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Actresses Roseanne Arquette, Ashley Judd and Mira Sorvino reacted to the surprise reversal of Harvey Weinstein’s conviction by the New York Court of Appeals.
A real setback for the #MeToo movement. This Thursday, April 25, a New York appeals court overturned one of Harvey Weinstein’s rape and sexual assault convictions, ordering a new trial for the former Hollywood star producer. A decision that immediately caused outrage. After the verdict, several actresses who had accused the producer spoke out to express their disappointment. For Rosanna Arquette, “Harvey was rightfully convicted and it’s unfortunate that the court overturned his conviction.” “As a survivor, I’m very disappointed,” laments Weinstein’s accuser. Hollywood Reporter .
In turn, Ashley Judd, the first actress to file charges against the producer, denounces “institutional betrayal.” He does not hide his anger on Instagram. “Every one of us who survived Harvey Weinstein’s serial sexual predator knew him. He happily abused his power in dealing with us. He defamed me after I narrowly escaped being sexually assaulted by him in that hotel room in 1996. I did not escape his grotesque sexual harassment, anger and punishment. My art and my portfolio are still influenced by him today.”
“It is unfair to the survivors. We live by our truth. We know what happened,” Ashley Judd complained again in the column New York Times .
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“Disgust with the judicial system”.
Actress and producer Mira Sorvino said she was “terrified”. “He is a prolific serial predator who has raped/harmed over 200 women. I am disgusted by the judicial system, which recognizes only predators and not victims,” the 56-year-old American woman wrote on X. In 2018, Mira Sorvino revealed that she was blacklisted after turning down advances from producer Harvey Weinstein in the 1990s. .
In 2020, Harvey Weinstein was found guilty of rape and sexual assault and sentenced to twenty-three years in prison. The court’s decision, which was just overturned by the New York Court of Appeals. According to that, testimony regarding other facts other than what happened against the complainants was “wrongly” admitted. However, the testimony “painted a highly prejudicial image of Harvey Weinstein,” the court said. “The solution to these shocking errors is the new test,” he adds. In detail, four judges decided to cancel the verdict, three against. “We knew that Harvey Weinstein did not have a right to a fair trial,” said Arthur Aidala, one of his lawyers, saying the decision “gives credence to the fact that there really is a judicial system.”
“The court continues to fail the regular victories that survivors of sexual assault have fought for,” lamented Madeline Singas, one of the appeals court judges who ruled against the decision. According to him, women “bearing the trauma of sexual violence” are “forgotten”.
Despite a recent reversal by a New York appeals court, the victimized producer will indeed remain in custody. The latter, in fact, was sentenced to sixteen years in prison in Los Angeles in 2023, again for rape and sexual assault. And it is unlikely that the decision in New York will have “any impact on the case” in Los Angeles, criminal law professor Aya Gruber told AFP. The procedural rules that led to New York’s annulment decision are “very different” from those in California, he explained. But the #MeToo movement has not said its last word.
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Source: Le Figaro
