Harvey Weinstein is hitting back at Rose McGowan‘s rape claims — and it seems he has Ben Affleck in his corner.
On Tuesday, the disgraced Hollywood heavyweight’s lawyer dropped a statement denying the Charmed alum’s sexual assault claims against Weinstein. This denial comes just after Rose’s Good Morning America interview, where she called for actual criminal charges to be made against the controversial filmmaker.
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In a statement to Us Weekly, attorney Ben Brafman wrote:
“As a general matter, Harvey Weinstein and his attorneys have refrained from publicly criticizing any of the women who have made allegations of sexual assault against Mr. Weinstein despite a wealth of evidence that would demonstrate the patent falsity of these claims. Watching the ‘performance’ by Rose McGowan as she looks to promote her new book however, has made it impossible to remain quiet as she tries to smear Mr. Weinstein with a bold lie that is denied not only by Mr. Weinstein himself, but by at least two witnesses, including Ms. McGowan’s own Manager at the time who Ms. McGowan claims to have confided in the day after the alleged assault and an A-list actor Ben Affleck who Ms. McGowan claims to have also told about her encounter with Mr. Weinstein shortly after the incident she now describes as ‘rape,’ but which in 1997 she described to her Manager as a ├óΓé¼╦£consensual’ act of sex.”
As you may recall, McGowan alleges she was paid a $100k settlement by the producer after he supposedly lured her to his hotel room and assaulted her in 1997. Per Rose, after talking for a bit, Harvey pushed her into the bathroom, pulled off her clothes, and performed oral sex on her while he pleasured himself.
Following this alleged encounter, Rose has previously stated that she confided in then manager Jill Messick and Phantoms costar Affleck. McGowan has stated that the Oscar winner informed her he “told him to stop doing that.” Both Messick and Affleck have come out and denied Rose’s recollection of these conversations.
In fact, while Jill claims Rose did tell her about a consensual interaction with Weinstein, Ben has straight up denied knowing anything regarding Weinstein and McGowan’s relations. On Messick’s stance, Brafman shared:
“In an email to Mr. Weinstein regarding the encounter, Jill Messick says the following, ├óΓé¼╦£When we met up the following day, she hesitantly told me of her own accord that during the meeting that night before she had gotten into a hot tub with Mr. Weinstein. She was very clear about the fact that getting into that hot tub was something that she did consensually and that in hindsight it was also something that she regretted having done.'”
As for Jennifer Garner‘s ex’s denial, he wrote in one email to Harvey:
“She never told me nor did I ever infer that she was attacked by anyone. Any accounts to the contrary are false. I have no knowledge about anything Rose did or claimed to have done. Accounts otherwise are lies.”
This quote has been confirmed by Brafman and DailyMail.com. Understandably, this apparent Weinstein support has enraged Rose, who has since clapped back on Twitter:
to step on your fat neck for all time #HarveyWeinstein. I WILL SAY YOUR NAME. It is you whi did this to us. THIEF! And to all of you scoundrels aiding predators you are damned for the hurt you’ve caused. We reject your social lies. Name it. Shame it. Call it out. #CitizenRose
— rose mcgowan (@rosemcgowan) January 31, 2018
Fuck you you fucking douche bag loser from hell. You will burn. You will be an empty suit coffin. You go fall off the planet you fuck. #RoseArmy BREATHE FIRE let motherfucker but https://t.co/tJq4M5lwiH
— rose mcgowan (@rosemcgowan) January 31, 2018
BRAVE isn’t about you losers in 90210. You are simply examples; A common bacterial strain known as sociopath. And we are done with your lies. #Truth #Valor #Justice WE ARE CITIZENS and we will fight #RoseArmy
— rose mcgowan (@rosemcgowan) January 31, 2018
The 44-year-old industry vet is merely one of many women who’ve come forward to detail Weinstein’s three decades of sexual misconduct. The shamed movie maker has been ousted from his company, split from wife Georgina Chapman, and sought treatment in Arizona.
Nonetheless, we doubt we’ve heard the last from Harvey. Ugh.
[Image via Media Punch/WENN.]