Rowena Chiu speaks out in this exclusive clip from Catch And Kill: The Podcast Tapes
Ronan Farrow speaks to Harvey Weinstein's former assistant about a difficult meeting with his lawyers in this exclusive clip
Journalist Ronan Farrow’s shocking 2017 New Yorker article, along with Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey’s New York Times story, helped expose movie producer Harvey Weinstein’s sexual abuse of multiple women over the last three decades. Farrow chronicled the details of his investigation in the 2019 book Catch And Kill: Lies, Spies, And A Conspiracy To Protect Predators. He also recorded a podcast called Catch And Kill, in which he interviews some of his sources, including model Ambra Gutierrez and private investigator Igor Ostrovskiy, as well as fellow reporters Rich McHugh and Kim Auletta. HBO’s intriguing new docuseries, Catch And Kill: The Podcast Tapes, features footage of Farrow’s interviews as he tracks how his groundbreaking article came together.
As seen in this exclusive The A.V. Club clip from the upcoming third episode, “Assistants,” Farrow speaks with Rowena Chiu, a former assistant of Harvey Weinstein. She alleges that her employer attempted to rape her at the Venice Film Festival in 1998, only one month into her employment. She filed an official complaint and left the company, but was unable to secure any other job in the field due to Weinstein’s powerful position in the industry.
In the snippet, Chiu talks to Farrow about being left with no other choice but to settle with Weinstein, and the difficult meeting with the lawyers where it seemed like everyone was taking his side over hers. “It felt as though everybody acted to protect Harvey but very few people acted to protect us as young assistants and victims of a sexual assault,” she says.
Catch And Kill: The Podcast Tapes is directed by Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, with Farrow serving as one of the executive producers. Each of the six episodes shed light on the reporter’s step-by-step process of writing and publishing the story. “Assistants” will air on HBO and HBO Max on July 19. Catch And Kill: The Podcast Tapes air every Monday, with the season finale dropping on July 26.