Scott Rosenberg, a screenwriter who has worked on Miramax films such as “Beautiful Girls” and “Things to do in Denver When You’re Dead,” has taken to Facebook to voice his opinions on the Harvey Weinstein scandal that has been rocking Hollywood for the past few weeks.
Rosenberg says that he was at Miramax for what he calls the “golden age,” when films like “Pulp Fiction,” “Shakespeare in Love” and “Good Will Hunting” were made and released. He also said that he was young and “sure he had struck gold” by working with the Weinstein brothers, Harvey and Bob.
Now, however, he sees it differently.
https://www.facebook.com/scott.rosenberg.102/posts/10155334054132885?pnref=story
“Everybody-f—ing-knew,” he wrote, saying that Harvey Weinstein had “a certain pattern of overly-aggressive behavior that was rather dreadful.”
“We knew about the man’s hunger; his fervor; his appetite. There was nothing secret about this voracious rapacity; like a gluttonous ogre out of the Brothers Grimm,” Rosenberg continued. “All couched in vague promises of potential movie roles.”
“And to me, if Harvey’s behavior is the most reprehensible thing one can imagine, a not-so-distant second is the current flood of sanctimonious denial and condemnation that now crashes upon these shores of rectitude in gloppy tides of bullshit righteousness,” he continued. “Because everybody-f—ing-knew.”
Rosenberg clarified that while the full extent of Weinstein’s misconduct was not known, something “was rotten.”
“Not the rapes. Not the shoving against the wall. Not the potted-plant f—ing”–he and several others did know that “something was bubbling under. Something odious. Something rotten.”
Rosenberg added that at the time, if he had wanted to do something, he would have been at a loss, because most of the accusers did not want to come forward, Weinstein “owned the press” and the internet wasn’t what it is today.
He said that although some actress friends told him horrible stories about Weinstein, he chose to believe it to be “a grotesque display of power; a dude misreading the room and making a lame-if-vile pass.”
He said that he is “sorry and ashamed,” because “in the end, I was complicit.”
“As the old joke goes: We needed the eggs,” he said. “Okay, maybe we didn’t NEED them. But we really, really, really, really LIKED them eggs. So we were willing to overlook what the Golden Goose was up to, in the murky shadows behind the barn … And for that, I am eternally sorry.”
“To all of the women that had to suffer this… I am eternally sorry,” he repeated. “I’ve worked with Mira and Rosanna and Lysette. I’ve known Rose and Ashley and Claire for years… Their courage only hangs a lantern on my shame. And I am eternally sorry to all those who suffered in silence all this time. And have chosen to remain silent today.”
Read Rosenberg’s full post on Facebook.