Comedians who confronted Harvey Weinstein 'downright rude': Rep
Outrage continued on Thursday by the comedians who faced repercussions for confronting Harvey Weinstein during a charity show to benefit suicide prevention.
The disgraced movie mogul was the unintended target during Actor’s Hour at the Lower East Side bar Downtime, which featured comedians, including Kelly Bachman and Amber Rollo, on Wednesday night. But as they furiously addressed the audience, and Weinstein himself, they too faced backlash.
Weinstein is due to stand trial in January for allegedly forcibly performing a sex act on a woman in 2006, and raping a different female victim in 2013 in a New York City hotel room.
Harvey Weinstein arrives to court in New York, Tuesday, June 5, 2018. Weinstein pleaded not guilty Tuesday to rape and criminal sex act charges. The hearing in Manhattan comes after a grand jury indicted the former movie mogul last week on charges in (AP)
His representative said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter the former film producer “was out with friends enjoying the music and trying to find some solace in his life that has been turned upside down.”
“This scene was uncalled for, downright rude and an example of how due process today is being squashed by the public, trying to take it away in the courtroom too."
Rollo, who has identifies herself as a rape survivor, took to Twitter following the statement’s release.
The dramatic evening has garnered attention on social media after video footage showed attendee Zoe Stuckless screaming at and about Weinstein.
WARNING: THE VIDEO BELOW HAS EXPLICIT LANGUAGE
Stuckless posted a video of the impassioned, even tearful confrontation to her Facebook page, in which she identifies herself as someone who “spoke up.” She was ultimately ordered to leave the bar. In a lengthy missive to her page, she wrote: "Tonight was one of the most surreal nights of my life."
"I went to an event called Actors Hour, whose mission statement is to empower emerging artists and to 'create an open space for creatives to share what they love.' After a while, a friend of mine pointed out a man sitting in a booth," she said. "It was Harvey Weinstein, surrounded by a cadre of young women and two bodyguards. He wasn’t hiding. He came to watch young artists be vulnerable on stage."
Stuckless wasn't certain the man was Weinstein, she said, until Bachman got to the stage.
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“I’m feeling a little tense, anybody else?” Bachman asked the audience, according to a video posted to her Twitter. The footage, she said, was recorded by an audience member named Anne Leigh Cooper. “I’m a comic and it’s our job to name the elephant in the room. Do we know what that is? It’s a Freddy Krueger in the room, if you will. I didn’t know that we’d have to bring our own Mace and rape whistles to Actors Hour.”
Bachman was booed by some, and one person even told her to “shut up,” but she continued.
“This kills at group therapy for rape survivors,” she continued. “They love it.”
In an earlier Twitter thread, Rollo added that she called Weinstein a “f------ monster” and told him he should "disappear.”
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“His friend/body guard [sic]/goon/family member called me a c--- and I really really wanted to lunge over the table and strangle him,” she added.
Downtime staff posted a statement to the bar's Facebook page to address the event and its surrounding controversy.
Weinstein's rep did not immediately respond to FOX Business' request for comment.
The remainder of the statement to The Hollywood Reporter states: "As an aside — Harvey in fact suggested the woman should be allowed to talk and ask him any questions. The venue’s personnel asked the woman to leave, not Harvey’s. I would just point out that he is being treated as if he has been convicted. Accusations are, in fact, not convictions. Due process is still the foundation of each and every one of our civil rights in this country. Please don’t lose sight of that definitive conviction when you write. Anyone should be allowed to be there if they are acting in accordance with the norms of the space. As for the name calling, it was 100 percent not anyone in HW’s employ and not someone speaking on HW’s behalf."