Film producer Harvey Weinstein, who was accused of sexual harassment of employees and prominent actresses, has also proved he pretty much can’t be trusted when it comes to apology letters as well. The co-founder of Miramax and the Weinstein Company wrote in a statement addressing the allegations that he “cannot be more remorseful about the people I hurt.”
However, in that same statement, Weinstein also referenced a supposed quote from “4:44,” Jay-Z’s own musical apology for his apparent infidelity against his wife Beyonce. He wrote, “Jay-Z wrote in ‘4:44,’ ‘I’m not the man I thought I was and I better be that man for my children.’ The same is true for me,” but nowhere in the song “4:44” does Jay say anything of the sort. In fact, there’s not one single line on the entire 4:44 album that says this.
Maybe Weinstein is paraphrasing or trying to tease out the main idea of Jay’s suite of confessional songs asking for forgiveness, but if he was going to reference his business partner’s (on multiple films and TV projects) lyrics, perhaps a little more accuracy could have helped. It’s not like the situations are the same in the first place; Jay may have stepped out on his spouse, but Weinstein is accused of wielding his power and influence to force women into uncomfortable circumstances, which is a whole different level of dirtbag behavior.
Meanwhile, the statement has been criticized for failing to grapple with the problem and hasn’t prevented him from receiving a deluge of rebukes from everyone from actresses Rose McGowan and Ashley Judd to the New York Times, which originally printed the reveal.
