Although most if not all famous Hollywood stars (Ben Affleck, anyone?) are pretending to be shocked and outraged by Harvey Weinstein’s horrendous behavior toward women, some prominent members of Hollywood’s elite are breaking rank. Case in point: screenwriter Scott Rosenberg, who says that everybody knew what Weinstein was up to… yet nobody did anything about it.
Why not, you ask? Simple: Because Weinstein had money and power. Not exactly a guy you want to mess with if you only care about your career and wealth.
Rosenberg has worked on films such as High Fidelity, Beautiful Girls, and 2018’s Venom. His first two films were distributed by Miramax, the company Harvey and Bob Weinstein founded. After HarveyGate broke out, this well-known and highly successful screenwriter wrote a Facebook post in which he claimed that “everybody f***ing knew.”
After publishing it, Rosenberg either removed it or made it private, but before he did so his post had already been read by journalists from Deadline and the New York Daily News. Money quote: “Let’s be perfectly clear about one thing: Everybody f***ing knew.”
Ouch.
Rosenberg explained:
Not that he was raping. No, that we never heard. But we were aware of a certain pattern of overly aggressive behavior that was rather dreadful. We knew about the man’s hunger; his fervor; his appetite. There was nothing secret about this voracious rapacity; like a gluttonous ogre out of the Brothers Grimm. All couched in vague promises of potential movie roles. (And, it should be noted: there were many who actually succumbed to his bulky charms. Willingly. Which surely must have only impelled him to cast his fetid net even wider.
Furthermore, Rosenberg wrote, the rumors of Weinstein’s sexual escapades were often discussed with “big producers,” “big directors,” “big agents,” “big financiers,” “big rival studio chiefs,” “big actors,” “big actresses,” “big models,” “big journalists,” “big screenwriters,” “big rock stars,” “big restaurateurs,” and even “big politicians.”
“I am eternally sorry,” he continued, “to all the women that had to suffer this…. I am eternally sorry. I’ve worked with Mira (Sorvino) and Rosanna (Arquette) and Lysette (Anthony). I’ve known Rose (McGowan) and Ashley (Judd) and Claire (Forlani) for years….Their courage only hangs a lantern on my shame. And I am eternally sorry to all those who suffered in silence all this time. And have chosen to remain silent.”
He ended with the following words that clearly came from his (guilt-ridden) heart:
So, yeah, I am sorry. Sorry and ashamed. Because, in the end, I was complicit. I didn’t say s—t. I didn’t do s—t. Harvey was nothing but wonderful to me. So I reaped the rewards and I kept my mouth shut. And for that, once again, I am sorry.
Although it’s obviously a good thing that Weinstein has now been exposed, Hollywood can’t even think about leaving this scandal behind. The public and Weinstein’s many victims have to know who knew what. Which journalists were informed of Weinstein’s behavior yet did nothing with that information? Which politicians gladly took his money knowing full well that the man was a serial women abuser?
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