Quentin Tarantino, Emma Thompson, Tom Hanks, Heidi Klum, more speak out about Harvey Weinstein
We’ve heard from the insensitive clods (and Lindsay Lohan, who just might not know any better) who have either tried to sweep the sexual assault allegations against Harvey Weinstein under the rug (again), blamed women for daring to be in the same room as men ever, and who think being a predator is a partisan issue (it’s really not). That list continues to get updated, because there are lots of terrible human beings out there, so we’ve decided to try to offset some of the worst takes with examples of people rightly denouncing Weinstein. Actors, regardless of whether they ever worked with Weinstein, are speaking up about his abuse of power, as well as all the contributing factors that let him get away with this for so long. Read on for a possible boost in your confidence in humanity, and note that we’ll probably be updating this, too.
Emma Thompson: Harvey Weinstein isn’t a sex addict, “he’s a predator.”
Emma Thompson gave a response to BBC Newsnight that is both incredibly sympathetic and galvanizing (frankly, we’d expect no less). The actor-director dispenses with British niceties and calls Weinstein a “predator” who is at the top of a “ladder of harassment, and belittling, and bullying, and interference.” Thompson thinks “the crisis of extreme masculinity,” and the fact that it’s “represented by the most powerful man in the world at the moment,” is a huge contributor to rape culture. And she doesn’t think someone needs to be a serial abuser or rapist to be called out: “Do they have to all be as bad as him to make it count? Does it only count if you really have done it to loads and loads of women, or does it count if you’ve done it to one woman? I think, the latter.”
A “stunned” Quentin Tarantino promises to speak on the Weinstein allegations publicly.
Tarantino and Weinstein have been friends for 25 years, the director notes in a statement he shared via Amber Tamblyn on Twitter. He’s “heartbroken” and in need of more time to process the whole thing, but says he’ll speak publicly on the matter.
Tamblyn, who’s taken on old creeps in Hollywood before, regularly voices her support for survivors, and has been tweeting about the Weinstein abuse since the news broke.
Ryan Gosling: Weinstein is “emblematic of a systemic problem.”
Points to Gosling for acknowledging how widespread the issue is, and for managing to show empathy for women without invoking either of his two daughters or his longtime partner, actress Eva Mendes.