In case you somehow missed it, screenwriter Scott Rosenberg is no fan of Harvey Weinstein.
Last week, when news started breaking of the extent of Harvey’s crimes, Scott took to Facebook to have a rant about Hollywood and the culture of silence.
That whole ‘nobody knew’ line we’ve seen trotted out? Nah, the man who wrote Beautiful Girls and Things To Do In Denver When You’re Dead just isn’t buying it.
Below, via Slate, is some of that rant edited down for length:
Harvey and Bob made my first two movies.
Then they signed me to an overall deal.
Then they bought that horror script of mine about the Ten Plagues.
For a lot of money.
Also bought that werewolf-biker script.
That no one else liked but was my personal favorite.
They were going to publish my novel.
They anointed me.
Made it so other studios thought I was the real deal.
They gave me my career…So, yeah, I was there.
And let me tell you one thing.
Let’s be perfectly clear about one thing:Everybody-fucking-knew.
Not that he was raping.
No, that we never heard.
But we were aware of a certain pattern of overly-aggressive behavior [sic] that was rather dreadful.
We knew about the man’s hunger; his fervor; his appetite.
There was nothing secret about this voracious rapacity; like a gluttonous ogre out of the Brothers Grimm.
All couched in vague promises of potential movie roles.
(and, it should be noted: there were many who actually succumbed to his bulky charms. Willingly. Which surely must have only impelled him to cast his fetid net even wider).But like I said: everybody-fucking-knew.
And to me, if Harvey’s behavior is the most reprehensible thing one can imagine, a not-so-distant second is the current flood of sanctimonious denial and condemnation that now crashes upon these shores of rectitude in gloppy tides of bullshit righteousness.
Because everybody-fucking-knew.
I think by now you can gather the overarching message of his Facebook post – everybody knew. We’ll skip ahead to the end:
So, yeah, I am sorry.
Sorry and ashamed.
Because, in the end, I was complicit.
I didn’t say shit.
I didn’t do shit.
Harvey was nothing but wonderful to me.
So I reaped the rewards and I kept my mouth shut.
And for that, once again, I am sorry.But you should be sorry, too.
With all these victims speaking up…
To tell their tales.
Shouldn’t those who witnessed it from the sidelines do the same?
Instead of retreating to the cowardly, canopied confines of faux-outrage?
Doesn’t being a bystander bring with it the responsibility of telling the truth, however personally disgraceful it may be?You know who are.
You know that you knew.
And do you know how I know that you knew?Because I was there with you.
And because everybody-fucking-knew.
[source:slate]
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