Harvey Weinstein Updates: Minka Kelly, Heidi Klum, Showtime, Oliver Stone, Oscars Petition & More

*Harvey Weinstein’s sexual harassment and rape allegations continue to grow by the minute, with more and more women coming forward to either share their own story about the predator, or to express solidarity and support.

Minka Kelly, who had a role in The Weinstein Company’s “Lee Daniels’ The Butler,” shared her story of turning down the mogul’s repeated propositions, but the actress also apologized for being complicit in covering it up. Read her post on Instagram below:

I met Harvey at an industry party. The following day, my agent said he wanted to see me for a general meeting. The location was set for his hotel room. I wasn’t comfortable with going to his room & said so. The following day, we sat down with an assistant in the hotel restaurant. He bullshit me for 5 minutes re: movies he could put me in, then asked the assistant to excuse us. As she walked away, he said, “I know you were feeling what I was feeling when we met the other night” and then regaled me with offers of a lavish life filled with trips around the world on private planes etc. IF I would be his girlfriend. Or, “We could just keep this professional.” All I knew was not to offend this very powerful man and to get out of the situation as quickly as possible. I told him while flattered, I’d like to keep things professional. He said “Fine. I trust you won’t tell anyone about this.” I said “Of course not. Thank you so much for taking the time to meet with me,” – the only way I could think to shut it down gracefully and excuse myself. I immediately told my agent what happened. We marveled at his audacity, reinforced my instinct not to offend him & laughed at how glad I was to get out of there. Neither of us were that surprised as this wasn’t far off from the day-to-day bullshit of being an actress. I’m sorry for obliging his orders to be complicit in protecting his behavior, which he obviously knew was wrong or he wouldn’t have asked me not to tell anyone in the first place. For making him feel ok about the gross things he was saying and that I felt my only route was to say I was flattered. For not insisting that my reps never allow anyone to take a meeting in a hotel room (with him or anyone else), because I honestly don’t know what might have happened if I’d just showed up as originally scheduled. I am appalled for all the women being told these occurrences are in any way their fault. No more Harvey Weinstein in Hollywood does not solve the problem but maybe the more voices sharing their stories and adding support to the countless women and men who have suffered through abuse of power, the less it will be tolerated.

A post shared by Minka Kelly (@minkakelly) on Oct 13, 2017 at 8:03am PDT

More of the latest news surrounding Weinstein below:

*A Change.org petition asking that Weinstein be removed from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for life has been signed by over 116,500 people as of noon today (Oct. 13). U.K. indie filmmaker Kellen Phillips launched the petition, stating: “It’s time for organizations like The Academy to take a stand against Weinstein’s behavior and set an example for others to follow.”

*Weinstein’s executive producer credit on “Project Runway” has been removed. In speaking out about the allegations, star Heidi Klum said in a statement to People Thursday, “I truly admire these brave women who are coming forward to share their stories because change cannot come unless there is a dialogue and people are held accountable. I wish I could say that the horrible stories I read about Harvey Weinstein are a rare occurrence in our society, but that is simply not the case. We would be naive to think that this behavior only happens in Hollywood.” She added, “This is one example of the more pervasive problem of the mistreatment of women around the world. I think it would be hard to find a woman — myself included — who have not had an experience where they have felt intimidated or threatened by a man using his power, position or his physical stature.”

*TWC SIDE NOTE: Weinstein’s name has already been removed as an executive producer on all TWC TV series, with the company’s title card scrapped from “Peaky Blinders” on Netflix, and History’s “Six” in addition to “Project Runway.”

*Actress Angie Everhart said Weinstein once masturbated in front of her while they were staying on the same boat at the Venice Film Festival. She recounted on LA radio station KLOS, “I had just arrived and I was sleeping, I was in my bed. I wake up and Harvey is standing above my bed. That alone is frightening.” She continued, “All of the sudden he takes his pants down and starts doing his stuff. He’s blocking the door. I can’t get out and he — I don’t know how to say this on the radio, but he finishes on the carpet of the floor.” Everhart said she reported the incident to several people on the boat — to no avail. “Nobody wanted to do anything about it because everyone was terrified of Harvey.”

*Showtime announced Friday that it will not move forward with its high-profile Weinstein Company drama “Guantanamo” if the studio continues to be involved. The project, acquired by the cable channel three months ago, was created by Daniel Voll, with Oscar winner Oliver Stone set to direct the two-hour opening episode in his first foray into scripted TV. “We are eagerly awaiting the scripts that Daniel Voll and his team are currently writing,” Showtime said in a statement to Deadline. “The project is in development and has not been greenlit yet. We do not intend to move forward with the current configuration of the project and are exploring our options.” Showtime’s statement comes hours after Stone said he will “recuse” himself from Guantanamo “as long as the Weinstein Company is involved.”

*OLIVER STONE SIDE NOTE: Stone initially came to Weinstein’s defense, saying of his disgraced colleague: “I believe a man shouldn’t be condemned by a vigilante system. It’s not easy what he’s going through, either.” Stone’s statement prompted former Playboy model Carrie Stevens to go public with her story of Stone grabbing her breast at a party 26 years ago. “I was only 22 years old. Oliver walked past me and grabbed my boob as he waltzed out the front door of a party. I still remember the cocky grin on his face like he got away with something,” the now 48-year-old wrote on Facebook Thursday, adding Weinstein and Stone are “two of a kind.”

*The Weinstein Company snapped up the rights to bring Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Broadway smash “In the Heights” to the big screen after his “Hamilton” musical became a sensation. But now, Miranda and co-creator Quiara Alegria Hudes want out. “As a woman, I can no longer do business with The Weinstein Company,” Hudes wrote in a lengthy Twitter post Thursday. “To those women who suffered directly at Harvey’s hands, I extend my sincerest compassion and support…Unfortunately, ‘In the Heights’ is tied up in the company…I hope The Weinstein Company has enough grace, in the wake of these revelations, to respect my stand as a woman, and allow us to extricate ‘In the Heights’ from them.”

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