During an interview to launch her new podcast, Rosanna Arquette warned that there are more Harvey Weinsteins in Hollywood. Arquette told the Daily Beast, “‘It would just make things worse right now [to name them] but all in good time, my dear. Right now is not the time for it. I do what I do and don’t have any regrets, because what has been exposed is just the tip of the iceberg. Along with Harvey, there are a lot more Harvey Weinsteins, unfortunately. It’s like a spiderweb, and there are of spiders in that web.’
Arquette Alleges Unwanted Sexual Advances from Weinstein
The 61-year-old actress had first-hand experience with Weinstein’s dark side that eventually landed him in prison but not after ruining the lives of young actresses. According to the Daily Mail, “Arquette claimed, in several interviews in the last few years, that in the early 1990s, Weinstein made sexual advances towards her at The Beverley Hills Hotel and when she rebuffed him said: ‘Rosanna, you’re making a very big mistake’.
She said she was supposed to have dinner with the producer but was invited up to his room, causing her heart to start ‘racing.’
‘I was never safe,’ she said.
Arquette stood in the doorway of Weinstein’s room and didn’t enter, prompting him to tell her the choice was a ‘very big mistake’ as he named actresses who he claimed went along with his advances to further their careers.
She claimed he later tried to ‘ruin’ her career by spreading rumors that she was ‘a pain in the ass’ to work with, putting directors off from hiring her for roles.
Common Power Dynamic Re-emerges During Weinstein Case
Weinstein used his power as a Hollywood director to have his way with scores of aspiring actresses in a sleazy “pay-to-play” scenario that lasted for decades until the “MeToo” movement brought it to a screeching halt.
Arquette’s declaration shouldn’t come as a shocker to anyone since Weinstein was not the first and unfortunately probably won’t be the last to take advantage of others who are at a disadvantage. In 1987, Richard Marx wrote a song about it entitled, “Don’t Mean Nothin‘” If you read the lyrics the words are eerily prescient to what has happened more than 3 decades later.
Until the penalties, both civil and criminal, for sexual harassment outweigh the benefits, people like Harvey Weinstein will continue to prey upon those whose careers someone like him can ruin. People like Weinstein don’t change unless they are forced to change.
