Among others, Hillary Clinton, Bob Weinstein, the Walt Disney Company, and the powerful talent agency CAA, are all complicit in aiding and abetting Harvey Weinstein’s decades-long predations, according to the left-wing New York Times.
In the 7800 word exposé, the Times points the finger at pretty much every powerful left-wing institution in America. Naturally, though, the Times exempts itself, even though we now know the Gray Lady killed a story that would have blown the lid off of Weinstein in 2004.
Here are the lowlights…
Hillary Clinton
[T]wo prominent women said they warned Mrs. Clinton’s team. In 2016, Lena Dunham, the writer and actress, said she was troubled by the producer’s visible presence during Mrs. Clinton’s presidential run, hosting fund-raisers and appearing at campaign events.
[…]
“I just want you to let you know that Harvey’s a rapist and this is going to come out at some point,” Ms. Dunham said she told Kristina Schake, the campaign’s deputy communications director. She recalled adding, “I think it’s a really bad idea for him to host fund-raisers and be involved because it’s an open secret in Hollywood that he has a problem with sexual assault.”
[…]
Ms. Dunham said she also warned Adrienne Elrod, a spokeswoman for Mrs. Clinton who was leading efforts with celebrity campaigners. As far as Ms. Dunham could tell, the campaign had not responded to her concerns about Mr. Weinstein. Weeks before Election Day, the producer helped organize a star-packed fund-raiser: an evening on Broadway with Julia Roberts, Anne Hathaway and others.
Hillary supporter Tina Brown also says she warned the campaign. Both say nothing was done. Obviously, Weinstein’s chummy relationship with Clintons only added to his all-powerful aura.
CAA
Creative Artists Agency, the powerful Hollywood talent agency known as CAA, appears to have procured women for Weinstein to abuse.
“Agents and managers across Hollywood, who wanted in on Mr. Weinstein’s star-making films, sent actresses to meet him alone at hotels and advised them to stay quiet when things went wrong,” the Times reports.
The Walt Disney Company
Disney purchased Weinstein’s Miramax in 1993. For the next 12 years, brothers Harvey and Bob were Disney employees.
“Along with an impressive record of Oscars, Mr. Weinstein left Disney with a trail of settlements and claims of sexual misconduct that accumulated during his tenure,” the Times accurately reports, adding that Disney is being sued by one of Weinstein’s alleged victims because the company “knew, should have known or was willfully blind.”
Disney also claims to have known nothing about Mark Halperin and its own John Lasseter.
The Times further reports that “[P]roducer Sybil Robson Orr said that when she complained to Mr. Weinstein about falling short on a distribution deal, he berated her with vulgarities, pounding his desk and vowing to destroy her career, according to a 1996 lawsuit. Two Disney executives joined in the threats, she claimed.”
Bob Weinstein
Bob Weinstein, Harvey’s 30-year business partner, has repeatedly claimed he knew nothing about his brother’s alleged predations. The Times says Bob was directly involved in “at least three” sexual harassment settlements involving Harvey. The first in 1990 when a 23-year-old assistant accused Harvey of sexually assaulting her.
The Gossip Press
David J. Pecker, chief of tabloid publisher American Made (National Enquirer, Globe, OK!, Radar Online, Us Weekly, Star) had “particularly strong ties” to Weinstein, according to the Times, which frequently saved him from embarrassing stories being published.
American Media has acknowledged that it sometimes worked to gather information to help Mr. Weinstein because of mutual business interests. “To the extent AMI provided ‘off the record’ information to Mr. Weinstein about his accusers,” the company said in a statement, it did so “at a time when Mr. Weinstein was denying any harassment.”
A.J. Benza, a one-time gossip columnist for the left-wing New York Daily News, collected a monthly retainer. “I could supply your P.R. girls with a lot of gossip — a lot of stories — and if people come at them with the ‘Harvey’s having an affair story,’ they can barter,” Mr. Benza told Weinstein in 2003.
And it appeared to work. After 10 months a story about Weinstein’s extra-marital affair was never told.
Benza was again contacted just last fall after Weinstein caught wind of Ronan Farrow’s bombshell report on him:
Saying the magazine was “doing a Bill Cosby on me,” Mr. Weinstein asked for help, Mr. Benza recalled. He said he did not believe at the time that the studio chief had abused women, and despite feeling a debt of loyalty, would not have knowingly participated in a scheme to silence victims.
He said Mr. Weinstein suggested that Mr. Benza pose as an author “writing a hit job,’’ so he could call potential sources to learn what they were saying about the producer. Mr. Weinstein discussed paying Mr. Benza up to $20,000 a month and providing a list of contacts, Mr. Benza said, though the producer never followed through. Mr. Weinstein’s spokeswoman denied that he had proposed the scheme.
On top of that, Weinstein’s tentacles touched just about everywhere in media.
The Entertainment and Political Media
“The producer often held out business opportunities to those who covered him. He had book and movie deals with writers and editors at Fox News, The New York Post, Premiere magazine, Vanity Fair, Variety and elsewhere,” the Times reports.
In the early 2000s, the New Yorker and New York Times knew, but say they could not publish because the women would not come forward.
Mika Brzezinski of MSNBC fame also enjoyed a lucrative Weinstein book deal and claims she knew nothing until the story broke earlier this year.
Every one of our elites knew. And for the most selfish reasons there are, every one of our elites looked the other way. And the alleged victims just piled up higher and higher.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC. Follow his Facebook Page here.
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