Hollywood didn’t know about Weinstein: Matt Damon

LOS ANGELES-Matt Damon has insisted people in Hollywood weren’t aware of Harvey Weinstein’s alleged behaviour.

The 65-year-old disgraced producer has been accused of sexually harassing over 80 women in a 30-year period, and whilst several Hollywood stars have claimed they ‘’knew’’ about his alleged misconduct, actor Matt Damon doesn’t believe that’s the case.

Instead, Matt claims that rather than knowing exactly what Weinstein was allegedly up to, those who knew him could tell from the ‘’kind of guy he was’’ that something was going on behind the scenes.

He said: ‘’A lot of people said, ‘Well, Harvey - everybody knew.’ That’s not true. Everybody knew what kind of guy he was in the sense that if you took a meeting with him, you knew he was tough and he was a bully, and that was his reputation. And he enjoyed that reputation, because he was making the best movies out there.

‘’Nobody who made movies for him knew ... Any human being would’ve put a stop to that, no matter who he was. They would’ve said absolutely no. You know what I mean?’’

The 47-year-old actor adds that he knew he wouldn’t want Weinstein to be ‘’married to anyone close’’ to him, but that was as far as his suspicions went.

He added: ‘’I knew I wouldn’t want him married to anyone close to me. But that was the extent of what we knew, you know? So, that wasn’t a surprise to anybody. When you hear ‘Harvey this, Harvey that’ - I mean, look at the guy! Of course he’s a womaniser. I don’t hang out with him.’’

The ‘Good Will Hunting’ star thinks it’s ‘’great’’ that women feel brave enough to share their stories with the public.

Speaking during an episode of ABC News’ ‘Popcorn with Peter Travers’, he said: ‘’I think we’re in this watershed moment. I think it’s great. I think it’s wonderful that women are feeling empowered to tell their stories - and it’s totally necessary.’’

It comes after Jessica Chastain recently revealed she was ‘’warned from the beginning’’ about the producer’s alleged misconduct.

She wrote on Twitter: ‘’I was warned from the beginning. The stories were everywhere. To deny that is to create an environment for it to happen again.’’

 

ePaper - Nawaiwaqt