Meryl Streep says news of the dozens of sexual misconduct accusations posed against Harvey Weinstein — who produced multiple movies in which she starred — “underlined [her] own sense of cluelessness.”
“You make movies. You think you know everything about everybody. So much gossip. You don’t know anything,” Streep said in a New York Times interview published on Wednesday.
The three-time Oscar winner said she “really had to think” about her response to the situation, in the wake of media outlets criticizing her for being silent. “Because it really underlined my own sense of cluelessness, and also how evil, deeply evil, and duplicitous, a person he was, yet such a champion of really great work,” she said.
Then Streep took a dig at the disgraced movie mogul. “Some of my favorite people have been brought down by this, and he’s not one of them.”
When asked by the Times about the media’s and public’s obsession with her comments, Streep referenced the women in President Trump’s inner circle, as he’s been accused by more than a dozen women of sexual misconduct. “I don’t want to hear about the silence of me. I want to hear about the silence of Melania Trump. I want to hear from her. She has so much that’s valuable to say. And so does Ivanka. I want her to speak now.”
Streep reiterated that she didn’t know about alleged sexual harassment and assault at the hands of Weinstein. “In terms of Harvey, I really didn’t know,” Streep said. “I did think he was having girlfriends. But when I heard rumors about actresses, I thought that that was a way of denigrating the actress and her ability to get the job. That really raised my hackles. I didn’t know that he was in any way abusing people. He never asked me to a hotel room. I don’t know how his life was conducted without people intimately knowing about it.”
Streep released a statement in response to the Weinstein accusations on Oct. 9, calling them “inexcusable.” Streep said she did not know about the “inappropriate, coercive acts” he was accused of doing — all of which Weinstein has denied.
In December, Streep released a statement after Rose McGowan criticized her for her “silence” in the wake of the scandal. Streep said she was not “deliberately silent.”