Harvey Weinstein Inserts Himself Into Blake Lively Drama

From behind bars, Harvey Weinstein is providing his assist to the embattled actor-director whereas likening Baldoni’s state of affairs to his personal.

The convicted rapist, presently serving over a decade in jail for a number of intercourse crimes, informed TMZ on Wednesday that he believes Baldoni has been unfairly focused by The New York Instances.

The outlet’s December 2024 exposé, “‘We Can Bury Anybody’: Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine,” included partial messages from Baldoni’s PR workforce that appeared to counsel they might “bury anybody,” together with Energetic, in what was portrayed as a calculated smear campaign.

Baldoni and his workforce fired again with a $250 million libel lawsuit towards the Instances, accusing the publication of misrepresenting personal messages, which they allege have been “cherry-picked” and manipulated to suit a false narrative.

“Watching Justin Baldoni take authorized motion towards the New York Instances and its reporters, accusing them of manipulating communications and ignoring proof that countered Ms. Energetic’s claims, hit me arduous,” Weinstein mentioned. “It introduced again the whole lot I skilled when the Instances reported on me in 2017. They did the identical factor: cherry-picked what match their story and ignored vital context and info that might have challenged the narrative.”

Weinstein’s reference factors on to the Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation that uncovered many years of sexual abuse allegations towards him, reporting that helped ignite the #MeToo movement.

In response to Weinstein’s newest statements, The New York Instances defended the integrity of its reporting.

“Our complete investigation into the allegations of sexual harassment and abuse towards Mr. Weinstein was rigorously reported over many months and primarily based on on-the-record interviews, authorized settlements paid to accusers and different paperwork,” spokesperson Danielle Rhoades mentioned.

“Not one of the info in our protection are in dispute. Mr. Weinstein acknowledged his misconduct in a press release that was printed in full in The Times,” Rhoades added. “He’s since been criminally convicted of rape and sexual assault.”

Weinstein’s 2020 New York conviction was overturned in 2024, however a retrial is ready for April 15.

He’s additionally interesting a separate 16-year sentence from his 2023 California conviction for forcible rape and different expenses.

“I ought to have stood up and fought again then. I ought to have had the braveness to talk out towards the best way the reality was twisted. That failure nonetheless haunts me,” Weinstein mentioned on Wednesday.

He additionally added that he shall be “watching Baldoni and Energetic’s case carefully,” suggesting that the end result “issues to anybody who’s ever been on the receiving finish of a media takedown.”

Weinstein’s public endorsement of Baldoni comes as a shock to many, contemplating his previous connection to each Energetic and her interior circle. The 2 have been as soon as photographed collectively at public occasions, and in 2014, Page Six reported that Weinstein shared the identical publicist as Energetic, Leslie Sloane.

Sources on the time claimed Weinstein and MSG govt Jim Dolan financially backed Sloane’s transition into founding her personal publicity agency, Imaginative and prescient PR. Weinstein was even quoted saying, “Leslie’s subsequent transfer goes to rock the trade.”

However a rep for Sloane now disputes any suggestion of a working relationship with the disgraced producer. “Leslie Sloane by no means represented Harvey Weinstein,” the spokesperson informed Web page Six. “In 2014, after Sloane left BWR, she and Weinstein engaged in preliminary discussions regarding a possible working relationship with their firms however that by no means got here to fruition.”