On Monday, Rose McGowan, a leading face of the #MeToo movement and alleged sexual assault victim of Harvey Weinstein, tweeted out her support for fellow #MeToo icon Asia Argento. A New York Times article over the weekend revealed that Argento paid out $380,000 to Jimmy Bennett, a former child actor who claims that in 2013, Argento sexually assaulted him in a California hotel. Bennett was 17 at the time. Bennett once played Argento’s son — when he was 7 — in the 2004 film The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things.
According to The Hollywood Reporter:
He claims that he arrived at the Ritz-Carlton in Marina del Rey to meet Argento in her hotel room on May 10, 2013, with a family member. Argento asked to be alone with Bennett and the family member left. Bennett claims Argento gave him alcohol and also showed him notes she had made on hotel stationery. She then proceeded to kiss him and perform oral sex before having intercourse with him.
The documents say that Argento then asked to take a number of photos with him. Photos of Argento and Bennett semi-clothed in bed, as well as an Instagram post of their faces taken on that day, were included in the notice of intent to sue.
This prompted McGowan to tweet:
This is an act of unmitigated hypocrisy from McGowan. While it’s true that we should all weigh the evidence in each individual accusation, the #MeToo movement has famously ignored that advice time and again, destroying the careers of men in prominent positions based on accusations and the suggestion that we must #BelieveAllWomen. McGowan herself has tweeted along those lines:
So, if McGowan now wants to talk about waiting for evidence, that sounds great. But let’s be clear: the major flaw of the #MeToo movement has been the demand that evidence be secondary to accusations. And it’s hypocrisy to flip the script the moment that McGowan’s friend is implicated.