Matt Damon and George Clooney claim they had no idea of the alleged misconduct of Harvey Weinstein in the wake of more than thirty women accusing the producer of three decades of sexual assault, harassment, and rape. Weinstein helped launch both the actor careers, writes ABC News.
Damon told ABC News “When people say like, ‘Everybody knew,’ Like, yeah. I knew he was an a——.” He continued by saying he knew Weinstein was a “womanizer” but the criminal sexual predation is “not something that I ever thought was going on.”
Clooney, meanwhile, said that Weinstein had told him that he had affairs “with actresses who were friends of mine,” according to ABC News, but Clooney never believed him because he didn’t think they would do that.
“But the idea that this predator, this assaulter … was out there silencing women like that … it’s beyond infuriating,” Clooney said, according to ABC News.
Weinstein has been fired from his company and has acknowledged “inappropriate behavior.” He has continued to deny any allegations of rape or non-consensual sex.
Clooney said during the interview with ABC News that the widespread harassment is part of a bigger, systemic problem and there need to be sweeping changes made in Hollywood.
“We have to make it safe for people to feel that they can talk about this. And in doing that, I think that’ll scare away that kind of behavior,” he said to ABC News.
Clooney also said that men need to know that sexual harassment will not be tolerated. He continued by saying sexual harassment in the workplace clearly extends far beyond Hollywood, and that it was a surprise to some people that “many, if not most, women have at some point in their life faced this kind of behavior.” He hopes that the one good thing that can come out of all this is having more discussions, which will hopefully it harder for it to happen again.
This article was featured in the InsideHook newsletter. Sign up now.
