Megyn Kelly opened her show Monday with a tour-de-force interview with Lauren Sivan, a television reporter who came forward on Friday to accuse Hollywood titan Harvey Weinstein of sexual misconduct.
“He immediately exposed himself, and began pleasuring himself and I just stood there dumbfounded,” Sivan told Kelly after breaking her silence to journalist Yashar Ali over the weekend. “I was so shocked. I could not believe what I was witnessing. It was disgusting and kind of pathetic really.”
In a tense retelling of an encounter she said happened a decade ago, Sivan described how Weinstein had lured her into the kitchen of Cafe Socialista, a restaurant he owned in New York, blocked the door, and masturbated in front of her.
“He cornered me in this vestibule. He leaned in and tried to kiss me, which I immediately rebuffed, and said, ‘Wow wow wow, I had no idea what this was. I’m sorry, I have a very serious boyfriend and I am not interested,’ and I thought it would end there,” she said. “But that’s when he blocked the entrance, or exit for me. and said, ‘Well then just stand there and be quiet.’ And that’s when I realized.”
Kelly is no stranger to the subject. While a star anchor at Fox News, she reported to investigators that then-CEO Roger Ailes had sexually harassed her and helped put an end to his career at the network.
According to a bombshell report from the New York Times last Thursday, Weinstein has settled sexual harassment suits with at least eight different women over the course of his decades-long career.
“More than the disgusting act itself, which, of course, was gross, the demeaning part of it all, that just 20 minutes earlier he was having this great conversation with me,” said Sivan. “He finished and I said, ‘Can I go now?’ And he said, ‘Yes, let’s go let’s both go.'”
A Short History of Harvey Weinstein's Oscar Campaigns (Photos)
Indie mogul Harvey Weinstein, who was fired last October from his position of co-CEO of The Weinstein Company, revolutionized the Oscar race both at TWC and his previous company, Miramax.
Harvey Weinstein first got into the Oscar race in a big way in 1990 with a "guerilla" campaign for the art-house drama "My Left Foot" by setting up meet-and-greets between Academy members and film talent. The result? Oscar wins for stars Daniel Day Lewis and Brenda Fricker.
Miramax snagged its first Best Picture victory for 1996's "The English Patient" -- which earned a total of nine awards, including for director Anthony Minghella and lead actress Juliette Binoche.
Weinstein built an awareness campaign for the then-unknown Billy Bob Thornton for 1996's "Sling Blade" -- which yielded an Oscar for his adapted screenplay and a nomination for Best Actor.
Miramax pulled off a double coup with 1997's "Good Will Hunting," delivering Robin Williams his long-awaited first Oscar and a rare screenplay prize for two twentysomething newbies, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon.
One year later, Miramax pulled out all the stops after landing two Best Picture nominations, including for the Italian-language drama "Life Is Beautiful." According to Peter Biskind's book "Down and Dirty Pictures," star-auteur Roberto Begnini "moved into L.A. for a month during the peak of the voting period." The film came away with three Oscars, including Best Actor.
That year, Miramax pulled off a bigger upset when "Shakespeare in Love" seized Best Picture over Steven Spielberg's heavily favored "Saving Private Ryan." "Shakespeare" won a total of seven Academy Awards, including for actresses Gwyneth Paltrow and Judi Dench.
Miramax surprised many by landing yet another Best Picture nomination for the 2000 Juliette Binoche-Johnny Depp bonbon "Chocolat."
In 2003, the Weinsteins had a hand in four of the five Best Picture nominees: "Chicago," "The Hours," "Gangs of New York" and "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" (on which they had producer credits). "Chicago" won the top prize -- as well as five others.
In 2004, Miramax took advantage of a careful reading of Academy rules and scored four nominations for the Brazilian inner-city drama "City of God" -- even though the film had failed to land a Best Foreign Language film nomination the previous year.
The Weinsteins exited Disney-owned Miramax and founded their own company in 2005 -- and got right back in the Oscar race with two nominations for one of their first releases, the Felicity Huffman vehicle "Transamerica."
By 2009, The Weinstein Company landed its first Best Picture contender with "The Reader" -- and also snagged Kate Winslet her first Oscar as Best Actress in a role that many thought was more of a supporting part.
Two years later, TWC scored its first Best Picture win for "The King's Speech" -- as well as three other awards, including Best Actor for Colin Firth.
The following year, Weinstein pulled off another coup: landing five Oscars, including Best Picture for the mostly silent, black-and-white ode to Old Hollywood, "The Artist."
In 2013, TWC again had two horses in the Best Picture race: Quentin Tarantino's "Django Unchained" and "Silver Linings Playbook" -- which landed Jennifer Lawrence the prize for Best Actress.
Last year, Weinstein successfully landed six nominations -- including Best Picture -- for Garth Davis' tear-jerker "Lion." But just as Open Road won the top prize in 2016 for "Spotlight," another upstart, A24, used a lot of Harvey touches to score the indie "Moonlight" a Best Picture win.
1 of 16
This is the first Oscar season in decades without the disgraced mogul who challenged the major studios and changed the game at the Academy
Indie mogul Harvey Weinstein, who was fired last October from his position of co-CEO of The Weinstein Company, revolutionized the Oscar race both at TWC and his previous company, Miramax.
