Asia Argento Tells Cannes: This Festival Was Harvey Weinstein’s Hunting Ground; Warns Complicit
May 19, 2018
Asia Argento Tells Cannes: This Festival Was Harvey Weinstein’s Hunting Ground; Warns Complicit
Joining jury member Ava DuVernay to present the Best Actress prize at the Cannes Film Festival closing ceremony this evening, Asia Argento sounded a warning to the audience. She began, “I was raped by Harvey Weinstein in Cannes in 1997. I was 21-years-old. This festival was his hunting ground. I’m going to make a prediction: Harvey Weinstein will never be welcomed here again. He will never disgrace the community that once embraced him and covered up for his crimes.”
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She then told the crowd assembled in the Palais’ Lumière theater, “Even tonight there are those that still need to be held accountable for his behavior. You do not belong in this industry. You know who you are. We are not going to allow you to get away with it any longer.”
Argento alleged in The New Yorker that she was sexually assaulted by Harvey Weinstein following an encounter where he asked for a massage. She later tweeted a scene from her 2000 film, Scarlet Diva, in which she turned her pain into art; she says it was inspired by that traumatic incident. Weinstein has denied the assault through a spokesperson.