Harvey Weinstein Dragged Meryl Streep And Jennifer Lawrence Into One Of His Lawsuits, And They’re Not Happy

According to Page Six, Harvey Weinstein and his team is trying to get a judge to throw out a New York class-action sexual harassment lawsuit from six lesser-known actresses. Harvey’s team responded to the lawsuit in court documents and used Meryl Streep and Jennifer Lawrence as examples of two actresses he didn’t harass or assault. If the case ever goes to trial, don’t expect to see Meryl and Jennifer holding up Justice4Harv signs while wearing Free Harv t-shirts on his side of the courtroom, because they’re pissed.

The six actresses,  Louisette Geiss, Katherine Kendall, Zoe Brock, Sarah Ann Thomas, Melissa Sagemiller, and Nannette Klatt, all claim in their lawsuit that Harvey Weinstein harassed them over a total three decades by demanding massages, asking to see their breasts, masturbating in front of them, and appearing in only a bathrobe. They’re hoping a class action status will enable them to include “all women who met with Harvey Weinstein in person to audition for or to discuss involvement in a project to be produced or distributed by either The Weinstein Company Holdings or Miramax.”

Harvey has denied all six women’s claims. His lawyers went to court on Tuesday to ask for their class action status be blocked. They argued that it would be impossible to include all women who have ever met with Harvey regarding a project for TWC or Miramax. They say that specifying “all women” doesn’t take into account the women who met with Harvey and didn’t end up on the bad side of his bathrobe. They specifically reference Jennifer Lawrence and Meryl Streep, who both stated publicly that Harvey never acted improperly to them (but who both condemned his alleged behavior).

Despite never experiencing Harvey’s awfulness and claiming to be in the dark about it, Meryl has been vocal about how disgusted she was to hear about Harvey. Deadline says Meryl issued a statement denouncing Harvey name-checking her in the laawsuit:

“Harvey Weinstein’s attorneys use of my (true) statement – that he was not sexually transgressive or physically abusive in our business relationship – as evidence that he was not abusive with many OTHER women is pathetic and exploitive. The criminal actions he is accused of conducting on the bodies of these women are his responsibility, and if there is any justice left in the system he will pay for them – regardless of how many good movies, made by many good people, Harvey was lucky enough to have acquired or financed.”

E! News says that Jennifer released a statement yesterday as well. Like Meryl’s, there’s no confusion about how she feels:

“Harvey Weinstein and his company are continuing to do what they have always done, which is to take things out of context and use them for their own benefit. This is what predators do, and it must stop. For the record, while I was not victimized personally by Harvey Weinstein, I stand behind the women who have survived his terrible abuse and I applaud them in using all means necessary to bring him to justice whether through criminal or civil actions. Time’s up.”

According to E!, Gwyneth Paltrow was also listed by Harvey Weinstein’s lawyers as an example. Gwyneth’s situation is a little different. After the allegations against Harvey first broke, Gwyneth came forward with her own story of Harvey, a massage, and a hotel room, and that she was “expected” to keep the secret. Harvey’s lawyers argued that Gwyneth “was not so offended that she refused to work with Weinstein again,” and her career did not suffer as a result of turning down his alleged advances. Gwyneth hasn’t responded yet.

It seems like Harvey’s team is grasping and trying to find an example of an actress who supports him. He could always get Team Harvey member Morrissey to put on Gwyneth Paltrow drag and defend him in a press conference. Or he could ask his defender Lindsay Lohan, but I doubt even she would publicly defend him at this point since he’s reportedly going broke and doesn’t even have the clout to produce a zero-budget community theater production of Mean Girls 2 starring her.

Pic: Wenn.com