Beleaguered former film producer and mogul Harvey Weinstein pleaded not guilty to three recent additional sex crime charges in Manhattan Criminal Court in New York on July 2— two counts of rape and one first-degree criminal sex act charge—and he faces life in prison if convicted of all his crimes. And there seems to be no hope on the horizon.
READ MORE: Harvey Weinstein Could Face Life In Prison With Three New Sexual Assault Charges
The Weinstein Company is falling apart and has been sold to Lantern Capital, he brother Bob Weinstein is leaving the board of the Weinstein Company and the studio has begun laying employees off with more rounds likely to come.
Still, out on $1 million bail (cash), living on his oceanfront estate and moonlighting as a paralegal, Weinstein remains defiant and now giving out interviews to press he believes is sympathetic to his narrative.
He’s also going with the dubious strategy of: “yes, I’m a horrible person, and I did horrible things, but no I didn’t engage in any criminal activity or wrongdoing.”
In a just-released interview (two hours ago), Weinstein spoke to supportive columnist Taki Theodoracopulos from the Spectator USA. “He used to ring me via his assistants and make me wait on hold. It was normal; he was, after all, the biggest Hollywood tycoon of them all,” the author said, but apparently, Weinstein, trying to control his own narrative is reaching out to journalists on his own.
Cutting straight to the chase, Weinstein defended himself from the criminal accusations. “Yes, I did offer them acting jobs in exchange for sex, but so did and still does everyone. But I never ever forced myself on a single woman,” he said.
“I was born poor, ugly, Jewish and had to fight all my life to get somewhere,” he said with self-pity to the journo. “You got lotsa girls, no girl looked at me until I made it big in Hollywood.”
” Call me naïve or stupid, but in a funny way I believe him,” the columnist wrote, but one can’t help but think a Grand Jury will vehemently disagree.
Rose McGowan, who accused Weinstein of raping her last year, and has been at the forefront of the #MeToo movement, immediately responded to the Spectator article on Twitter, writing, “Rapists are liars. Being that I was in the middle of my second film for his company, having NEVER met him before the morning of my rape, and never worked for him again, this is a clear lie. Nice try, rapist.”
While facing damning charges in New York, the LAPD and U.K. police continue to investigate similar claims of sexual assaults in their jurisdictions which could yield even more indictments.