Harvey Weinstein has denied Uma Thurman’s claims that he tried to sexually assault her in a London hotel room and insists he couldn’t have because the pair stayed friends for years after the alleged incident.
In an email to DailyMail.com not long after Thurman’s accusations were published by The New York Times, Weinstein’s spokesman said it was the first he’d heard of the accusation.
He admitted propositioning the actress in a steam room and said it happened after a ‘flirtatious exchange’ in Paris which he had ‘misread’.
After ‘making a pass’, he says he apologized immediately and the pair went on to remain friends which she does not deny.
He also pointed to a ‘number of images that demonstrate the strong relationship’ the pair have shared over the years, adding: ‘We wish the New York Times would have published them,’ said the spokesman.
Harvey Weinstein and Uma Thurman are pictured in January 2016 at a brunch she hosted to promote The Hateful Eight, long before Weinstein’s fall from grace. He says it, along with others, is proof that he did not sexually assault her as she claims
‘Mr. Weinstein acknowledges making an awkward pass 25 years ago at Ms. Thurman in England after misreading her signals, after a flirtatious exchange in Paris, for which he immediately apologized and deeply regrets.
‘However, her claims about being physically assaulted are untrue. And this is the first time we have heard those details,’ the statement read.
These pictures tell a completely different story
Weinstein representative
It went on: ‘There was no physical contact during Mr. Weinstein’s awkward pass and Mr. Weinstein is saddened and puzzled as to “why” Ms. Thurman, someone he considers a colleague and a friend, waited 25 years to make these allegations public, noting that he and Ms. Thurman have shared a very close and mutually beneficial working relationship where they have made several very successful film projects together.
‘This is the first time we are hearing that she considered Mr. Weinstein an enemy and the pictures of their history tell a completely different story.
Weinstein, who has been hiding out in Arizona since dozens of women came forward to accuse him of rape, sexual harassment and bullying in October, also shared this photograph claiming it was proof Thurman likes him. It was taken in 2014 with Heidi Klum
Weinstein with Thurman and Quentin Tarantino in 2004. She claims she told Tarantino about the alleged assault and that he confronted Weinstein over it, prompting an apology
‘There will be more are detailed response later from Mr. Weinstein’s attorney, Ben Brafman,’ his spokesman said.
The Times claimed to have confirmed with Weinstein that he apologized for the incident, as it was described by Thurman, to Quentin Tarantino later.
Weinstein has not broken cover since he fled to Arizona last year as an army of women emerged to accuse him of serial sexual misconduct.
He apologized at the time for behavior which he accepted may have been inappropriate but has consistently denied being physically violent or coercive to any of the women, insisting they all consented to whatever encounters they had.
A common claim from the women is that they all stayed silent and remained friends with Weinstein, in some cases later having consensual relations with him, because they feared he would derail their careers if they acted out against him.
A friend who was with Thurman at the time of the London incident said she told him then that Weinstein threatened to ruin her prospects if she spoke out again about him allegedly attacking her.
She went back to the Savoy hotel, where the alleged attack took place, the next day to confront him about it.
They continued working together on Miramax films and were both illustriously successful as a result but she, and others who the Times spoke to, said her private opinion of him changed.
Among the photographs Weinstein’s representative pointed out were photographs taken as recently as 2016.
Weinstein has not been seen since October 5 when he fled New York City as the scandal swamped him