Hollywood stars Matt Damon and Russell Crowe allegedly helped stop an article exposing Harvey Weinstein’s sex scandal from being published
FILM stars Matt Damon and Russell Crowe allegedly helped to kill a Harvey Weinstein exposé a decade ago.
They called writer Sharon Waxman as she prepared a story on the mogul in 2004.
The stars wanted to vouch for film executive Fabrizio Lombardo, who Sharon found had been taken on to deal with Weinstein’s “women needs”. There is no suggestion they knew of any wrongdoing.
But after the mogul visited the New York Times newsroom, Sharon’s piece was toned down and buried in the paper.
Sharon, now at The Wrap website, said: “I was devastated.”
Both Russell Crowe and Matt Damon starred in Weinstein produced films around the time of the allegations.
Crowe stared in the 2003 epic Master and Commander while Damon featured in The Brothers Grimm in 2005.
The Jason Bourne star and his pals Ben and Casey Affleck all owe a debt of gratitude to the disgraced producer after he championed Good Will Hunting which they starred in and wrote.
Meryl Streep – who once lauded Weinstein as ‘God’ – became the first to break cover and lambast him yesterday.
She praised the women who spoke out against him as “heroes” and added that she did not know about allegations involving him.
The Devil Wears Prada star said: “The disgraceful news about Harvey Weinstein has appalled those of us whose work he championed, and those whose good and worthy causes he supported.
“The intrepid women who raised their voices to expose this abuse are our heroes.
“The behaviour is inexcusable, but the abuse of power familiar. Each brave voice that is raised, heard and credited by our watchdog media will ultimately change the game.”
One of Weinstein’s alleged victims, Charmed’s Rose McGowan, last night hit out at Damon over the affair, tweeting: “What’s it like to be a spineless profiteer who stays silent?”
Rose, 44, also targeted his Hollywood pals Ben and Casey Affleck, tweeting them: “How’s your morning boys?”
Dame Judi Dench also condemned sex pest movie mogul Harvey Weinstein yesterday as other stars stayed resolutely silent.
The Oscar-winner, who once had a temporary tattoo of the words 'JD loves HW' on her bottom for a joke, said his behaviour was horrifying.
Several other actresses and showbiz women have claimed he made sordid sexual advances and discriminated based on their gender throughout his career.
Brit star Emma Thompson, who clashed with Weinstein over his verbal abuse of actress Hayley Atwell on the set of Brideshead Revisited, called him “a predatory man”.
Emma, 58, said: “Male predatory behaviour is everywhere, not just in the film industry.
“Speaking out is the only way we’ll tackle it.”
Fellow Brit Romola Garai also revealed that the Hollywood mogul left her feeling "violated" after an audition in his hotel room.
The actress, best known for Atonement, said: "Like every other woman in the industry, I've had an 'audition' with Harvey Weinstein, where I'd actually already had the audition but you had to be personally approved by him.
"So I had to go to his hotel room in the Savoy, and he answered the door in his bathrobe.
"I was only 18. I felt violated by it, it has stayed very clearly in my memory."
She told he often put desperate wannabe stars in "humiliating situations".
During the encounter she sat on a chair and the pair discussed film.
She added: "The transaction was just that I was there. The point was that he could get a young woman to do that, that I didn't have a choice, that it was humiliating for me and that he had the power.
"It was an abuse of power."
Yesterday Oscar winner Kate Winslet joined the fray writing in Variety: "The fact that these women are starting to speak out about the gross misconduct of one of our most important and well regarded film producers, is incredibly brave and has been deeply shocking to hear.
"The way Harvey Weinstein has treated these vulnerable, talented young women is NOT the way women should ever EVER deem to be acceptable or commonplace in ANY workplace.
"I have no doubt that for these women this time has been, and continues to be extremely traumatic.
"I fully embrace and salute their profound courage, and I unequivocally support this level of very necessary exposure of someone who has behaved in reprehensible and disgusting ways.
"His behaviour is without question disgraceful and appalling and very, very wrong.
"I had hoped that these kind of stories were just made up rumours, maybe we have all been naïve.
"And it makes me so angry. There must be ‘no tolerance’ of this degrading, vile treatment of women in ANY workplace anywhere in the world."
Glen Close, who worked with Weinstein on a number of occasions also chimed in, saying she had been "aware of vague rumours" for "many years".
The Fatal Attraction star said in a statement to the : "Harvey has always been decent to me, but now that the rumours are being substantiated, I feel angry and darkly sad.
"I'm angry, not just at him and the conspiracy of silence around his actions, but also that the 'casting couch' phenomenon, so to speak, is still a reality in our business and in the world: the horrible pressure, the awful expectation put on a woman when a powerful, egotistical, entitled bully expects sexual favours in exchange for a job.
"I applaud the monumental courage of the women who have spoken up.
"I hope that their stories and the reportage that gave them their voices represents a tipping point, that more stories will be told and that change will follow."
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