My Own Harvey Weinstein Experience

Townhall.com ^ | October 26, 2017 | Larry Elder

[Kaslin]

I knew of Harvey Weinstein, and I'd heard that he possessed the power to make or break careers, that he was bombastic and that he pushed people around. But that pretty much was the extent of it. After all, this is Hollywood, where only a small percent of would-be actors and actresses in the Screen Actors Guild earn enough to make a full-time living in their chosen profession. In this town -- and especially in the acting community -- anxiety is the norm.

A friend and former studio executive once invited me to a cocktail party he was hosting to celebrate some recent milestone of his entertainment-industry company. It was, at least at first, a quiet wine and cheese kind of affair.

Enter Harvey Weinstein.

My friend introduced me to him. Before I could respond, Weinstein said, "I know who you are. You're the guy who supports the war in Iraq. You know Bush lied us into it!" I decided to just ignore it. What an a--hole, I thought to myself. But Weinstein wasn't about to let it go. He repeated the accusation that Bush "lied" us into the war. Again, I acted as if I didn't hear it, until, that is, he said it again.

OK, it's on.

"A lie means an intent to deceive. OK, Harvey, how did he lie, Harvey?" I said loudly.

"Everyone knows he lied," he said.

"If everybody knows it," I said, "it should be easy for you to come up with a lie. Give me a lie, Harvey. One!"

He muttered something about "bad intel."

"Bad intel and lies are two different things, Harvey. You said 'lie.' Give me the lie!"

At this point, Weinstein turned and walked away. My friend, who had known Weinstein for years, said, "I've never seen anyone speak to Harvey that way." To which I said, "What's he going to do to me? Not put me in his next movie?"

Since that little party, Weinstein has been outed as a serial predator over a period of 30 years, with more than 50 women making accusations. According to The New York Times, "Mr. Weinstein has reached at least eight settlements with women, according to two company officials speaking on the condition of anonymity."

Successful screenwriter Scott Rosenberg, who credits the Weinstein brothers at Miramax for giving him his start, now shamefully admits, "Everybody knew."

In a recent Facebook post, Rosenberg writes: "Let's be perfectly clear about one thing: Everybody (expletive) knew. Not that he was raping. No, that we never heard. But we were aware of a certain pattern of overly-aggressive behavior that was rather dreadful. We knew about the man's hunger; his fervor; his appetite. There was nothing secret about this voracious rapacity; like a gluttonous ogre out of the Brothers Grimm. All couched in vague promises of potential movie roles. ...

"And to me, if Harvey's behavior is the most reprehensible thing one can imagine, a not-so-distant second is the current flood of sanctimonious denial and condemnation that now crashes upon these shores of rectitude in gloppy tides of (expletive) righteousness. Because everybody (expletive) knew. And do you know how I am sure this is true? Because I was there. And I saw you. And I talked about it with you. You, the big producers; you, the big directors; you, the big agents; you, the big financiers. And you, the big rival studio chiefs; you, the big actors; you, the big actresses; you, the big models. You, the big journalists; you, the big screenwriters; you, the big rock stars; you, the big restaurateurs; you, the big politicians."

Incredibly, Weinstein's contract actually acknowledges his abusive behavior and seemingly expected it to continue. The entertainment news website TMZ writes that Harvey Weinstein's 2015 employment contract with The Weinstein Company calls for him to reimburse the company: "If he gets sued for sexual harassment or any other 'misconduct' that results in a settlement or judgment against TWC, all Weinstein has to do is pay what the company's out, along with a fine, and he's in the clear."

His contract required him to pay fines, writes TMZ, "'of $250,000 for the first such instance, $500,000 for the second such instance, $750,000 for the third such instance, and $1,000,000 for each additional instance.'

"The contract says as long as Weinstein pays, it constitutes a 'cure' for the misconduct and no further action can be taken. Translation -- Weinstein could be sued over and over and as long as he wrote a check, he keeps his job."

The Weinstein revelations have sparked a number of accusations against other prominent Hollywood figures -- and it might just be the tip of the iceberg.

Oh, and, sure enough, after my testy exchange with Weinstein at the cocktail party, when his next movie came out, I wasn't in it.

[Don Corleone]

" A Star is Born?." Believe it. They all knew and accepted it as a way of getting what they wanted.

[bagster]

I really like Larry Elder.

[sauropod]

Weinswine. ManPig.

[xzins]

I never met Harvey Weinstein but he harassed me too. Over the years he donated thousands to Hillary Clinton and that gave her the money to stay in the news. That forced me to see her regularly

That’s some kind of harassment. I don’t know what kind.

[WatchungEagle]

“My friend introduced me to him. Before I could respond, Weinstein said, “I know who you are. You’re the guy who supports the war in Iraq. You know Bush lied us into it!” I decided to just ignore it. What an a—hole, I thought to myself. But Weinstein wasn’t about to let it go. He repeated the accusation that Bush “lied” us into the war. Again, I acted as if I didn’t hear it, until, that is, he said it again.”

Harvey is right about that. Too bad all these old conservative leaders can’t let that one go. Bush knew that the intelligence was being cherry picked to support a pre-ordained conclusion because he set up a special group(Office of Special Plans) to do just that. He also knew that the real professional intelligence analysts were saying there was no real evidence. That’s a lie. Period. Bush deliberately mislead the American people.

The nation’s shift left that happened from 2006 on was largely the result of the American people wanting to punish Republicans and conservatives for the Iraq war. We have to learn that lesson.

[forgotten man]

“My friend, who had known Weinstein for years, said, ‘I’ve never seen anyone speak to Harvey that way.’ To which I said, ‘What’s he going to do to me? Not put me in his next movie?’”

Great comeback by Larry.

[Kaslin]

Best comeback ever.

[Kaslin]

And a big one

[Flycatcher]

That’s some kind of harassment. I don’t know what kind.

#Me too

[petercooper]

Every country in the world concluded that Saddam had WMD. The inspectors documented it. Saddam admitted it. He violated dozens of UN Resolutions over and over. Bush was the only one with a pair of balls to do something about it. alQueda flocked to Iraq from all over the world to fight the U.S. Military, and die. The Iraq war was won, and just needed several thousand troops to stay and maintain peace. Obama lost it for us when he pulled out.

Hindsight is 20/20.

[jaydubya2]

Me too. I’d never really listened to him until he recently got a time slot at a Chicago radio station. I look forward to hearing his opinions.

[Roman_War_Criminal]

I love Larry Elder!

[FES0844]

I do too!!!

[NormsRevenge]

Me Too. Yup.. Larry gets more airtime here than most hosts these days.

[onedoug]

I have to disagree. Bush lost it when he decided not to fight it...Like a war.

[WatchungEagle]

Totally false on every count. Other countries did not want the war. The US Federal government twisted arms to get other countries to make token contributions. The UK government got involved against the will of it’s people by the despicable Tony Blair.

The war fed al-Qaida as a global mass movement. It did more than anything in modern history to strengthen radical Islamic terrorists around the world.

Keeping troops in Iraq was not an option. The Iraqi government would not agree to it no matter what pressure was put on them.

Snap out of your delusional neocon dreams. Myself and many other conservatives saw the situation clearly from the beginning, warned against the war and accurately predicted the insurgency and the blowback(both in terms of increased terrorism and Democrats winning elections). Pat Buchanan and Ron Paul tried to warn conservatives like you.

Trump could not have won this election had he not denounced the Iraq war and its architects.

[SaraJohnson]

I don’t know if he lied or was misled about Iraq WMD.

I do know we had no reason to attack Iraq for 911 given the criminals were from Saudi Arabia. As far as I know, Saddam had nothing to do with it. Saudi Arabia has been exporting radical Islam for a long time.

[Liz]

Harvey Weinstein's 2015 employment contract with The Weinstein Company calls for him to reimburse the company: "If he gets sued for sexual harassment or any other 'misconduct' that results in a settlement or judgment against TWC, all Weinstein has to do is pay what the company's out, along with a fine, and he's in the clear."

This is going to bite back hard....b/c all the people that knew about this provision---even the lawyers who drew it up---are now material witnesses.

The moral vacuity and scummy depravity of Hollywood is writ large in such a provision....b/c nobody at the Winestein Company had the decency to notify L/E that crimes were being committed by this peckered monster.

They should be charged w/ aiding and abetting.

NOTE: A material witness is a person with information alleged to be material (solid and incriminating) concerning a criminal proceeding.

=========================================

ADDENDUM "The contract says as long as Weinstein pays, it constitutes a 'cure' for the misconduct and no further action can be taken. Translation -- Weinstein could be sued over and over and as long as he wrote a check, he keeps his job."

[Liz]

They also knew who ponied up bigtime for Clinton's lewinsky sex mess defense:

Herewith, for your edification, are the Certified Democrat Degenerates......the scum that vilify and destroy America's Judeo-Christian ethics and values in movies promoted as being "diverse, politically correct, and socially relevant."

HOLLYWOOD'S CERTIFIED DEMOCRAT DEGENERATES
FINACED BILL CLINTON'S LEWINSKY SEX MESS

According to FEC Info, an Internet Web site (www.tray.com) that tracks federal political contributions, 176 individual donors actually contributed $10,000 or more to the lewinsky-era Clinton Legal Expense Trust fund through Dec 1999. Another 21 donors gave $10,000 in the first six months of 2000.

Thanks to Hollyood's generosity, a total of more than $2.2 million was raised in six months, which was notably more than was collected in funding during the previous four years of his presidency—combined.

Hollywood producers and stars made up the bulk of the most generous givers. They included:

<><> Universal Studios tycoon Lew Wasserman and his wife, Edith, who have given $60,000;

<><>DreamWorks trio Steven Spielberg, David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg, $20,000 each;

<><> producer Ron Burkle and his wife, Janet, $40,000;

<><> producers Peg and Bud Yorkin, $30,000;

<><> TV producer Norman Lear, $20,000.

Entertainment celebrities and executives giving $10,000 included:

<><> singers Tony Bennett and Barbra Streisand;

<><> actors Michael Douglas and Tom Hanks;

<><> director Ron Howard; producer Gail Zappa;

<><>Black Entertainment Television founder Robert L. Johnson.

When Bill Clinton was at the height of the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal, Hollywood was by his side, offering donations for his legal fees, and one significant donor was a man who is now going through his own sex scandal—Harvey Weinstein.

Billionaire Harvey Weinstein raised $1,422,683 for federal candidates and political entities between 1990-2016. That’s small potatoes for his 27 years of rank Democratism, sucking up to feminism and upholding so-called abortion rights as he rampaged and assaulted young women. Adds up to about $5300 a year. Something tells me there are a lot of cash payments off-the-record being paid. (hat tip outpostinmass2)

Crunching the numbers as outpost did does give us a sharper look at the political money game as played by the conniving Clintons.

Harvey also gave a bundle to the nefarious tax-exempt Clinton Foundation and perhaps to offshoots of the Clintons tax-free entities.

Did Harvey's donations to the C/F go to "do-good projects"? Or did they make a circuitous route? Maybe landing back into the Clintons eternal political scams?

========================================

<><> How did the Hollyood elite list payments to Clinton's sex defense fund on their tax returns?

<><>How did the "DreamWorks" trio, Steven Spielberg, David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg, list their 60,000 dollars to Clinton's sex defense fund?

<><>How did BET list its contribution to Clinton on its corporate statements?

<><> Did Harvey's company list these payments as "business expenses?"

The biggie is the tax element.

<><> Did donors deduct it as a “business expense”,

<><> was it included in assets, payments listed on organization balance sheets as a "liability?"

<><> Did Clinton document it as "income"?

<><> Were the donors given a tax-free certificate from the Clinton Foundation?