Last week, allegations made public in The New York Times accused film mogul Harvey Weinstein of three decades of sexual harassment. On Tuesday, The New Yorker published its own expose on Weinstein's alleged actions, including detailed accounts of rape, assault, and Weinstein's own admission to groping a model in 2015.
Many of the women interviewed by The New Yorker offered eerily similar accounts of Weinstein's alleged abuse: As up-and-coming actresses, the women were uniformly afraid to reject Weinstein's advances for fear of how he might retaliate. Aspiring actress Lucia Evans told The New Yorker that she was lured to a meeting with Weinstein under the assumption that another woman would be sitting in, only to find herself alone with the executive. "At that point, after that, is when he assaulted me," Evans said. "He forced me to perform oral sex on him."
French actress Emma de Caunes also went on record to discuss Weinstein inviting her to his room, only to expose himself to her. "I was very petrified," recalled de Caunes, adding: "It was like a hunter with a wild animal. The fear turns him on."
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Italian model Ambra Battilana Gutierrez went to the police to report assault after Weinstein allegedly groped her breasts in a meeting. When Weinstein called asking her to meet him after the incident, police arranged for Gutierrez to attend the rendezvous wearing a wire to get an incriminating statement on tape. The recording, part of which can be heard at The New Yorker, includes Weinstein pressing Gutierrez to join him in his hotel room as Gutierrez clearly protests, saying "I want to leave" and "I don't want to." The case never led to any charges; Gutierrez eventually accepted a payment from Weinstein and signed a restrictive nondisclosure agreement.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Weinstein said: "Any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr. Weinstein." Read the full report at The New Yorker.
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