Harvey Weinstein Inserts Himself Into Blake Energetic Drama

From behind bars, Harvey Weinstein is providing his assist to the embattled actor-director whereas likening Baldoni’s state of affairs to his personal.

The convicted rapist, presently serving over a decade in jail for a number of intercourse crimes, informed TMZ on Wednesday that he believes Baldoni has been unfairly focused by The New York Instances.

The outlet’s December 2024 exposé, “‘We Can Bury Anybody’: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine,” included partial messages from Baldoni’s PR group that appeared to counsel they may “bury anybody,” together with Energetic, in what was portrayed as a calculated smear marketing campaign.

Baldoni and his group fired again with a $250 million libel lawsuit towards the Instances, accusing the publication of misrepresenting personal messages, which they allege had been “cherry-picked” and manipulated to suit a false narrative.

“Watching Justin Baldoni take authorized motion towards the New York Instances and its reporters, accusing them of manipulating communications and ignoring proof that countered Ms. Energetic’s claims, hit me exhausting,” Weinstein stated. “It introduced again every thing I skilled when the Instances reported on me in 2017. They did the identical factor: cherry-picked what match their story and ignored crucial context and information that might have challenged the narrative.”

Weinstein’s reference factors on to the Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation that uncovered a long time of sexual abuse allegations towards him, reporting that helped ignite the #MeToo motion.

In response to Weinstein’s newest statements, The New York Instances defended the integrity of its reporting.

“Our complete investigation into the allegations of sexual harassment and abuse towards Mr. Weinstein was rigorously reported over many months and primarily based on on-the-record interviews, authorized settlements paid to accusers and different paperwork,” spokesperson Danielle Rhoades stated.

“Not one of the information in our protection are in dispute. Mr. Weinstein acknowledged his misconduct in a press release that was printed in full in The Instances,” Rhoades added. “He’s since been criminally convicted of rape and sexual assault.”

Weinstein’s 2020 New York conviction was overturned in 2024, however a retrial is about for April 15.

He’s additionally interesting a separate 16-year sentence from his 2023 California conviction for forcible rape and different fees.

“I ought to have stood up and fought again then. I ought to have had the braveness to talk out towards the way in which the reality was twisted. That failure nonetheless haunts me,” Weinstein stated on Wednesday.

He additionally added that he might be “watching Baldoni and Energetic’s case intently,” suggesting that the end result “issues to anybody who’s ever been on the receiving finish of a media takedown.”

Weinstein’s public endorsement of Baldoni comes as a shock to many, contemplating his previous connection to each Energetic and her interior circle. The 2 had been as soon as photographed collectively at public occasions, and in 2014, Web page Six reported that Weinstein shared the identical publicist as Energetic, Leslie Sloane.

Sources on the time claimed Weinstein and MSG govt Jim Dolan financially backed Sloane’s transition into founding her personal publicity agency, Imaginative and prescient PR. Weinstein was even quoted saying, “Leslie’s subsequent transfer goes to rock the business.”

However a rep for Sloane now disputes any suggestion of a working relationship with the disgraced producer. “Leslie Sloane by no means represented Harvey Weinstein,” the spokesperson informed Web page Six. “In 2014, after Sloane left BWR, she and Weinstein engaged in preliminary discussions regarding a possible working relationship with their corporations however that by no means got here to fruition.”