Harvey Weinstein leaves New York court, Monday, Jan. 6, 2020, in New York. The disgraced movie mogul faces allegations of rape and sexual assault. Jury selection begins this week. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
In case you haven’t heard, Harvey Weinstein was found guilty.
On Monday, the Hollywood mogul was convicted by seven men and five women on two counts: criminal sexual assault and rape in the third degree.
In the aftermath, accusers and celebrity #MeToo’ers reacted.
Here’s Rosanna Arquette:
“Gratitude to the brave women who’ve testified and to the jury for seeing through the dirty tactics of the defense. We will change the laws in the future so that rape victims are heard and not discredited and so that it’s easier for people to report their rapes.”
Gratitude to the brave women who’ve testified and to the jury for seeing through the dirty tactics of the defense .we will change the laws in the future so that rape victims are heard and not discredited and so that it’s easier for people to report their rapes
— ✌🏼rosanna arquette (@RoArquette) February 24, 2020
Ashley Judd — about whom I wrote recently in light of her puffy-faced politicking — celebrated the whistleblowers:
“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”
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
— ashley judd (@AshleyJudd) February 24, 2020
Joan of Arcadia star Amber Tamblyn offered a farewell:
“Bye, Weinstein! Don’t let that jail cell door hit your fake walker on the way out.”
Bye, Weinstein! Don’t let that jail cell door hit your fake walker on the way out.
— Amber Tamblyn (@ambertamblyn) February 24, 2020
Award-winning actress Ellen Barkin and Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi had something positive to say:
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
— Ellen Barkin (@EllenBarkin) February 24, 2020
Harvey Weinstein is now a convicted rapist.
If there's a man who doesn't deserve bail, it's him.
— Padma Lakshmi (@PadmaLakshmi) February 24, 2020
Here’s more:
I hope the handcuffs are tight … #metoo #weinsteintrial https://t.co/O1TWzBg1Rl
— Gretchen Carlson (@GretchenCarlson) February 24, 2020
I am heartened for his victims and for all those who said #metoo and #TimesUp that some justice has been done. https://t.co/5PYPfhRPjq
— Elizabeth Banks (@ElizabethBanks) February 24, 2020
That cheering you hear is the sound of female journalists finally being able to drop the "alleged" before "rapist Harvey Weinstein" in their columns.
— Jessica Valenti (@JessicaValenti) February 24, 2020
Grateful to all the courageous victims -and the villages that supported them- for stepping up and sharing your painful experiences so #Weinstein would be held accountable.
You have inspired and made a difference in the lives of many.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
— Ana Navarro-Cárdenas (@ananavarro) February 24, 2020
The Time’s Up movement isn’t completely stoked. They released a championing statement noting the conviction’s letdown via a “flawed process”:
While it is disappointing that today’s outcome does not deliver the true, full justice that so many women deserved, Harvey Weinstein will now forever be known as a convicted serial predator. This conviction would not be possible without the testimony of the courageous women and the many women who have spoken out. … This has been a flawed process from the beginning but has further exposed the difficulties women face in coming forward to tell the truth about powerful abusers.
And don’t get it twisted — there’s more to come:
Our fight is far from over. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office has brought charges against Weinstein and we hope he will be met with swift justice.
BREAKING: A New York jury has found Harvey Weinstein guilty on two counts – criminal sexual act in the first degree and rape in the third degree.
The following is a statement in response from 23 #Silencebreakers: pic.twitter.com/fXtoZ3Evzc
— TIME'S UP (@TIMESUPNOW) February 24, 2020
#MeToo offered a press release suggesting there’s more work to be done:
Today, a jury confirmed what we all know: Harvey Weinstein committed sexual assault. … Harvey Weinstein operated with impunity and without remorse for decades in Hollywood. Yet, it still took years, and millions of voices raised, for one man to be held accountable by the justice system. … Whether you are an office worker, a nanny, an assistant, a cook, a factory worker— we all have to deal with the spectre of sexual violence derailing our lives. … And, though today a man has been found guilty, we have to wonder whether anyone will care about the rest of us tomorrow. This is why we say MeToo.
This isn’t my personal victory. My thoughts on the Weinstein verdict. #metoomvmt #silencebreakers https://t.co/LDo7mEtXGy
— Tarana (@TaranaBurke) February 24, 2020
It certainly wasn’t the verdict many had wanted:
CNBC observes:
Weinstein was found not guilty of the most serious charges: two counts of predatory sexual assault. He also was acquitted of first-degree rape.
At the beginning of all this, Harvey was trumpeted as the devil; and the above charges could’ve put him behind bars for life.
Now he may get five years for what he did to Mimi Haley:
Weinstein faces a sentence of five to 25 years in prison for his conviction on a charge of committing a first-degree criminal sexual act by forcibly performing oral sex on production assistant Mimi Haley in 2006.
Here’s a bit of her story as per reporter Rose Friedman’s mid-trial accounting courtesy of NPR:
[H]aley says Weinstein invited her to his own home where she says they were chatting uneventfully on the couch when he lunged at her and began trying to kiss her. So in court, she said, no, no, no, I don’t want this to happen. But she says he forced her into a bedroom where he got on top of her. She says he pushed me down. He held me by my arms and said, no, stay like that. And I said, no, no, and at that point started realizing what was actually happening, and I’m being raped. She says he performed oral sex on her. She said the whole time she was kicking and squirming. She asked him to stop. She says he continued.
…
[H]aley continued to interact with Weinstein. She actually described another sexual encounter that she said was unwanted but that she didn’t physically resist. Haley and Weinstein also continued to email each other for years after the alleged assault. So the defense was able to use those emails to try to prove that no assault had happened, that the sex was consensual. They showed emails of her reaching out to ask for work, setting up meetings to pitch ideas. She also accepted an airline ticket and ended an email with the words lots of love
One commenter on the Variety coverage is certainly less than impressed with the outcome:
This idea of a complete “new era in justice” because or MeToo or Time’sUp is complete and utter horses—. In America, rich people have one justice system and the rest have none. This verdict doesn’t send any message. His defence will appeal the verdict and eventual sentencing forever. He will never see the inside of a jail cell, and even if he does, it won’t be for long.
What do you think of the verdict? Let us all know.
-ALEX
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