Emma Thompson insists Harvey Weinstein is a ”predator”, not a ”sex addict”.
The 65-year-old producer is to seek treatment at a rehab clinic in the wake of a number of sexual misconduct allegations from stars including Rose McGowan, Ashley Judd, Gwyneth Paltrow and Kate Beckinsale, but the 58-year-old actress has branded the disgraced movie mogul ”dangerous”, and warned his actions are only the ”top of a very particular iceberg”.
She said: ”I don’t think you can describe him as a sex addict. He’s a predator. He’s an actual predator, he’s dangerous and what he’s done and what he’s doing is criminal.
”What I find sort of extraordinary is that this man is at the top of a very particular iceberg… (At) the top of the ladder of is a system of harassment, and belittling, and bullying, and interference, and what my mother would have referred to in the old days as ‘pestering.’ ‘Is he pestering you?’ That’s the word we used to use in the olden days, if you recall. This has been part of our world, women’s world, since time immemorial.”
The ‘Sense and Sensibility’ star insisted Weinstein wasn’t the only man to behave in such a way within the movie industry, but admitted his actions seem to be worse and more widespread.
Speaking on UK TV show ‘Newsnight’, she said: ”Maybe not to that degree. Do they have to all be as bad as him to make it count?
”Does it only count if you really have done it to loads and loads and loads of women? Or does it count if you do it to one woman once. I think the latter.”
And Emma called for men to step up to combat the ”crisis in masculinity” and make big changes.
She said: ”So what we need to start talking about is the crisis in masculinity, the crisis of extreme masculinity which is this sort of behaviour and the fact that it is not only OK, but it also is represented by the most powerful man in the world at the moment.”
The ‘Saving Mr. Banks’ star lamented the ”million missed opportunities” to call out Weinstein on his ”disgusting” behaviour but insisted she maintained a purely business relationship with him.
She said: ”My main contact with him was shouting at him down the phone that I never wanted to work with him ever, ever, ever.”
