An alt-right artist in Los Angeles has confessed to creating posters that depicted Meryl Streep as a supporter of Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, The Guardian reported. Sabo, a former US Marine, said he had put up the posters with the help of two others as revenge for the actress’s criticism of American President Donald Trump.
The posters of Streep with Weinstein with the words “She Knew” on a red strip covering her eyes had cropped up in parts of Los Angeles on Tuesday. The posters insinuated that The Post actress was aware of Weinstein’s decades-long history of sexual assault, harassment and rape before the accusations were made public in October.
Sabo told The Guardian that the campaign was a response to Streep-starrer The Post. The movie chronicles The Washington Post’s coverage of the leaked Pentagon Papers in 1971, but its cast and critics have pointed out the film’s relevance in the Trump era. Streep had also criticised Trump during her acceptance speech at the 2017 Golden Globes.
“She’s swiping at us so we are swiping back,” Sabo said.
The posters were put up near Streep’s house, the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists’ headquarters and an office of the 20th Century Fox, the film studio that produced The Post. They were sighted a day after Streep issued a statement reiterating that she had no knowledge of the accusations against Weinstein, after actress Rose McGowan insinuated in a now-deleted tweet that she had kept silent all these years.
Sabo confessed that he does not know for certain if Streep enabled Weinstein’s crimes. “I wasn’t sitting in a room with her. I can’t say 100%,” he said. “But I’d say anyone in the [film] industry had a pretty good idea. I think she knew.” He went on to insinuate that Streep was “maybe she was providing Weinstein with the fresh meat”.
In an earlier interview to The Guardian, Sabo had described leftism as a “mental disorder”.