WASHINGTON: Harvey Weinstein, who apparently completed a week treatment after entering rehab for sexual addiction, has denied the allegations made by Kenyan-Mexican actress Lupita Nyong’o.
The movie mogul stated that he remembers the events differently, saying, “I have a different recollection of events.”
The 34-year-old actress had recently accused in a troubling piece for the New York Times, claiming that Harvey tried to “take off his pants” in his bedroom following a film screening at his house, reports metro.co.uk.
Harvey Weinstein, however, has since denied the claims in a statement from his representative, which reads: “Mr. Weinstein has a different recollection of events, but believes Lupita is a brilliant actress and a major force for the industry.”
“Last year, she sent a personal invitation to Mr. Weinstein to see her in her Broadway show Eclipsed,” it added.
Lupita has since responded to Harvey’s statement, saying she’ll give “no further comment”.
In the piece for The New York Times, the actress wrote: “Harvey led me into a bedroom – his bedroom – and announced that he wanted to give me a massage. I thought he was joking at first. He was not. For the first time since I met him, I felt unsafe.”
“I panicked a little and thought quickly to offer to give him one instead: It would allow me to be in control physically, to know exactly where his hands were at all times. ‘I began to massage his back and buy myself time to figure out how to extricate myself from this undesirable situation. Before long he said he wanted to take off his pants. I told him not to do that and informed him that it would make me extremely uncomfortable.”
“He got up anyway to do so and I headed for the door, saying that I was not at all comfortable with that. “If we’re not going to watch the film, I really should head back to school,” I said.
Lupita turned down a future offer to work on a Weinstein Company produced film in 2014. The 12 Years A Slave actress is just one of the women levelling allegations against Harvey, with Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie and Kate Beckinsale also claiming they were sexually harassed.