After Harvey Weinstein’s attorneys used Meryl Streep’s name and one of her statements to argue for the dismissal of a sexual misconduct class action lawsuit against the producer, The Post actress on Wednesday hit out at their actions.
“Harvey Weinstein’s attorneys’ use of my (true) statement – that he was not sexually transgressive or physically abusive in our business relationship – as evidence that he was not abusive with many OTHER women is pathetic and exploitive,” she said in a statement. “The criminal actions he is accused of conducting on the bodies of these women are his responsibility, and if there is any justice left in the system he will pay for them – regardless of how many good movies, made by many good people, Harvey was lucky enough to have acquired or financed.”
When allegations against Weinstein first came out in October, Streep had said that Weinstein had been respectful in their professional relationship. “Harvey supported the work fiercely, was exasperating but respectful with me in our working relationship, and with many others with whom he worked professionally,” the actress said at the time.
Weinstein’s lawyers quoted this in a motion filed to dismiss one of the lawsuits against the disgraced producer on Tuesday. The lawyers also argued that “that the women were restricted from pursuing their claims by statutes of limitation”
They contended that the class-action status of the lawsuit was invalid because that implied the the claims would apply to “all women who ever met with Weinstein, regardless of whether they claimed to have suffered any identifiable harm.”
Streep’s name came up in this context. “Such women would include...Meryl Streep, who stated publicly that Weinstein had always been respectful to her in their working relationship.”
Weinstein is currently facing more than 60 allegations of sexual misconduct, including actresses and his former employees.