Representatives for Harvey Weinstein announced today that the disgraced movie mogul is now suing the company he helped build—but only for its own good, of course. According to Deadline, Weinstein launched a lawsuit earlier today, asking a judge to order The Weinstein Co. to grant him expedited access to his company email accounts, which he was locked out of when he was removed as its leader three weeks ago, shortly after numerous sexual harassment and assault allegations against him began to come to light.
Weinstein is claiming that his email account contains documents that “contain information exonerating him, and therefore the Company, from claims that may be asserted against him or the Company,” presumably related to the now-dozens of women who have come forward to condemn him for his alleged behavior over the last few weeks. (Those would have to be some pretty good fucking emails, is all we can say to that.)
Really, though, Weinstein is only doing this to keep his old corporate home safe, and not because he’s desperately trying to save his hide as the wave of denunciations spread, and various police organizations pursue investigations related to the public charges against him. After all, it would be a real tragedy if The Weinstein Co. ended up making any “unjustified settlements” with any of Weinstein’s “alleged” victims, when Harvey’s certain that a few unseen emails will easily absolve him of the decades-long, systemic pattern of harassment, abuse, manipulation, and rape that’s been alleged by more than 50 women.
On a related note, The Weinstein Co. is currently being sued for $5 million by an actress accusing its board of knowing about Weinstein’s behavior, and failing to intervene. The company was also recently subpoenaed by the New York attorney general as part of a possible future case.