Having already exercised legal pressure against The New York Times—to the tune of a potential 7-figure lawsuit— over a piece it ran today, collecting decades-worth of stories from women who say he sexually harassed them over the years, Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein has now gone on the verbal offensive as well. Weinstein gave an interview earlier this evening to Page Six about the New York Times article, attacking the paper for what he called “reckless reporting.”
“What I am saying is that I bear responsibility for my actions, but the reason I am suing is because of the Times’ inability to be honest with me, and their reckless reporting. They told me lies. They made assumptions,” Weinstein said, claiming the paper’s reporters gave him just 24 hours to respond to the article’s numerous claims of improper behavior. He also says that the Times jumped to improper conclusions about the number of women he’s settled with; the paper’s writing cites at least eight settlements, all of which reportedly came with durable non-disclosure agreements. Weinstein responded by saying, “No company ever talks about settlements, and neither does the recipient, so I don’t know how the Times came to this conclusion, but it is pure conjecture, the reporters have made assumptions.”
According to The Hollywood Reporter—quoting pieces that don’t appear to be part of the current Page Six post—Weinstein also cited the fact that he’s appeared in public alongside, or worked with, both Ashley Judd and Rose McGowan in the intervening years as evidence on his behalf. Both women appear in the NYT piece, Judd on the record, and McGowan as one of the alleged settlers. Judd, for her part, issued a statement saying she stands by the reporting in the Times. McGowan, meanwhile, hasn’t named names, but she did tweet the following tonight, which—in conjunction with a series of tweets she posted last year, stating that she didn’t report a sexual assault “Because my ex sold our movie to my rapist for distribution”—seems like a clear expression of her feelings, alleged NDA or not.