Two weeks after Harvey Weinstein was convicted of sex crimes, the disgraced studio mogul landed back in the news—courtesy of newly unsealed court documents, according to Vanity Fair.
The collections revealed Harvey’s correspondences with Hollywood power brokers and his brother, Bob, as well as his bizarre declaration that the beloved Friends actor Jennifer Aniston 'should be killed.'
But what did Jennifer do to deserve such a treatment by Harvey?
According to a 2017 New York Times report, Harvey heard a rumor that Jennifer had accused the executive of groping her. In an email to his representative, Harvey wrote, “Jen Aniston should be killed.”
This was news to Jennifer’s representative, Stephen Huvane, who told the outlet that Harvey never assaulted Jennifer. “He never got close enough to her to touch her,” Stephen explained. “She has never been alone with him. We have no idea about the email, since it wasn’t sent to us, nor do we have any comment to make on it.”
The documents contained other intriguing mentions as well. Among them were those about Harvey's brother, Bob Weinstein.
Bob was furious with his brother after Harvey called TMZ from rehab, where he was being treated for sex addiction. Bob wrote him a blunt email, observing that he didn’t seem to grasp the trauma he imparted on the women he allegedly assaulted. (More than 90 women eventually accused Harvey, who denied all accusations of non-consensual acts.)
Bob also expressed skepticism that Harvey 'had consensual sex with all those poor victimized women.'
“You deserve a lifetime achievement award for the sheer savagery and immorality and in-humanness, for the acts u have perpetrated,” Bob wrote. “I pray there is a real hell, that’s where u belong.”
The document also revealed that prior to being fired from the company he co-founded, Harvey sought support from Hollywood heavyweights.
Among those Harvey contacted: Ronald Meyer, the vice chairman of NBC Universal; Tim Cook, chief executive of Apple; Ted Sarandos, chief content officer of Netflix; Amazon founder Jeff Bezos; and billionaire former mayor Mike Bloomberg.
“My board is thinking of firing me,” he wrote. “All I’m asking for is, let me take a leave of absence and get into heavy therapy and counseling whether it be in a facility or somewhere,” he pleaded in an email. “Allow me to resurrect myself with a second chance.”
Harvey also sought advice from Joe Biden’s top adviser.
Anita Dunn, a democratic operative responded to Harvey, advising him to accept his fate graciously, and "not seek to deny or discredit those who your behaviour has affected.”
A.J. Benza, a former gossip columnist for the New York Daily News, had asked Weinstein if he had been a victim of sexual abuse himself, to which he had insinuated that he was abused as a boy.
According to court documents, Harvey replied via text, “It is an incident when I was a very young boy.” After, however, he told Benza to delete the message.
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