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Harvey Weinstein has refuted Lupita Nyong’o’s claim he sexually harassed and intimidated her on multiple occasions, per her essay in the New York Times.
“Mr. Weinstein has a different recollection of the events, but believes Lupita is a brilliant actress and a major force for the industry” a lawyer for Weinstein said in a statement overnight.
In an apparent attempt to discredit the 12 Years A Slave actress, the statement added “Last year, she sent a personal invitation to Mr. Weinstein to see her in her Broadway show Eclipsed.”
When asked by Entertainment Weekly to comment on Weinstein’s denial, she said she had “no further comment”.
In her piece for the New York Times, the Oscar winner recounted several uncomfortable encounters with Weinstein, such as the time she dined with him at a restaurant before attending a screening of a film at his family home.
“It was a busy restaurant, and as soon as we sat down he ordered a vodka and diet soda for himself. I asked for a juice,” Nyong’o recalls. “Harvey was unimpressed with my choice and told the waiter to bring me a vodka and diet soda instead. I declined and said I wanted the juice. We went back and forth until finally he turned to the waiter and said, ‘Get her what I tell you to get her. I’m the one paying the bill.’”
After lunch, the actress went back to Weinstein’s home to watch the film. It was there, 15 minutes in, Weinstein invited Nyong’o into another room to “show me something”. Like the women before her – and after her – the producer said he wanted to give her a massage.
“I thought he was joking at first,” she said. “He was not. For the first time since I met him, I felt unsafe. I panicked a little and thought quickly to offer to give him one instead: It would allow me to be in control physically, to know exactly where his hands were at all times.”
“He agreed to this and lay on the bed,” she continued. “I began to massage his back to buy myself time to figure out how to extricate myself from this undesirable situation. Before long he said he wanted to take off his pants. I told him not to do that and informed him that it would make me extremely uncomfortable. He got up anyway to do so and I headed for the door, saying that I was not at all comfortable with that.”
A second incident occurred at a restaurant in New York. During dinner he suggested they finish their meals in his hotel room upstairs. When she declined, he told her “not to be so naive” and “If you want to be an actress, then you have to be willing to do this sort of thing”.
Nyong’o declined. As she left the “party”, she asked Weinstein if everything was OK between them. He replied “I don’t know about your career, but you’ll be fine.”
