Harvey Weinstein gave his first interview since The New York Times released a bombshell investigative piece detailing decades of alleged sexual harassment towards women. Weinstein told The Post that he “bears responsibility” for his previous behavior, but also called the reporting by The Times “reckless,” according to Page Six.
Weinstein recently hired lawyer Charles Harder, known for winning a $140 million settlement for Hulk Hogan against Gawker, to sue The Times for $50 million. Simultaneously, Weinstein made a statement about being a “better person,” reports Page Six.
He said that he is trying to “bear responsibility for his actions” but said that The Times was not honest with him, they told him lies, and they made assumptions.
“The Times had a deal with us that they would tell us about the people they had on the record in the story, so we could respond appropriately, but they didn’t live up to the bargain,” he said, according to Page Six.
Weinstein says that The Times was too worried about the story being scooped by New York Magazine that they went ahead and posted the story “filled with reckless reporting” without checking all they had with Weinstein or his team. He continued to say that he believes the paper has “a vendetta” against him, reports Page Six.
The Times recently wrote a negative piece about Weinstein’s interactions with amfAR, according to Page Six. Weinstein said that the paper is “focused on trying to bring him down.”
Weinstein also said that The Times focused their story on a memo written by employee Lauren O’Connor in 2014. But Weinstein claims that memo was withdrawn two days after it was written, so “they document doesn’t stand up,” reports Page Six.
He declined to go into detail about the accounts detailed in the story, just saying that The Times spent six months researching the piece but gave Weinstein and his team 24 hours to respond, Page Six reports. But he did say he needs to treat staffers and other people better, and “work on his temper,” according to Page Six.
When asked about the settlements that The Times claims Weinstein has made with at least eight women, he responded, “No company ever talks about settlements, and neither does the recipient, so I don’t know how the Times came to this conclusion, but it is pure conjecture, the reporters have made assumptions,” according to Page Six.
The New York Times stands by the accuracy of its reporting and said that, “Mr. Weinstein was aware and able to respond to specific allegations in our story before publication. In fact, we published his response in full,” according to Page Six.
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