Weinstein used Hollywood power to rape, court hears

LOS ANGELES

Harvey Weinstein used his power and influence in Hollywood to rape women, leaving them terrified for their careers if they stood up to him, a court in Los Angeles heard on Oct. 24.

The movie mogul exploited both his physical size and his position as “king” of the film industry to attack his victims in hotel rooms, the prosecution said, as a two-month trial began to hear evidence.

“They feared that he could crush their careers if they reported what he had done,” Deputy District Attorney Paul Thompson told the packed courtroom.

Thompson said jurors would hear from eight women who were sexually assaulted by the “Pulp Fiction” producer, who is credited with making the careers of some of the movie industry’s biggest names, including Quentin Tarantino, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and Gwyneth Paltrow.

“Each of these women came forward independent of each other, and none of them knew one another,” he said.

The jury will hear testimony from these women, he said, including how they begged the now-70-year-old to stop, but that he persisted in raping them, forcing them to perform oral sex on him, or making them watch him masturbate.

Thompson played jurors a series of quotes from the alleged victims, describing Weinstein as “the most powerful person in the industry,” and “the king.”

“Part of me was thinking should I just make a run for it, but he’s a big guy,” one of the women told investigators.

“He’s big. He’s broad. He’s overweight. He’s domineering,” one said.

“I still wanted to work in Hollywood so I was afraid to do anything because of that,” one woman said.

In common with most victims of sexual assault, the women in the case are being referred to as “Jane Doe,” in order to preserve their anonymity, but one has been publicly identified as Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the wife of California governor Gavin Newsom.

Defending, Mark Werksman said the prosecution’s case was one of quantity, not quality, and driven by emotion, not reason.

He said sex in Hollywood was a commodity, and that this was all exploded by the advent of the #MeToo movement.

“It was transactional sex. It may have been unpleasant, and embarrassing... but it was consensual.

“It was the casting couch. Everyone did it. He did it. They did it. Because each wanted something from another,” Werksman said.

“Look at him. He’s not Brad Pitt or George Clooney. Do you think those beautiful women had sex with him because he’s hot? No. They did it because he was powerful.”