Quentin Tarantino, one of Weinstein’s most frequent collaborators, has admitted that he too knew of the film mogul’s alleged misconduct and regrets not doing more.
In an interview with the New York Times, Tarantino voiced shame in not taking a stronger stance: “I wish I had taken responsibility for what I heard,” he said. “If I had done the work I should have done then, I would have had to not work with him.”
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Weinstein and his brother Rob (now also the subject of allegations of sexual harassment) had helped to propel Tarantino to fame in the 1990s: their firm Miramax distributed both Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, the movies that made him a household name among moviegoers worldwide. They continued to work together for two decades, and Times reported that Weinstein threw an engagement party for the director only weeks ago.
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Tarantino said he had first learned of “unwelcome advances and unwanted touching” from his then-girlfriend Mira Sorvino, and was also aware of the producer’s settlement with actress Rose McGowan years later, long before it became public. The director said he failed to recognize a larger pattern of abuse by Weinstein, even though the worrying recounts continued over the years.
“What I did was marginalize the incidents,” Tarantino said, concluding at the time the reports were written off in his mind as mild misbehavior. “Anything I say now will sound like a crappy excuse.”
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Tarantino appealed to the men of Hollywood “to not be scared” in future.
“Don’t just give out statements,” he said. “Acknowledge that there was something rotten in Denmark. Vow to do better by our sisters.”
Close to 50 women – including Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie and Cara Delevingne – have accused Weinstein of various instances of sexual misconduct stretching back decades. The revelations have generated a broader, viral campaign under the hashtag #MeToo exposing sexual violence across a much broader range of businesses. Women around the globe, including Olympic athletes, are using the hashtag #MeToo, which has been mentioned over 1 million times on Twitter according to Talkwalker.