Meryl Streep wants the world to know she is not in Harvey Weinstein’s corner.
Earlier this week, it was reported that the disgraced movie mogul was seeking to have the sexual misconduct class action lawsuit against him thrown out in court. As part of his defense, Weinstein cited several big-name actresses in attempt to discredit the slew of allegations against him. His legal filing pointed to flattering quotes by Jennifer Lawrence and Streep:
These proposed class definitions are fatally overbroad as to be not ascertainable. As drafted, they would include all women who ever met with Weinstein, regardless of whether they claimed to have suffered any identifiable harm as a result of that meeting. Such women would include, presumably, Jennifer Lawrence, who told Oprah Winfrey she had known Weinstein since she was 20 years old and said “he had only ever been nice to me,” and Meryl Streep, who stated publicly that Weinstein had always been respectful to her in their working relationship.
Of course, Streep wasn’t okay with this.
On Wednesday, the Oscar-winning actress issued a blistering statement against Weinstein, calling his argument “pathetic and exploitative.”
“Harvey Weinstein’s attorneys use of my (true) statement—that he was not sexually transgressive or physically abusive in our business relationship—as evidence that he was not abusive with many OTHER women is pathetic and exploitive,” she said in a statement to Deadline. “The criminal actions he is accused of conducting on the bodies of these women are his responsibility, and if there is any justice left in the system he will pay for them—regardless of how many good movies, made by many good people, Harvey was lucky enough to have acquired or financed.”
To put it simply, Harvey: Keep Meryl’s name out of your mouth.
