Shortly after The New York Times published their explosive exposé on Harvey Weinstein in October 2017, in which it was revealed that the former movie mogul paid numerous settlements to women he had harassed or assaulted, actress Rose McGowan confirmed the paper’s story that she was one of his victims, and was raped by the executive at the Sundance Film Festival in 1997. McGowan has been one of the loudest voices speaking out against Weinstein, and used her own experience to encourage other women to come forward. Weinstein has denied every allegation against him so far, and is now offering evidence specifically in his defence against McGowan’s claims.
Weinstein’s lawyer, Ben Brafman, has emails from McGowan’s former manager Jill Messick and Ben Affleck, which counter the actress’ story. Communications from both Messick and Affleck were obtained before stories broke this fall from multiple outlets about Weinstein.
According to Brafman, Messick says in her email that McGowan “was very clear about the fact that getting into that hot tub was something that she did consensually and that in hindsight it was also something that she regretted having done.”
Meanwhile, in a email from Affleck to Weinstein dated from July 26th, the actor says, “She never told me nor did I ever infer that she was attacked by anyone. Any accounts to the contrary are false. I have no knowledge about anything Rose did or claimed to have done.”
The latter statement runs in stark contrast to McGowan’s story, as she says she told Affleck about the incident shortly after it happened. Adding a further complication, in November, the actor said on the “Today” show, “I believe Rose, I support her, I really like and admire her tenacity and wish her the best.”
Brafman calls McGowan’s story ” a bold lie,” which is a departure from Weinstein’s legal team using a blanket denial for all the allegations so far. McGowan has responded to the Weinstein’s legal team on Twitter, but has yet to specifically address the emails from Messick and Affleck. [Deadline]
Fuck you you fucking douche bag loser from hell. You will burn. You will be an empty suit coffin. You go fall off the planet you fuck. #RoseArmy BREATHE FIRE let motherfucker but https://t.co/tJq4M5lwiH
— rose mcgowan (@rosemcgowan) January 31, 2018