HE'S A BUM
Dame Judi Dench blasts ‘horrifying’ abuse of sex pest movie mogul Harvey Weinstein
Acting legend Dame Judi offers sympathy to female stars amid mounting sexism allegations against the Hollywood producer
DAME Judi Dench condemned sex pest movie mogul Harvey Weinstein yesterday as other stars stayed resolutely silent.
The Oscar-winner, who once had a temporary tattoo of the words 'JD loves HW' on her bottom for a joke, said his behaviour was horrifying.
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On Sunday Weinstein was sacked from his movie firm amid a growing mountain of lurid harassment and sexism allegations.
Several actresses and showbiz women have claimed he made sordid sexual advances and discriminated based on their gender throughout his career.
But Brit stars of his latest film The Current War, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Holland and Nicholas Hoult, all refused to respond when asked by The Sun for their comments.
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Meryl Streep, who appeared in several Weinstein films, including The Iron Lady, labelled his behaviour disgraceful and an abuse of power.
Oscar-winner Meryl, 68, said: “The intrepid women who raised their voices to expose this abuse are our heroes.”
Brit star Emma Thompson, who clashed with Weinstein over his verbal abuse of actress Hayley Atwell on the set of Brideshead Revisited, called him “a predatory man”.
Emma, 58, said: “Male predatory behaviour is everywhere, not just in the film industry.
“Speaking out is the only way we’ll tackle it.”
Fellow Brit Romola Garai also revealed that the Hollywood mogul left her feeling "violated" after an audition in his hotel room.
The actress, best known for Atonement, said: "Like every other woman in the industry, I've had an 'audition' with Harvey Weinstein, where I'd actually already had the audition but you had to be personally approved by him.
"So I had to go to his hotel room in the Savoy, and he answered the door in his bathrobe.
"I was only 18. I felt violated by it, it has stayed very clearly in my memory."
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She told he often put desperate wannabe stars in "humiliating situations".
During the encounter she sat on a chair and the pair discussed film.
She added: "The transaction was just that I was there. The point was that he could get a young woman to do that, that I didn't have a choice, that it was humiliating for me and that he had the power.
"It was an abuse of power."
Oscar winner Kate Winslet joined the fray writing in Variety: "The fact that these women are starting to speak out about the gross misconduct of one of our most important and well regarded film producers, is incredibly brave and has been deeply shocking to hear.
"The way Harvey Weinstein has treated these vulnerable, talented young women is NOT the way women should ever EVER deem to be acceptable or commonplace in ANY workplace.
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"I have no doubt that for these women this time has been, and continues to be extremely traumatic.
"I fully embrace and salute their profound courage, and I unequivocally support this level of very necessary exposure of someone who has behaved in reprehensible and disgusting ways.
"His behaviour is without question disgraceful and appalling and very, very wrong.
"I had hoped that these kind of stories were just made up rumours, maybe we have all been naïve.
"And it makes me so angry. There must be ‘no tolerance’ of this degrading, vile treatment of women in ANY workplace anywhere in the world."
Glen Close, who worked with Weinstein on a number of occasions also chimed in, saying she had been "aware of vague rumours" for "many years".
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The Fatal Attraction star said in a statement to the : "Harvey has always been decent to me, but now that the rumours are being substantiated, I feel angry and darkly sad.
"I'm angry, not just at him and the conspiracy of silence around his actions, but also that the 'casting couch' phenomenon, so to speak, is still a reality in our business and in the world: the horrible pressure, the awful expectation put on a woman when a powerful, egotistical, entitled bully expects sexual favours in exchange for a job.
"I applaud the monumental courage of the women who have spoken up.
"I hope that their stories and the reportage that gave them their voices represents a tipping point, that more stories will be told and that change will follow."
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He was fired by the Weinstein Company "in light of new information about misconduct by Harvey Weinstein that has emerged in the past few days", following revelations initially uncovered by the .
On Friday The Sun reported how Brit actress Jessica Hynes — star of Spaced and W1A — claimed she was turned down for a role in a Weinstein production because she refused to take a screen test in a bikini when she was 19.
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Weinstein has acknowledged that "the way I’ve behaved with colleagues in the past has caused a lot of pain, and I sincerely apologise for it".
Dame Judi told The Sun Online: "Whilst there is no doubt that Harvey Weinstein has helped and championed my film career for the past twenty years, I was completely unaware of these offences which are, of course, horrifying.
"I offer my sympathy to those who have suffered, and whole-hearted support to those who have spoken out."
Dame Judi got her tattoo after the legendary producer agreed to distribute the 1997 film Mrs Brown in the United States.
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She told an audience at the 2014 LA BAFTA awards: "Harvey Weinstein, whose tattoo I still have on my bum, said it would be a proper film, and it was".
Weinstein told the Graham Norton Show in 2015 how Dame Judi showed him the tat in the middle of a Hollywood restaurant.
"She took me to the Four Seasons restaurant, she said: 'I've got a surprise, you're a guy who has everything, and I didn't know what to get you.
"I just sat down and she said: 'Now for the man who has everything'... and Judi Dench unbuckles her pants and on her bum, as you say, 'JD loves HW'.
"She said, 'I put my name on your ass'", Weinstein said.
A spokesman for Theresa May said today that the PM is concerned by the allegations" against Weinstein, while there are mounting calls for him to be stripped of his honorary CBE.
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