Two Women Reportedly Got Kicked Out Of A New York City Bar After Confronting Harvey Weinstein

Just over two years after the New York Times published its initial exposé of numerous sexual assault allegations against Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, the producer has faced various charges and lawsuits for his crimes. Even so, despite largely staying far outside of the limelight he was once accustomed to, Weinstein is still making occasional attempts to maintain an active public life. For example, according to Gothamist, he was reportedly invited to attend an “Actors Hour” event at the Downtime Bar in New York’s Lower East Side on Wednesday night.

That Weinstein attended an event meant only for working actors, writers, directors, musicians, and other industry professionals isn’t news. What is newsworthy, though, is the fact that at least two women who were present were angry enough to confront Weinstein and his party, and were presumably ostracized by many of the other attendees and kicked out of the establishment as a result. Also, much of this was caught on video and published on social media.

Comedian Amber Rollo was one of the two women. In a string of tweets posted on Thursday, she explained how fellow comic and “Actors Hour” attendee Kelly Bachman called out the “elephant in the room” during her stage time and was quickly booed by Weinstein’s supporters and many others. After a man told her to “shut up,” she responded, “This kills in group therapy for rape survivors.” Bachman then concluded, “I have been raped, surprisingly by no one in this room, but I’ve never gotten to confront those guys, so just a general f*ck you to [you].”

Rollo herself later went over to Weinstein’s table and “called him a f*cking monster and told him he should disappear.” In response, she was “gently guided… out” by a woman who was with his party. Before she did that, however, fellow event attendee Zoe Stuckless, who wrote about the experience in a Facebook post, angrily confronted Weinstein’s table and everyone else at “Actors Hour” who simply remained silent in his presence.

“I thought about the artists, the women, who were paralyzed by the same fear that I felt, surrounded by colleagues who were intimidated into a culture of silence and passivity. This room was a microcosm of our whole community. And I couldn’t sit there and let him laugh. So I spoke up,” she wrote. “I was kicked out of the bar tonight. His bodyguards herded me out. The event organizers were happy to see me go.”

Per Gothamist, the “Actors Hour” organizers released a statement insisting Weinstein “was NOT invited by the organizer or anyone associated with the organization” and apologizing for what happened. However, the posted statement has since been taken offline, as Rollo’s account and many others all seemed to contradict its claims.

https://twitter.com/KaitHammy/status/1187420066356355073

(Via Gothamist)