After Defending Weinstein, Oliver Stone Hit With Sex Assault Allegations

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Innocent until proven guilty may still apply in a court of law, as it should, but given the overwhelming amount of sexual assault charges and evidence piling up against beleaguered studio chief Harvey Weinstein, perhaps sticking up for the guy isn’t the best look right now, if at all ever. Especially if the defense comes from a privileged white male director from a similar era when, as Weinstein wrote recently, “all the rules about behavior and workplaces were different.”

READ MORE: Quentin Tarantino “Stunned And Heartbroken” Over Harvey Weinstein Allegations

“JFK” director Oliver Stone recently demonstrated sympathy for Weinstein, the producer fired from his own company and besieged with allegations of harassment, assault, and even rape.

Stone, a controversial filmmaker whose recent works include sympathetic portraits of authoritarians like Hugo Chávez and Vladimir Putin, said at the recent Busan International Film Festival, “I’m a believer that you wait until this thing gets to trial. I believe a man shouldn’t be condemned by a vigilante system. It’s not easy what he’s going through, either. During that period he was a rival. I never did business with him and didn’t really know him. I’ve heard horror stories on everyone in the business, so I’m not going to comment on gossip. I’ll wait and see, which is the right thing to do.”

Much of Hollywood gasped in horror at the director’s comments and social media was quick to condemn the filmmaker for protecting Weinstein. This has, obviously, not turned out to be a wise decision on Stone’s part. Following his comments, actress and former model Carrie Stevens alleged that Oliver Stone groped her in the early 1990s.

“Two of a kind!,” she wrote on Twitter. “When I heard about Harvey, the first person I thought of was Oliver Stone,” and went on to elaborate more details in a Facebook post.

Patricia Arquette followed, sharing her own disturbing encounter with Stone. In a long Twitter thread, the Academy-Award winning actor described how the director had some unnerving motives when discussing a movie project with her, inviting her to a screening of “Natural Born Killers” in the ‘90s. Concerned about their interactions thus far, feeling “weird” about the invite, she brought her then-boyfriend to the screening.

“Why did you bring him?,” she remembered Stone asking. “I said ‘Why is it a problem I brought him? It shouldn’t be a problem. Think about THAT Oliver.’ The actress went on to say from that day forward she no longer heard about the project from him.

“What I am demonstrating is the craggy and uncertain terrain women negotiate in Entertainment and all businesses,” she added.

Arquette’s sister, Rosanna, who appeared in the Weinstein Company’s “Pulp Fiction,” is among the many actresses who have accused Weinstein of sexual harassment. Stone has not made any public comments since.

The charges against Weinstein haven’t lessened with more and more actors coming out to tell their story. Obviously, big stars like Meryl Streep, Quentin Tarantino, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jessica Chastain, Julianne Moore, and many more voiced their disgust and condemnation.

Most recently, Eva Green came forward and said Weinstein “behaved inappropriately” towards her. “I [was] shocked and disgusted…I had to push him off,” she said in a statement. Additionally, British actress Alice Evans has wondered in a very recent interview if turning Weinstein down affected the career of her and her husband Ioan Gruffud. These are just two of the latest women coming forward. Don’t expect the chorus of voices coming out against Weinstein to subside anytime soon as the fate of the company remains in question.