Ben Affleck sexually assaulted TRL host in 2003: report

[bobellis75]

Again - I am not defending these guys...but...let's also consider that some of these guys were not exactly cemented as stars yet, either. When Affleck could have (and should have) gone to bat for McGowan they were doing press for Phantoms. Not exactly an A list movie. Yes this post Good Will Hunting...but....lots of people win Oscars and disappear into obscurity. Affleck nearly did himself with several of his film choices, before his renaissance as a writer/director (and actor) with "The Town". Yeah Affleck was still riding somewhat high at the time, no doubt.

But that's the problem...someone else mentioned it's about power for these guys...and they can force that power on a lot of people in a lot of ways.

Now if more people had stepped up like Pitt, maybe this would have come to light 10 years ago. I don't know. Pitt has always seemed like a standup guy to me though, and someone who isn't going to be "bullied."

The culture as a whole needs to stop, and I'm glad Harvey is taking his lumps. I hope he pays dearly.

[CliffHanger2]

And things just got worse.

http://variety.com/2017/biz/news/ros...202587987/amp/

She called Donna Karan scum that's probably what got her suspended.

[bobellis75]

The scummiest guys to me in this (outside of Harvey, of course) - if the allegations are true - are Matt Damon and Russell Crowe...if they made phone calls to squash a news story about this...that's pretty awful.

[Za Waldo]

The scummiest guys to me in this (outside of Harvey, of course) - if the allegations are true - are Matt Damon and Russell Crowe...if they made phone calls to squash a news story about this...that's pretty awful.

That isn't what was actually said in the original story. That's the clickbait headline Vulture originally used when talking about Sharon Waxman's article over on The Wrap, it's also not the headline they're using now. The Vulture article just seems to be the article the other sites were copying when doing their little quick take on the same subject.

Now it's called:

Ex–New York Times Reporter Claims Harvey Weinstein Pressured Matt Damon and Russell Crowe to Help Kill a 2004 Story; NYT Denies

Befor if was:

Matt Damon and Russell Crowe reportedly helped kill a 2004 New York Times Harvey Weinstein article.

Here all that's said of that in The Wrap article:

After intense pressure from Weinstein, which included having Matt Damon and Russell Crowe call me directly to vouch for Lombardo and unknown discussions well above my head at the Times, the story was gutted.

Here's Damon talking about it with Deadline:

DEADLINE: It was reported that you and Russell Crowe were conscripted by Harvey Weinstein to call Sharon Waxman in an effort to derail a New York Times piece similar to the ones we are reading now.

DAMON: My recollection was that it was about a one minute phone call. Harvey had called me and said, they’re writing a story about Fabrizio, who I knew from The Talented Mr. Ripley. He has organized our premiere in Italy and so I knew him in a professional capacity and I’d had dinner at his house. Harvey said, Sharon Waxman is writing a story about Fabrizio and it’s really negative. Can you just call and tell her what your experience with Fabrizio was. So I did, and that’s what I said to her. It didn’t even make the piece that she wrote. As I recall, her piece just said that Russell and I had called and relayed our experience with Fabrizio. That was the extent of it and so I was very surprised to see it come back. I was never conscripted to do anything. We vouch for each other, all the time, and it didn’t even make her article. Whether it didn’t jibe with her storyline…it was an incomplete rendering of someone that I was giving but I had perfectly professional experiences with Fabrizio and I didn’t mind telling her that.

I’m sure I mentioned to her that I didn’t know anything about the rest of her piece, because I didn’t. And I still don’t know anything about that and Fabrizio. My experience with him was all above board and that’s what I told her.

Here's Waxmam talking about what Damon said:

One other thing: Matt Damon gave an interview on Tuesday in which he explained the call he made to me at Weinstein’s behest about Lombardo.

The actor and I do not disagree on this. It was a brief call and I did not tell him what my story was about, since it did not concern him. My point was that Harvey Weinstein was using any tool he could — including getting his celebrity friends to vouch for Lombardo — to get me to back off the story.

It did not work and Matt Damon is not responsible in any way for how the story turned out. So let’s just leave him alone, please.

[Gaastra]

MSN has picked up the story on both woman and the twitter ban.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/cele...Kz&ocid=HPCDHP

http://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/cele...Kz&ocid=HPCDHP



Update--looks like the twitter ban may be over her sharing a private phone number over twitter. That's a no-no.

[Hiromi]

If you really want to go after someone for suppressing the Weinstein story Noah Oppenheim, president of NBC is looking like a good target. He moonlights as a Hollywood screenwriter, he's openly said he wants to eventually go back full time, is normally a hands off executive, well apparently he directly intervened in the editorial process to kill Ronan Farrow's story on the grounds that it "didn't meet NBC standard. Which considering the New Yorker had no issues at all running the exact same story seems a pretty flimsy excuse.

[bobellis75]

That isn't what was actually said in the original story. That's the clickbait headline Vulture originally used when talking about Sharon Waxman's article over on The Wrap, it's also not the headline they're using now. The Vulture article just seems to be the article the other sites were copying when doing their little quick take on the same subject.

Now it's called:

Ex–New York Times Reporter Claims Harvey Weinstein Pressured Matt Damon and Russell Crowe to Help Kill a 2004 Story; NYT Denies

Befor if was:

Matt Damon and Russell Crowe reportedly helped kill a 2004 New York Times Harvey Weinstein article.

Here all that's said of that in The Wrap article:

After intense pressure from Weinstein, which included having Matt Damon and Russell Crowe call me directly to vouch for Lombardo and unknown discussions well above my head at the Times, the story was gutted.

Here's Damon talking about it with Deadline:

DEADLINE: It was reported that you and Russell Crowe were conscripted by Harvey Weinstein to call Sharon Waxman in an effort to derail a New York Times piece similar to the ones we are reading now.

DAMON: My recollection was that it was about a one minute phone call. Harvey had called me and said, they’re writing a story about Fabrizio, who I knew from The Talented Mr. Ripley. He has organized our premiere in Italy and so I knew him in a professional capacity and I’d had dinner at his house. Harvey said, Sharon Waxman is writing a story about Fabrizio and it’s really negative. Can you just call and tell her what your experience with Fabrizio was. So I did, and that’s what I said to her. It didn’t even make the piece that she wrote. As I recall, her piece just said that Russell and I had called and relayed our experience with Fabrizio. That was the extent of it and so I was very surprised to see it come back. I was never conscripted to do anything. We vouch for each other, all the time, and it didn’t even make her article. Whether it didn’t jibe with her storyline…it was an incomplete rendering of someone that I was giving but I had perfectly professional experiences with Fabrizio and I didn’t mind telling her that.

I’m sure I mentioned to her that I didn’t know anything about the rest of her piece, because I didn’t. And I still don’t know anything about that and Fabrizio. My experience with him was all above board and that’s what I told her.

Here's Waxmam talking about what Damon said:

One other thing: Matt Damon gave an interview on Tuesday in which he explained the call he made to me at Weinstein’s behest about Lombardo.

The actor and I do not disagree on this. It was a brief call and I did not tell him what my story was about, since it did not concern him. My point was that Harvey Weinstein was using any tool he could — including getting his celebrity friends to vouch for Lombardo — to get me to back off the story.

It did not work and Matt Damon is not responsible in any way for how the story turned out. So let’s just leave him alone, please.

I hadn't seen these updates. And I said "if the allegations are true" which they don't seem to be. It didn't sound like it was in character with Damon - so if he actually had done that, I thought it was pretty disappointing.

I think what needs to happen is Harvey is crucified, and a sea change occurs regarding the way women are treated not just in Hollywood, but in every industry and walk of life...but people need to calm the F down just a tiny bit on how much other big names get dragged thru the mud, just because they know Harvey. Let's let these things breathe a bit before we go after Damon, Affleck, or whomever.

[AnakinFlair]

I expect a lot of stories of this kind will be coming to light soon, with Weinstein's fall emboldening people to come forward

Agreed. The sad fact is that plenty of stars (both past and present) have behaved like this and not thought anything of it. In their mind a smack on the ass or coping a feel is just normal behavior.

[AnakinFlair]

I'm actually a bit surprised their hasn't been much made of Disney with all this Harvey Weinstein news. All those big Miramax years he was working for Disney. A number of these stories coming out now are from his Miramax days.

Was it before or after Disney bought Miramax? And how long did they own it before they forced out the Weistiens?

[MrFrost]

I mean if you can but your balls on your friends head , you can't do anything

[Za Waldo]

Was it before or after Disney bought Miramax? And how long did they own it before they forced out the Weistiens?

A whole of it was during. Think Harvey worked for them from 1993 - 2005.

[Sighphi]

Tinfoill hat time! Some one is really going hard on this movie....

Now people are flipping over a "rape joke" Aquaman made years ago.

come on, this is not a coincidence, right?

[Gaastra]

A third woman has come forward. Says "multiple" friends had the same experience at the party. (again curse words in thread.)

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthre...446479&page=16

[Thomas Crown]

So, are we still pretending that the timing of these "controversies" involving Ben Affleck and Jason Momoa is just a HUGE "coincidence"?

[GozertheGozarian]

MSN has picked up the story on both woman and the twitter ban.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/cele...Kz&ocid=HPCDHP

http://www.msn.com/en-us/movies/cele...Kz&ocid=HPCDHP



Update--looks like the twitter ban may be over her sharing a private phone number over twitter. That's a no-no.

GamerGaters did it all the time without getting suspended.