Hollywood was shaken this week when The New Yorker published a story detailing shocking allegations of rape and sexual assault against producer Harvey Weinstein.
The producer made a name for himself in the 1990s, working on hit films like Pulp Fiction and Shakespeare in Love, and was nicknamed "the Punisher" for his fierce negotiating style. But a number of women who worked for and with Weinstein allege that he harassed or assaulted them.
Since the story broke, more than a dozen women have shared stories alleging that Weinstein abused or harassed them, including actresses like Rose McGowan, Ashley Judd, Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie and Cara Delevingne. Italian model Ambra Gutierrez has even shared a taped conversation, where Weinstein admits to groping her.
In a statement to The New York Times, Weinstein blames his behavior on his upbringing in the '60s and '70s, "when all the rules about behavior and workplaces were different. That was the culture then." The statement also said "I so respect all women and regret what happened."
But as everyone questions how Weinstein's behavior managed to go unnoticed for so long, the actions of NBC News executives are also being put under a spotlight. A new report reveals that as evidence piled up about Weinstein executives tried to "kill" the story that broke the case wide open...
NBC News reporter Ronan Farrow, the son of director Woody Allen and actress Mia Farrow, started investigating rumors about Weinstein in January.
Later that month he managed to tape an interview with actress Rose McGowan, detailing her allegations that Weinstein sexually harassed her in a hotel room at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival. By the summer, Farrow had managed to collect the audio recording of Weinstein confessing to groping an actress.
But in August, when Farrow arranged to tape an interview with a woman who claimed she had been raped by Weinstein, NBC news reportedly refused to cover the cost of the interview. Farrow wound up paying out his own pocket to tape it, and took the story to the New Yorker magazine shortly afterwards.
Sources tell HuffPost that despite Farrow's growing list of sources, the network refused to air his story and claimed he didn't have enough proof. NBC News president Noah Oppenheim says Farrow's story never ran because NBC "didn't feel that we had all the elements that we needed to air."
"The notion that we would try to cover for a powerful person is deeply offensive to all of us," he added at an NBC News town hall. "We were on that long list of places that chased this thing, tried to nail it, but weren't ultimately the ones who broke it."
The scandal is taking its toll on Weinstein, who's wife has announced she is divorcing him.
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