Harvey Speaks: Harvey Weinstein’s On-Camera Interview
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I just wanted to say that I'm not angry, but I'm angry at the system. You know, my situation was transactional, you know, looking back at it. And I want to thank you, Candace, for giving me the opportunity to speak. I just want to say something very clearly. I believe women should be heard, but I'm wrongfully convicted. You know what I mean? And right now I'm not convicted. I'm on a retrial. I was my

an appeal overturn my conviction. But justice demands a clear, honest look at each case. And I am here for fairness and the truth. You know what I mean? You know, I made mistakes. There's no question about it. I hurt my family. I hurt my friends. I cheated on my wife. And that was a mistake.

you know, a terrible mistake. And I apologize to friends, family, all the innocent people who inadvertently I hurt and especially to the Messick family, Jill Messick and her family. But I did not commit these crimes. I swear that before God and the people watching now and on my family, I'm wrongfully accused, but justice has to know the difference between what is immoral and what is illegal. Oh,

People would say my complainants, you know what I mean? You know, I just, okay, I'm getting emotional. Everyone deserves a fair trial. Media doesn't favor me, but thanks to you, Candace, there's a voice out there and Joe Rogan and uses every opportunity, the mainstream media to discredit me. But I speak for innocent people.

Justice has to matter. Evidence has to matter. I've lost everything. You know what I mean? I've lost everything a man can lose, but still the truth matters. I've been condemned of crimes I did not commit. I understand why people want someone to blame, but I am telling the truth. End of statement.

And the glasses. And they allowed me to wear a suit today, you know, as opposed to the last time I was in my T-shirt and pajamas. So they wanted me to wear a suit. So here it is.

Well, you look like you're hanging in there. And I got to tell you, since you've been in there, the media world has changed. Definitely, though, I think a world that you had a lot of power in, you can see the landscape has changed. And it's a good thing because podcasters like me can have a platform to take a look at situations like yours. And, you know, my

My audience is very aware of my opinion on this case. I've been very clear about that. I don't find a reason to lie. I said you were wrongfully convicted before it got overturned, and I believe you are wrongfully accused, not just in the New York case, but also in the L.A. case, which my audience is now up to date on. You know, Harvey, I obviously, because I very much agree with you, I think you are immoral and what you did was wrong, but you did not do anything that came close to what you were accused of under the law. I just want to just ask you,

What is it like to go from someone who commanded so much power amongst politicians and amongst celebrities and athletes? And overnight, virtually none of those people stood up for you or said, hey, I don't believe that this is right.

It's shocking. You know, the friends that stayed with me were my friends that I grew up with. The people that I knew before I was famous, before I had power, the people in my life who were steadfast all through my life were the ones who remain loyal.

Everybody was scared. You know, this looked like, you know, a witch hunt. Everybody was scared for themselves. Everybody was scared to be canceled. You know, somehow, you know, I wish this would have happened to somebody else because I had the courage to have fought on somebody else's behalf, but nobody fought on mine.

Do you know, Harvey, I have a long list of people who came out against you, but a very short list of who actually spoke out for you. One person in particular, which is quite stunning, a guy by the name of Luciano Garignani, an Italian director. He wore a homemade T-shirt in support of you in 2018 that said that you you were not guilty. That was the only person that I could find that vocally supported you when all of the heat was coming down on you in 2018.

He's a terrific director. And, uh, um, and that's, I'm very much appreciate it. But the people who support me are scared to talk. They are frightened to death. They are frightened that they're going to be canceled, that they're not going to be able to work. You know, I try to get, you know, my, you know, people to stand up and even testify in the trial and, um, nothing, you

You know, that thing. And jumping into that, by the way, some of the names, there were people who I think remained silent for that reason that you're saying is they were fearful of being canceled. But some people took it upon themselves to come out and actually condemn you and to say awful things about you. And.

And people, the media was obsessed with speaking about Gwyneth Paltrow. I don't know if you know this. She went on Howard Stern and basically made a very strong statement against you and said that Brad Pitt had to effectively rescue her from you and stand up to you because you made her feel so uncomfortable. We had one instance in a hotel room where he tried to where he made a pass at me.

And then I really kind of stood up to him. I told my boyfriend at the time, Brad Pitt, Brad Pitt. We were at a,

The opening of Hamlet on Broadway that Ralph Fiennes was in Hamlet and Harvey was there and Brad Pitt, it was like the equivalent of throwing him against the wall, you know, energetically. What he did was he leveraged his fame and power to protect me at a time when I didn't have fame or power yet. Right. Wow. It moves you. Yeah.

It was it was fantastic. He said, if you ever make her feel uncomfortable again, I'll kill you or something like that. It's a complete fabrication, you know, about my relationship with Gwyneth. You know, I'm going to talk about it and just say that I had a meeting with her.

You know, she originally was scheduled to do Woody Allen's Everyone Says I Love You. Thank God I was distributing that movie as well. And I managed to substitute Drew Barrymore for Gwyneth so that Gwyneth could play Emma. And Woody Allen did us a real favor by doing that because we were scheduled to shoot Emma and I wanted Gwyneth for the role.

at the end of the meeting we had a glass of champagne i as i was walking out the door i said to her i'd love you to give me a massage and she went yeah and you know that was it i didn't put my hand on her i didn't touch her i definitely made a pass i guess you know you could call it that but that was the sum total of that situation she did have brad call

Call me and Brad. Very manly. Very cool. Just said, don't do that again. And that was that. We made 11 movies together. Classic films. Shakespeare in Love. Talented Mr. Ripley. Sliding Doors. Just,

Just so many great movies and such a great partnership. And now I heard, you know, that she thought the relationship was abusive. Anybody who was there who witnessed that relationship, it just turned into total friends. There's pictures of her hugging me.

When I was sick, when I was sick in the hospital and didn't think I was going to make it in 1999, Gwyneth at the Golden Globe said, Bomber, we miss you. She got up and made a speech about me. Nobody asked her to do that. In her Academy speech, she thanks me. She's the daughter of a wealthy TV host.

TV producer, a great man, and Blythe Banner, a great actress with Steven Spielberg as her godfather. She doesn't have to do, she could have just said, Harvey asked me for a massage. I'm never working for him again.

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Right. And that's one of the things that I was very compelled in speaking with you. And obviously, you and I have spoken many times off record. You're very honest. Every time I ask you a question about any actress, you tell me exactly what happened. And it's interesting because what you're speaking about was what I always found to be problematic about the Me Too movement from the beginning is we're conflating. He made a pass at me and I didn't like it. Right. Or, you know, I turned him down. Right.

Or maybe I had a bad date with someone with rape. And this is very problematic. And sure, she can say that. I didn't like that he made a pass at me. But to jump on a train when people are saying I've been raped, I think it's irresponsible for women to do that. I really do think it's irresponsible for people to be conflating being hit on and not liking it, which you've admitted to. And I've been raped.

And no question about it, it's all conflated and it's all led to the idea that I am going to be the one they prosecute. I am going to be the one they persecute. Look, when the case was overturned, they could have dropped it, but they didn't. You know, they just went after me one more time.

and added somebody to it. But, you know, I can't talk about the case. I can just, you know, talk to you about the things that you need to talk to me about. Right. And I totally understand that. I'm not going to push you on that because that's probably what you're doing. But one thing I do want to say is I've asked to have lie detector tests brought into the prison.

And I already took a lie detector test on Jessica Mann. And I scored in the highest level, you know, that one can do for honesty about not sexually assaulting her or raping her, you know, and I want to do lie detector tests on the others. I know they're not admissible, but I want the world to know that I did that. And I hope the women would just take me up on the challenge and say, okay, we'll do it too. But I doubt they will, but I will.

Yeah. And I think that was one of the things that stunned me is that they didn't report a lot of this stuff in the press. And when I looked at this case and I said, if you're a journalist and you're just interested in anything, why would you leave out these big details? He passed a lie detector test. The things that the court was not allowing to be shown as proof of your innocence in the courtrooms were something that also stunned me, particularly involving the L.A. case, which I fully expect to similarly be overturned.

it definitely looked like the Me Too movement got so big that they needed to sort of hang somebody. You know, somebody's got to die so that we can move on and think that we've achieved social justice. And I think that that somebody was definitely you. 100%. You know, they wanted me and they wanted me in jail forever.

Yeah. And it's it's quite stunning because I think now and maybe you recognize this, the Me Too movement is on its way out if it's not officially gone now and people are willing to sort of look and examine the facts of this case. And I'm wondering if a lot of these celebrities, I was giving an example here, Seth Rogen came out when things were happening between you.

happening with you. And he said, I believe all women coming forward about Harvey Weinstein's sexual harassment. It took bravery to do so. Such a blanket statement to just say, I believe all women. That was kind of what was being said in 2017 and 2018. Like women have never told a lie.

You know, um, I, I can, you know, Seth, you know, and I made a movie together called Zach and Miri make a porno. It was a Kevin Smith film and it didn't do well. And I think, you know, sometimes you blame the producer or the distributor. And in this case, they blame me. And, uh, it was a good movie and I wish I could have marketed better, but I couldn't find the handle on it. And, uh, uh,

Um, so I think there was never, there was always animosity between Seth and myself. So given the opportunity, he took a shot at me and, you know, so be it. But I hear he's doing great work on this, you know, uh, I read about, you know, that he's doing amazing work on this TV series. He has called the studio and he's an extremely talented individual, but you know, I was a sitting duck.

Yeah. And look, a lot of these people, I think it was step on his head while he's drowning and it will help you. And I'm sure their PR agents were saying, you don't want to get caught up in this. Make the right statement or you're going to get burned by this. But like I said, some people took it, I think, a bit further. You and I had discussed and I don't know if we want to talk about this, but, you know, Brad Pitt kind of got involved in a Me Too project after this, kind of got involved in a Me Too move me a movie, so to speak, helping to produce one. And you and him had a very close relationship.

Well, I wouldn't say it was close, but it certainly was friendly. And I guess his company produced, she said, the New York Times writers and and they produced the movie. And I can, you know, I.

You know, I just, when it came out, you know, obviously I was concerned, but it bombed so badly. There was no interest in it. It grossed two and a half million. It was a $30 million movie, something like that. Or maybe that between advertising and the cost of the film and the movie grossed two and a half million dollars this opening weekend, which is disaster.

I think it went on to gross four or five million dollars. So maybe it showed there's no interest in me, but there certainly was no interest in the case. And the New York Times, you know, those writers, I have read something that is so explosive and such a bombshell that a young writer named Clark Patterson, conservative,

you know, with a guts to write an article about what happened to me at the New York times, a detailed point by point article showing that, that there was no reporting that they were taking dictation. When they said, she said they meant it. She said, we wrote it down. We never checked it. Rose McGowan said, you know, I, I don't,

donated money to an organization. They never checked, you know, that she did that, you know, uh, they never checked, you know, the, these different things and followed up on and did the research before they wrote the article. Ashley Judd's claims are, you know,

Ridiculous. I stood in a hotel room. I never touched her, came on to her, nothing ever. You know, I fought for her. They said I banned her on a movie. I fought for her on Good Will Hunting and I lost that battle. I thought she would have been fabulous in that movie. And I think she would have gotten an Oscar nomination. But, you know, people forget.

All it is, is research. There's an article in the Washington Post. If you Google Ashley Judd and Harvey Weinstein and said that Ashley Judd gushed all over me at the English patient Oscar party, there's a picture of me holding her hand. And when she went on TV, she said, see, he's pulling me. He's pulling me. I was just holding her hand, pushing her into the party, you know, bringing her in. But, you know, but.

Diane Sawyer and those people at that time, you believed it because everybody believed those people, you know, at that moment, you know, the New York times believe no research, no research whatsoever. I hope this article blows the whole place up, you know, and, uh, and, and, and that the Pulitzer prize people reconsider. You know, Harvey, I think it's,

perhaps more sinister than you even think because this is... We're similarly following a case with Blake Lively and it is a case of, she said. The New York Times, I think, even worse than that, they wanted to go after this guy. They had friends at the New York Times. The exact same woman who won a Pulitzer, one of the three people who won a Pulitzer for taking you down, Megan Toohey, was the one who wrote this piece about Justin Baldoni. And I...

When we got the full details, gratefully, Brian Friedman, and this would have been my legal strategy had I been your lawyer, just dropped every possible detail for the public to be able to read. It is incredible.

But I think personally, there should be laws. A journalist should have to go to prison. I mean, if you're putting people in prison on the basis of what you write, it just would follow to me that somebody would have to suffer the consequence of lying. These are lies by omission and painting people as, you know, sexual harassers or worse than that, rapists, because you're maybe doing a solid for your friend, which is what it's looking like The New York Times was doing for Blake Lively and Ryan.

And perhaps bigger people behind them. Have you considered the angle, Harvey, that these are big bosses, WME bosses are the people who want to buy a piece of your company? Have you made somebody angry? I think that there might have been something more behind the takedown of you because I can't comprehend it. It just doesn't make sense to me. Well, I don't know. I think, you know, I'm.

with the new york times you know i think the relationship was always rocky because i wanted you

you know what I mean, the New York Times to cover the things that I wanted. And I wanted the New York Times not to cover some of the things too. So it was a back and forth relationship. And I, you know, on one level, I had a great relationship, you know, with the owner, but the owner of the paper, you know, has a firewall between him and the editorial. My, you know, there were editorial back and forth. I guess they didn't like me and they wanted me and I was a good target for them.

How do you think she then won a Pulitzer? That's what's stunning to me. It kind of makes the entire system fraudulent because to win a Pulitzer, it has to be such detailed. You looked at every angle. You've explored every case. I mean, I barely looked at this case before I realized something was very wrong. And I thought you were guilty, by the way, when you and I first got on the phone. I just said, I don't even remember what he was in prison for. But there were so many articles that surely somebody did the due diligence. Right.

And noticed that he was guilty or confirmed that. And it was, I mean, an hour reading into these transcripts. And I went, what's going on here? Well, this young man, Clark Patterson, has a detailed article coming out, which will detail piece by piece, you know, every name, every story, every person.

everything that they did and everything they didn't do as reporters. And it is a stunning piece. And I hear it's going to be published soon. I don't know where, you know what I mean? But I just heard through the grapevine. And I read a preliminary article. And, you know, I'm excited, you know what I mean, to have that out. I hope the New York Times restates its case so I can sue them for defamation.

Absolutely. And a question for you, Harvey, you know, somebody who's on the red carpet all the time, flying to premieres, flying private, commanding so much respect in the industry. What is a day in your life like now?