‘This guy won’t stop’: Harvey Weinstein complained about Ronan Farrow in a 2017 email to his colleagues ahead of the journalist’s expose, his rape trial is told
- Weinstein’s historic sexual assault trial continues in Manhattan on Friday with testimony from a psychologist
- Dr Barbara Ziv testified at Bill Cosby’s trial and will talk at Weinstein’s about victim behavior after an assault
- It comes a day after Weinstein’s lawyers grilled Annabella Sciorra for why she maintained contact with him
- Sciorra said Weinstein raped her in the early 1990s and that the attack has haunted her for decades
- Weinstein’s attorneys asked why she then hoped he would get her work for years afterwards
- The trial is highlighting a poignant divide in how people view sexual assault and violence
- Weinstein’s attorneys say all of the sex was consensual and that he never physically forced anyone into it
- The women say he exerted his power as a Hollywood titan and in some cases did physically overpower them
- If convicted on all five counts, the 67-year-old is facing life behind bars
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Harvey Weinstein complained ‘this guy won’t stop’ about Ronan Farrow in 2017 as Farrow fastidiously investigated his alleged sex crimes for a piece in The New Yorker, it was revealed at the movie mogul’s trial on Friday.
Weinstein returned to court on Friday for the third day of his sexual assault case where forensic psychologist Dr. Barbara Ziv – who testified at Bill Cosby’s trial – will take the stand and emails in which the disgraced movie mogul complained about reporter Ronan Farrow emerged.
Before her testimony, jurors heard about emails Weinstein sent in 2017 after discovering Farrow was working on a story about him.
Harvey Weinstein returned to court Friday for the third day of his rape trial and headed into the courtroom with the help of his walker
Harvey arrives at court Friday for his trial on charges of rape and sexual assault. He denies all the charges and faces life in prison if convicted
The film producer wrote to his colleagues at The Weinstein Co that his encounter with Annabella Sciorra, who testified on Thursday that Weinstein raped her in the early 1990s, was ‘consensual’.
Farrow was working on an expose for months. He interviewed scores of actresses
Sciorra had already been interviewed by Farrow and initially denied to him that she had been attacked.
She admitted after other women publicly accused Weinstein of abuse that she had lied and that he did ‘rape’ her.
He said that ‘she did Cop Land with us’, meaning Miramax, his production company.
Weinstein ordered his colleagues to ‘get emails’ about Sciorra and said: ‘This guy won’t stop’.
Farrow spoke to Sciorra in March 2017 and she initially denied anything happened with Weinstein but changed her mind and talked about the alleged rape in October that year.
She has described her role in the past in courtrooms as being one of an educator on the issue of sexual violence and how it plays out.
Her testimony will likely seek to answer questions raised by Weinstein’s lawyer’s lawyer after Sopranos actress Annabella Sciorra tearfully recalled how Weinstein allegedly raped her in the early 1990s.
She claimed he had sent her a box of chocolate penises beforehand.
She told the courtroom that the alleged incident had haunted her for years.
Weinstein on his walker in the courthouse on Friday. The 67-year-old denies the charges
Weinstein hunched over as he walked into the court with a new walker on Friday morning
Gloria Allred, who is representing some of Weinstein’s victims, was among those in attendance at court on Friday
Weinstein’s lawyers, during cross-examination, asked her why then she had told a friend via text that she hoped he had a job for her years after the apparent rape.
Dr. Barbara Ziv will testify on Friday. She describes herself as an educator on the psychology of sexual violence and has been used in criminal cases in the past to dispel widely-held myths about how abuse victims ought to behave
Their line of questioning is consistent with what is widely believed to be their defense throughout; if Weinstein had attacked the women as violently as they say he did, why then did they continue to have contact with him and even ask him for work for years afterwards?
Dr. Ziv is expected to address that theme on Friday.
Many of the women who have spoken out to publicly accuse Weinstein of assault also say they they felt they had to comply with his alleged sexual demands or risk their careers.
He was the most powerful producer in Hollywood and had strong connections in all aspects of the entertainment industry, they claimed.
As the trial got underway on Thursday, Farrow released an audio tape of Weinstein asking an actress for a massage and telling her that she would risk losing ‘big opportunities’ if she did not trust him.
His lawyers have claimed throughout that he is the victim of an overzealous #MeToo movement and that all of the sex he has ever had with anyone has been consensual.
Annabella Sciorra cried as she took the stand in Harvey Weinstein’s New York trial on Thursday. She is pictured leaving the court room following her emotional five hour testimony. She appeared in The Sopranos (right) as Tony Soprano’s mistress