On Thursday, the New York Times published an exhaustively reported exposé on a long history of alleged sexual harassment on the part of Hollywood power house Harvey Weinstein. Weinstein has since been fired from the Weinstein Company, and numerous individuals who have worked with him have spoken out against his alleged behavior—including Meryl Streep, Judi Dench and Glenn Close—but actress Rose McGowan thinks there is more justice to mete out.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, McGowan—who was named by the Times as one of the several woman who came to financial settlements with Weinstein—is ready to declare this a new era of accountability for creepy dudes abusing their power, and for the people who protect them:
“Men in Hollywood need to change ASAP,” McGowan told THR. “Hollywood’s power is dying because society has changed and grown, and yet Hollywood male behavior has not. It is so not a good look. In the way cooler than Hollywood world I live and work in, I am actually embarrassed to be associated with it.”
Weinstein may be gone from his company, but how many more such predators lurk in the shadows, or receive awards in plain sight? McGowan seems to think that repercussions need to extend further and more severely to include those who ignore what’s going on right in front of them, telling THR, “I’m calling on the board to resign effective immediately,” and tweeting the same.
There are four remaining members on the board at Weinstein company—Robert Weinstein, Lance Maerov, Richard Koenigsberg and Tarak Ben Ammar. According to the NYT report, Weinstein’s predilections were an open secret in the office, with women even dressing down in parkas so as avoid his attention. It seems unlikely that board members could have been unaware of his behavior, but whether they’ll take more responsibility for it remains to be seen.
McGowan reportedly settled with Weinstein for $100,000 over an incident of sexual harassment, which allegedly took place in a hotel room in 1997 during the Sundance Film Festival, though she has declined to comment on these details officially. McGowan does, however, have a message for other women in Hollywood, one that echoes her previous statements on the industry:
“And for the women in Hollywood, free your minds,” she said. “There are no ‘rules’ you have to play by. We affect the world’s mind because we are creating and disseminating thought propaganda. There is a great responsibility to be better than you have to be. Stand for women. Stand for truth. Stop hurting us. Rise.”