobbit” as a pretext to deprive them of 5 percent of the gross receipts from the last two films.

The Weinsteins said they had in 1998 sold New Line the movie rights to “The Hobbit” and Tolkien’s trilogy “The Lord of the Rings,” after having spent more than $10 million to adapt them. They said New Line had agreed to make payments for the “first motion picture,” but not “remakes,” based on the books.

“This case is about greed and ingratitude,” said the Weinsteins and Miramax, which the brothers founded. “Warner takes this position solely to deprive plaintiffs of their right to share in the revenues from two of the three filmed installments of ‘The Hobbit.’”

Warner Brothers countered that the Weinsteins simply made a business mistake when they sold the film rights to New Line.

Paul McGuire, a Warner Brothers spokesman, said the studio filed for arbitration on November 26 with JAMS Inc, a New York firm once known as Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Services, to resolve the dispute.

“This is about one of the great blunders in movie history,” McGuire said. “Fifteen years ago Miramax, run by the Weinstein brothers, sold its rights in ‘The Hobbit’ to New Line. No amount of trying to rewrite history can change that fact. They agreed to be paid only on the first motion picture based on ‘The Hobbit.’ And that’s all they’re owed.”

Tuesday’s lawsuit is the latest litigation involving the Weinsteins, who earlier this year battled with Warner Brothers over the title of one of their films, which was eventually called “Lee Daniels’ The Butler.”




The lawsuit over “The Hobbit” was filed three days before the scheduled December 13 worldwide release of director Peter Jackson’s “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,” the second of the three planned “Hobbit” films.

The first film, “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” was released in 2012 and grossed more than $1 billion worldwide.

David Boies and Motty Shulman, who are partners at Boies, Schiller & Flexner, represent Miramax and the Weinsteins. They were not immediately available on Wednesday for comment.

The case is Miramax LLC et al v. New Line Cinema Corp et al, New York State Supreme Court, New York County, No. 161383/2013.

source: interaksyon.com