Harvey Weinstein continued to deny that he ever sexually assaulted any women during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter conducted from Rikers Island. When speaking to the publication, the convicted rapist maintained his innocence and claimed he may have “misled” the numerous women accusing him of assault.
“I cheated on both my wives. That’s immoral. But I did not assault them. That is the big lie of all of this,” he said. “I won’t apologize for something I didn’t do. I will be proven innocent. That I promise you.”
Nearly 100 women have accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct. Rosanna Arquette, who told The New Yorker in 2017 that Weinstein assaulted her at a hotel in the early 1990s, slammed the mogul’s ongoing denials in a statement posted to Instagram on Thursday. The actress wrote, “here are the facts: The assaults happened. The rapes happened.”
Arquette underlined how prior to his convictions, “the rapes and assaults were substantiated by investigative journalists at different legacy news outlets, passing the meticulous scrutiny of teams of lawyers and editors through a rigorous pre-publication process.” She reminded those reading that law enforcement agencies in Manhattan and Los Angeles conducted criminal investigations into the allegations, adding that once in the court room “facts and evidence” were presented and Weinstein was “given the full benefits of due process and was represented by the best attorneys his ample wealth could provide.”
She continued, “While his New York conviction was overturned due to procedural reasons, the jury did find him guilty; a re-trial found him guilty of one count of sexual assault. His California conviction stands, and he remains in prison.”
Arquette stressed the importance to remembering his convictions and how allegations were examined through a strict legal process when a “highly skilled storyteller, like Weinstein, is seeking to upend them (with a publicist by his side in prison, no less!).”
The actress also pushed back against the mogul’s claims that his accusers profited off their claims against him. “I never profited, nor was I ever compensated in any way, via lawsuit or settlement, by Harvey Weinstein or Disney or any other party with respect to my assault,” she said.
During Weinstein’s interview with THR, he claimed he never blackballed any actresses and that Arquette, Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie — who have spoken out against the mogul — “wanted to be part of the club” and that they “destroyed” him.
“I have never exaggerated my assault. Ever,” Arquette said. “There was/is no ‘club’ to belong to as a Harvey Weinstein assault survivor. Being a survivor of assault or rape is not a club. I can’t believe that has to be said.”
