According to a report in the Daily Mail, Harvey Weinstein believes a vast “right-wing conspiracy” is behind the New York Times expose from Thursday, revealing the Hollywood producer’s sordid past as a serial sexual harasser.
Weinstein, the Daily Mail reports, has been telling friends that a secret cabal of “conservative lawyers” have been quietly amassing evidence against him because of his record as a Democratic mega-donor, and that his current troubles are all to blame on Republican hatred – even though he’s been sued no less than eight times for allegedly asking women to do sexual favors for him, and “inappropriately touching” his female employees.
His list of victims reportedly includes mega-progressive Ashley Judd, who probably wasn’t motivated to sue Weinstein because of pressure from Republicans. But hey, anything’s possible in Hollywood.
Anyway, a source told the Mail that, “Harvey feels he is being set up by a team of people who are out to get him, and that there are are conservative organizations who know he is long-time foe of the NRA, of Donald Trump, and a longtime supporter of Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and the Democrats.”
“He believes they are financing a team of lawyers who are digging up these stories,” the source continued. “‘There’s a political agenda behind this. Harvey feels it’s a conspiracy and that’s the most interesting part of this, where it originated from, not the erroneous reporting that’s going on.”
That, of course, might be the first time in history — aside from that one incident with Hillary Clinton — that the New York Times has been accused of having a right-wing, “fake news” agenda – and the claims are especially weird considering that Weinstein, who has enlisted the services of feminist attorney Lisa Bloom (daughter of the queen of feminist attorneys, Gloria Allred), issued a statement saying he “apologized” for his untoward behavior.
But it’s definitely Republicans, guys.
The virtue signaling is likely part of Weinstein’s crisis public relations strategy. In his statement yesterday, Weinstein tried to rally his leftist allies to his side, filling the final paragraph of his mea culpa with out-of-place progressive talking points about Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and the NRA, clearly begging, as Sonny Bunch notes, for liberals to give him a free pass on his disgusting, sexist behavior.
[[{“fid”:”25627″,”view_mode”:”default”,”fields”:{“format”:”default”,”field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]”:false,”field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]”:false},”type”:”media”,”field_deltas”:{“1”:{“format”:”default”,”field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]”:false,”field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]”:false}},”attributes”:{“class”:”media-element file-default”,”data-delta”:”1″}}]]He needs a place to channel his anger, everyone. And he’s going to channel it at those dastardly conservatives who, starting in the mid-1990s, forced him to — allegedly — disrobe in hotel rooms in front of female employees and demand they watch him shower and give him naked back rubs.
Maybe if Hollywood Democrats would be willing to forgive and forget, he’ll bankroll a couple of terrible anti-Trump movies while he’s at it.
Weinstein said Thursday that he intends to explore his legal options, and challenge the New York Times‘s reporting, and he’s lawyered up with Lisa Bloom, who often represents the victims — not the aggressors — of sexual harassment, particularly in situations where young female employees are bullied around by their bosses. This time, though, Bloom says it’s different — Harvey, who was born in a more innocent time — just didn’t know what he was doing, and he’s taking steps to correct his behavior because, at heart, he’s just a misguided feminist.
Or something.