MAKING A STATEMENT
Creepy Harvey Weinstein ‘Casting Couch’ statue unveiled in Hollywood just feet from where stars will gather for Sunday’s Oscars
DISGRACED movie producer Harvey Weinstein won't be going to the Oscars, but his presence will still be felt in Hollywood.
A creepy statue called 'Casting Couch' has been unveiled on Hollywood Boulevard just feet from where the stars will congregate for the Academy Awards ceremony this Sunday.
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'Casting Couch' took two months to produce and depicts the shamed 65-year-old wearing a bathrobe, sitting on the gold-coloured bench and holding an Oscar.
In a statement on his Facebook page, Los Angeles-based artist Plastic Jesus - who created the statue with artist Joshua“Ginger” Monro- said: "Harvey Weinstein became an icon in the entertainment industry. His power and influence was almost without compare.
"However, whilst many thought the ‘casting couch’ was a thing of the past it was clearly still a part of the Hollywood culture.
"For many years the exploitation of many hopefuls and established names in the industry was brushed under the carpet with their complaints of harassment and sexual abuse being ignore or worse.
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"Hopefully now in the light of recent allegations, against many leading figures in Hollywood the industry will clean up it’s act.”
While he has not been charged by police, Weinstein is the subject of sordid allegations spanning decades by more than 60 women including sexual assault and rape following bombshell investigations by The New York Times and The New Yorker in 2017.
Gwyneth Paltrow, Salma Hayek, Angelina Jolie, Kate Beckinsale, Rose McGowan, Ashley Judd, Cara Delevingne and Uma Thurman are among the high-profile figures to join the group of women making claims against the movie mogul, which he has "unequivocally denied".
The former Hollywood producer is also being investigated by British cops over 15 sexual misconduct allegations dating between the 1980s and 2015 made by ten women in the UK.
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Following the allegations, Weinstein was fired from his production company the Weinstein Company, suspended from the BAFTAs, expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and resigned from the Directors Guild of America.
His British wife Georgina Chapman also announced she was leaving him saying: "My heart breaks for all the women who have suffered tremendous pain."
In February, 2018, it emerged that New York prosecutors filed a lawsuit against the Weinstein Company, alleging the studio failed to protect some staff from the movie mogul.
In court papers, state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman says the Weinstein Company "repeatedly broke New York law by failing to protect its employees from pervasive sexual harassment, intimidation and discrimination".
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