Meryl Streep and Rose McGowan. (Reuters)
After Rose McGowan had some not-so-kind words for fellow actress Meryl Streep over the disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, Streep has responded to the criticism with a lengthy statement of her own.
As previously reported, McGowan, who has accused Weinstein of rape, took issue with the idea that people like Streep would be wearing black to the upcoming Golden Globes as a silent protest against sexual misconduct in the industry.
“Actresses, like Meryl Streep, who happily worked for The Pig Monster, are wearing black @GoldenGlobes in a silent protest,” McGowan tweeted Saturday. “YOUR SILENCE is THE problem. You’ll accept a fake award breathlessly & affect no real change. I despise your hypocrisy. Maybe you should all wear Marchesa,” the fashion line of Weinstein's ex-wife, Georgina Chapman.
In a statement from Streep provided to Fox News, the 68-year-old star explained that McGowan seemed to think Streep kept her mouth shut all these years, which she claims she couldn’t have done given that she was completely unaware of what was going on.
“It hurt to be attacked by Rose McGowan in banner headlines this weekend, but I want to let her know I did not know about Weinstein’s crimes, not in the 90s when he attacked her, or through subsequent decades when he proceeded to attack others. Streep wrote. “I wasn’t deliberately silent. I didn’t know. I don’t tacitly approve of rape. I didn’t know. I don’t like young women being assaulted. I didn’t know this was happening.”
Streep went on to explain that her relationship with Weinstein over the years was strictly business. She said he neither accosted nor harassed, and she never had her career threatened like so many others who have come forward with accusations and stories about his misconduct. As for her relationship with McGowan, Streep claimed she gave the actress her home phone number and waited patiently for her to call so that they could clear up any misconceptions. However, she says McGowan has yet to reach out.
“I hoped that she would give me a hearing. She did not, but I hope she reads this. I am truly sorry she sees me as an adversary, because we are both, together with all the women in our business, standing in defiance of the same implacable foe: a status quo that wants so badly to return to the bad old days, the old ways where women were used, abused and refused entry into the decision-making, top levels of the industry. That’s where the cover-ups convene. Those rooms must be disinfected, and integrated, before anything even begins to change.”
While McGowan has yet to comment on Streep's response, she has walked back part of her statement against her. The star apparently regrets her final line, in which she suggests Streep wear clothes from Marchesa. As previously reported, McGowan has taken shots at both Chapman and her friend Alyssa Milano arguing that the former must have known about her ex-husband's misconduct and kept silent.
"The Marchesa line was beneath me and I'm sorry for that. Seeing that picture of Alyssa Milano with GC has ignited something in me that I can't quite articulate. There is no map for this road I'm on, I will f--- up. Peace be with you, go with Goddess."
You can read Streep’s full statement below:
“It hurt to be attacked by Rose McGowan in banner headlines this weekend, but I want to let her know I did not know about Weinstein’s crimes, not in the 90s when he attacked her, or through subsequent decades when he proceeded to attack others. I wasn’t deliberately silent. I didn’t know. I don’t tacitly approve of rape. I didn’t know. I don’t like young women being assaulted. I didn’t know this was happening.
I don’t know where Harvey lives, nor has he ever been to my home.
I have never in my life been invited to his hotel room.
I have been to his office once, for a meeting with Wes Craven for “Music of the Heart” in 1998.
HW distributed movies I made with other people.
HW was not a filmmaker; he was often a producer, primarily a marketer of films made by other people- some of them great, some not great. But not every actor, actress, and director who made films that HW distributed knew he abused women, or that he raped Rose in the 90s, other women before and others after, until they told us. We did not know that womens’ silence was purchased by him and his enablers.
HW needed us not to know this, because our association with him bought him credibility, an ability to lure young, aspiring women into circumstances where they would be hurt.
He needed me much more than I needed him and he made sure I didn’t know. Apparently he hired ex Mossad operators to protect this information from becoming public. Rose and the scores of other victims of these powerful, moneyed, ruthless men face an adversary for whom Winning, at any and all costs, is the only acceptable outcome. That’s why a legal defense fund for victims is currently being assembled to which hundreds of good hearted people in our business will contribute, to bring down the bastards, and help victims fight this scourge within.
Rose assumed and broadcast something untrue about me, and I wanted to let her know the truth. Through friends who know her, I got my home phone number to her the minute I read the headlines. I sat by that phone all day yesterday and this morning, hoping to express both my deep respect for her and others’ bravery in exposing the monsters among us, and my sympathy for the untold, ongoing pain she suffers. No one can bring back what entitled bosses like Bill O’Reilly, Roger Ailes, and HW took from the women who endured attacks on their bodies and their ability to make a living.. And I hoped that she would give me a hearing. She did not, but I hope she reads this.
I am truly sorry she sees me as an adversary, because we are both, together with all the women in our business, standing in defiance of the same implacable foe: a status quo that wants so badly to return to the bad old days, the old ways where women were used, abused and refused entry into the decision-making, top levels of the industry. That’s where the cover-ups convene. Those rooms must be disinfected, and integrated, before anything even begins to change.”
Trending
Who's making headlines in television, music, movies and more from Hollywood to the Heartland.