The lawyer of disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein has claimed his client's been misquoted as saying he offered sex in exchange for acting roles.
In the former Hollywood mogul's first ever interview since over 75 women accused him of sexual assault and harassment, he denied the allegations to The Spectator while reportedly defending his position.
He's written as telling journalist and friend Taki Theodoracopulos: “You were born rich and privileged and you were handsome. I was born poor, ugly, Jewish and had to fight all my life to get somewhere. You got lotsa girls, no girl looked at me until I made it big in Hollywood.
“Yes, I did offer them acting jobs in exchange for sex, but so did and still does everyone. But I never ever forced myself on a single woman.”
Ben Brafman, Weinstein's lawyer, has now come forward with claims his client was misquoted in what he calls “a social meeting between old friends” as opposed to an interview.
“Harvey and Taki did not discuss the case, nor would I allow him to,“ he said. ”We talked about old Hollywood and the contrast to European culture, and I think Taki sees Harvey in that older light. Mr Weinstein never said anything about trading movie roles for sexual favours. You have my word that Harvey did not say that.”
Theodoracopulos has since admitted his "mistake" to CNN saying he potentially misrepresented words spoken by Weinstein.
“I believe that I may have misrepresented Harvey Weinstein’s conversation with me in New York last month,” he said. “I[t] was my mistake. We were discussing Hollywood and I may have misunderstood certain things about the methods of that place. I had nothing to do with the headline of my article and I hope I have not damaged his case. [I]t was, after all, a social visit.”
It was recently confirmed that Weinstein faces life in prison on multiple charges of sexual assault. He turned himself into authorities last month and was released on $1m bail. More charges are expected as he's investigated by federal prosecutors, the Los Angeles police department and police in the UK for numerous alleged assaults.
At the time of writing, Weinstein's "misquoted" remark remains in The Spectator's headline.
