In Angelina Jolie’s Guardian Weekend interview, she spoke in greater depth than she ever has before about Harvey Weinstein. Jolie was one of the first big-name celebrities to speak out about Weinstein – both Jolie and Gwyneth Paltrow spoke to the NY Times in the fall of 2017, confirming that Weinstein has sexually harassed them and attempted to assault them. Jolie worked with Weinstein-as-producer once, when she was 21, on Playing By Heart. She said, “It was beyond a pass, it was something I had to escape. I stayed away and warned people about him. I remember telling Jonny, my first husband, who was great about it, to spread the word to other guys – don’t let girls go alone with him.” She also said she was asked to do The Aviator but she turned it down because Weinstein was involved, and “It was hard for me when Brad” worked with Weinstein on Inglorious Basterds and Killing Them Softly.
Well, TMZ covered the quotes in their exploitative, accusatory way, and wouldn’t you know, both Brad Pitt and Harvey Weinstein decided to provide denials to TMZ:
6:10 PM PT — Weinstein, through his assistant, tells TMZ … “It’s very clear to me that this is for more sales on Angie’s BOOK. THERE WAS NEVER an assault, and NEVER an attempt to assault.” HW adds, “It is brazenly untrue and clickbait publicity. You’re Angelina Jolie, every male and female in the world, I’m sure, shows interest in you. Is the whole world assaulting you?”
3:12 PM PT — Sources close to Brad tell TMZ … he never “teamed up” with Weinstein for “Inglourious Basterds” — he was simply part of a movie that Tarantino directed, which happened to get distributed by TWC.
First, let’s talk about Brad – notice “sources close to Brad” don’t mention that he apparently sought out Weinstein as a producer on Killing Them Softly, which Jolie specifically referenced in her interview. And no, Brad doesn’t get to shrug off the Weinstein connection to Tarantino. Even Tarantino had to eat that – Weinstein was hands-on with Tarantino and QT’s films for 25 years. Weinstein shaped QT’s career and Weinstein was a huge part in all of the promotion and awards-campaigning for Tarantino’s films. Brad made a choice to not care about the association, even though both Jolie and Paltrow had told him what Weinstein did to them.
As for Weinstein… what a disgusting piece of sh-t. He’s basically saying that all he did was make a pass at Jolie. I believe HER. If she says she had to “escape” and that it was an attempted assault, then that’s what happened. Plus, that was his M.O. Luring women into enclosed spaces (offices or hotel rooms), locking them in and trying to rape them.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
