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Even on Trial, Harvey Weinstein Is Trying to Influence the Press
Weinstein’s ‘Proper Narrative’ Powerpoint shows how abusive men are able to control how they’re covered
Harvey Weinstein expects to retain his power. The disgraced producer, whose very public downfall catalyzed the #MeToo movement, stands accused of sexual assault and harassment by 100 women. His New York rape trial, which started this week, could plausibly put him in prison; he will also face a second rape trial in California. Yet Harvey Weinstein still believes he can get away with it, and he may not be wrong: His publicity team has been sending a victim-smearing PowerPoint document, entitled “The Proper Narrative for Addressing the Harvey Weinstein Case,” to reporters since at least July. Until this week, none of the outlets who received the document publicized its existence. If Weinstein makes his comeback, it will be because he was able to control the narrative — a privilege that’s nothing new to powerful men.
The document’s existence was first reported by Irin Carmon at New York. It is a singularly sloppy piece of work. Its “justifications” are largely just misogynistic assertions: for example, the idea that feminism is brainwashing women into believing that consensual sex is rape (“given the pressures that many women today feel from the various laudatory movements against workplace imbalances, the notion that consensual relations are being reinterpreted cannot be overlooked”), or arguing that Weinstein’s victims were inviting his advances because of what they were wearing, or pointing out that some accusers were seen being polite to Weinstein at social functions. (Of course, no sexual harassment victim could possibly feel the need to appease her very powerful boss after the fact.) For that matter, it seems very little work was put into the document itself. It contains typos and edit notes still embedded in the text. The supposedly “damning” photos of Weinstein’s accusers still have Getty Image watermarks. The publicist who sent it to Carmon, Juda Engelmayer, did not bother to specify that it was off the record — you’d think measures would be taken to keep a document like this secret, but Weinstein’s team evidently trusted that reporters would stay quiet without being asked. They appear to have been right: Though we…
