Matt Damon and George Clooney Call For a "Sweeping Change" Amidst Harvey Weinstein Allegations
Actors Matt Damon and George Clooney break their silence on the Harvey Weinstein scandal as more women continue to come forward, recounting their harrowing experiences with the once prominent movie mogul. While promoting their new movie, "Suburbicon" , Damon has stated that he was never fond of Weinstein but he didn't know that he could be responsible for such horrendous acts.
Damon first worked with Weinstein on his first movie, the critically-accailmed "Good Will Hunting", which shot Damon into stardom. He was signed to a three-picture deal with Miramax quickly after that but immediately knew that Weinstein wasn't someone he wanted to cross paths with again. "You had to spend about five minutes with him to know that he was a bully. He was intimidating," Damon told Michael Strahan of ABC News. "Miramax was the place, really the place, that was making great stuff in the '90's. And it was like, 'Could you survive Harvey?'"
The fallout of Harvey Weinstein continues to make headlines as more A-listers speak about the character of Weinstein and how the industry has maintained to keep this silenced over the years.
Coincidentally enough, actress Gwyneth Paltrow, who dated Damon's best friend and co-star Ben Affleck, has spoken about the harrassment she recieved from Weinstein earlier on her career. Damon stated that he heard of the encounter, but never spoke to Paltrow about it at the time.
Clooney added that the scandal is "part of a larger, systematic problem" and is not just prevelant in Hollywood. "I talked with my wife [Amal] about this. And she said ... she could find, you know, in her line of work, which is human rights law ... there have been plenty of instances where some guy has tried, you know, to make their move," George Clooney stated.
Since the article that was publshed in the New York Times about Weinstein, women all across the country have become more vocal about their encounters with sexual harrassment in the workplace. Most recently, Director James Toback has been accused of harrassing over 30 women.
Harvey Weinstein, who just left his one-week pyschological treatment, is currently under investigation by the LAPD, since more than 40 women have come forward with allegations of sexual misconduct and harrasment against him. His wife, Georgina Chapman has since left him, and he has been terminated from his production company.
Clooney is a new father to twins, a boy and a girl; while Damon is a father to four girls. Damon stated that he has taught his daughters about having strong self-esteem. "You're not going to be with them when they have to make a lot of these decisions. That you're going to have to trust that they're gonna make the right decisions ... and be able to protect themselves,"
Click here to watch their interview.
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