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Harvey Weinstein’s lawyers claimed last night that his ugliness meant his accusers had sex with him for “transactional” reasons.
The disgraced movie mogul is “not Brad Pitt or George Clooney,” Mark Werksman said in his opening statement before Weinstein’s defense at a US trial.
The accusers slept with Weinstein because he was “powerful” and could land them roles in his Oscar-winning films, the attorney claimed.
Werksman lashed out at the eight women who will testify, including Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the California governor’s wife, whom he called “just another idiot.”
Abuse Claim: Movie mogul Harvey Weinstein to appear in Manhattan Criminal Court on February 24, 2020 in New York City
Weinstein’s attorney Mark Werksman lashed out at the eight women who will testify, including Jennifer Siebel Newsom (pictured), the California governor’s wife, whom he called “just another bimbo.”
The comments came after prosecutors described a pattern of alleged rape and sexual abuse by Weinstein against five women between 2004 and 2013. the trial in Los Angeles.
He is already serving a 23-year sentence after he was found guilty in a separate trial in New York in 2020. However, a Supreme Court has upheld his appeal, making the LA case more important.
Addressing the jury, Mr Werksman said the “accusations can be traced directly to a movement called #MeToo,” which began in 2017 with claims involving Weinstein.
The truth was that “in Hollywood, sex was a commodity,” Mr Werksman said.
He said, “It was transaction sex. It may have been unpleasant and embarrassing… but it was by mutual consent.
“It was the casting couch. Everyone did it. He [Weinstein] did it. She [the accusers] did it. Because one wanted something from the other. Now look at him. He’s not Brad Pitt or George Clooney. Do you think those beautiful women had sex with him because he’s hot? No. They did it because he was powerful.’
Werksman said the women who will testify against Weinstein “willedly played the game according to the then-current rules.” That included Ms. Newsom, wife of California Governor Gavin Newsom, who claims Weinstein raped her in 2005 after inviting her to his hotel room in Beverly Hills to talk about her acting career.
On Monday, prosecutors described the alleged attack, which they say took place during an alleged business meeting in 2005.
Deputy District Attorney Paul Thompson told the court that Weinstein had asked her to “touch” him, but she declined. Weinstein is said to have referred to “a list of A-list actresses” whose careers he “supposedly made”.
The court heard his voice change from “encouraging to aggressive and demanding,” when he forced her onto the bed and left her “trembling” before “forcibly raping her.”
Attorney Mark Werksman (pictured leaves the Los Angeles County Superior Court on Monday), representing Harvey Weinstein, said the “accusations can be traced directly to a movement called #MeToo,” which began in 2017 with claims involving Weinstein.
The court heard that after asking Ms. Newsom to “touch” him, Weinstein’s voice changed from “imploring to aggressive and demanding,” as he forced her onto the bed and left her “trembling” before he “handled her.” violently raped’.
Mr Werksman said: “She’s made herself a prominent victim in the #MeToo movement…otherwise she’d just be a bimbo sleeping with Harvey Weinstein to get ahead in Hollywood.”
He said Mr. Newsom later “taken money from his wife’s rapist to advance his political campaigns,” adding, “That’s the kind of thing you’re dealing with in this case.”
Later, the court heard from the prosecution’s first witness. She said Weinstein sexually assaulted her in 2013 after they both attended a film festival.
The witness wept as she described how he unexpectedly showed up in her hotel room. She said he asked her for a massage, but she asked him to leave.
Then he tried to open her robe, she said, and her poor English tried to tell him she didn’t want to have sex “because I have three children.” He then forced her to perform sexual acts with him, she said.
The process continues.