Harvey Weinstein Issues Response to Lupita Nyong'o's Sexual Harassment Claims
Harvey Weinstein has issued a response to Oscar-winning actress Lupita Nyong'o's harassment claims.
On Friday, Weinstein issued a written response to Nyong'o's New York Times op-ed detailing her nightmarish experiences with the disgraced producer. "Mr. Weinstein has a different recollection of the events, but believes Lupita is a brilliant actress and a major force for the industry," reads the statement. "Last year, she sent a personal invitation to Mr. Weinstein to see her in her Broadway show 'Eclipsed.'"
In the piece, Nyong'o discussed the pattern of Weinstein's predatory behavior toward her since she was still studying at the Yale School of Drama. One instance she shared was when Weinstein invited her to his home to screen a film with his family.
Before the movie ended, he insisted they leave the room together. What followed, as Nyong'o recalled, were more encounters over the next few years in which she had to assert her boundaries.
"Harvey led me into a bedroom — his bedroom — and announced that he wanted to give me a massage. I thought he was joking at first. He was not," Nyong'o wrote in the op-ed. "For the first time since I met him, I felt unsafe."
Nyong'o joins the long list of women who have come forward to accuse Weinstein of sexual assault, including Cara Delevingne, Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow and more.
Weinstein is currently being investigated by the London police, NYPD and LAPD over sexual harassment claims. More women continue to step out and tell their stories about Weinstein two weeks following the publishing of exposés about his grossly inappropriate behavior in the New York Times and The New Yorker.
The movie mogul gas since been expelled from the Film Academy and the Producers Guild. He was also fired from The Weinstein Company — a company he co-founded — earlier this month.