Rose McGowan is responding to Harvey Weinstein after the disgraced Hollywood mogul spoke out on Tuesday to deny her allegation that he raped her at the Sundance Film Festival in 1997.
McGowan said in her own statement released by her publicist on Wednesday that the response from Weinstein and his attorney “unequivocally proves a continued attempt to malign, smear and ‘slut shame’ Rose McGowan.”
Weinstein, via attorney Ben Brafman, had said that McGowan is attempting to “smear Mr. Weinstein with a bold lie that is denied not only by Mr. Weinstein himself, but by at least two witnesses.” The statement used emails from McGowan’s then-manager, Jill Messick, and former co-star Ben Affleck in an attempt to bolster his denial. McGowan has said that she immediately informed both parties of the alleged assault. Affleck had initially commented in a November interview, saying he supports McGowan; his email referenced by Weinstein was sent in July.
“Mr. Weinstein has used his power to violate Rose in all too many ways, even resorting to proven espionage tactics in attempt to cover up his crimes,” reads the statement, referencing what was first reported in The New Yorker about Weinstein using private investigators, including ex-Mossad agents, to track accusers like McGowan. She said the use of Messick’s and Affleck’s emails, which occurred months before the first story broke about Weinstein on Oct. 5, prove that “Weinstein was on a fishing expedition to target and coerce potential witnesses.” Messick’s former assistant, Anne Woodward, also supported McGowan’s claim to The New York Times in October.
“It is an affront not only to Rose but to the hundreds of women who have come forward with their stories of harassment, sexual abuse and rape perpetrated by Mr. Weinstein and those like him,” the statement continues. “This is a sad, pathetic old-fashioned sexist attempt to undermine obvious truth and the gaslighting will no longer be tolerated. The ‘performance’ is him and his complicity machine, and they are bad actors.”
McGowan has been making the press rounds to promote her new memoir, Brave, and E! docuseries Citizen Rose, with each containing details about the alleged assault. Both launched on Tuesday.
Read McGowan’s statement in full below.
Yesterday’s statement from Mr. Weinstein and his attorney Ben Brafman unequivocally proves a continued attempt to malign, smear and “slut shame” Rose McGowan. It is an affront not only to Rose but to the hundreds of women who have come forward with their stories of harassment, sexual abuse and rape perpetrated by Mr. Weinstein and those like him. This is a sad, pathetic old-fashioned sexist attempt to undermine obvious truth and the gaslighting will no longer be tolerated. The “performance” is him and his complicity machine, and they are bad actors.
Mr. Weinstein has used his power to violate Rose in all too many ways, even resorting to proven espionage tactics in attempt to cover up his crimes. The statement released yesterday by the retrograde lawyer also clearly proves Mr. Weinstein was on a fishing expedition to target and coerce potential witnesses three months prior to when the first allegations of rape surfaced in the media. Furthermore, the email “evidence” presented from Ben Affleck and Rose’s former manager, Jill Messick, dated from July of last year has already been disproven – by Affleck himself on the Today Show in a statement of support for Rose (“I believe Rose, I support her”) in November of 2017 and by Ms. Messicks‘ then-assistant Anne Woodward as reported in the New York Times last October. These crimes have also been investigated thoroughly by the paper of record, the New York Times, as well as the New Yorker’s incredibly detailed coverage by Ronan Farrow.
Mr. Weinstein’s attempts to discredit Rose is part of his 20 year long campaign to silence her, clearly proving he IS the monster so many women have described him to be.
Like so many other #MeToo’s, Rose will continue to push back at ingrained thought and a corrupt power structure. She will not be commenting further. The truth can be found in her work: BRAVE the book, it can be found in the rawness of Citizen Rose and in the music, lyrics and emotion of Planet 9. It is time true voices were heard and it is time for the lies to stop.
