Jennifer Lawrence Slams 'Predator' Harvey Weinstein for Naming Her in His Defense
Jennifer Lawrence is standing by Harvey Weinstein‘s alleged victims and slamming the disgraced movie mogul for using her name as a defense in his ongoing legal battles.
“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,” Lawrence said in a statement. “This is what predators do, and it must stop.”
She continued, “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.”
Lawrence’s statement comes after Weinstein name-dropped her and other stars, like Gwyneth Paltrow and Meryl Streep, in an attempt to prove that not every actress he worked with had a negative experience.
In a legal filing obtained by The Blast, the disgraced mogul’s lawyers used the three A-listers as examples of women who supported him or continued to work with him despite his alleged history of sexual assault and harassment.
“Such women would include, presumably, Jennifer Lawrence, who told Oprah Winfrey she had known Weinstein since she was 20 years old and said ‘he had only ever been nice to me,’” the producer’s lawyers said.
The filing come in response to a class action suit previously filed by six actresses who claim that he, along with The Weinstein Company, used his power to bully women and cover up his alleged misconduct.
However, all three actresses have condemned Weinstein since The New York Times and The New Yorker alleged decades of alleged sexual harassment and assault in October. Since then, over 60 women have come forward to accuse the producer of sexual misconduct.
Streep also responded to Weinstein’s filing and slammed him for trying to use her to his benefit.
“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 actress said in a statement Wednesday.
“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,” she added.
Weinstein later apologized for naming Lawrence and Streep.
“Mr. Weinstein acknowledges the valuable input both Meryl Streep and Jennifer Lawrence have contributed to this conversation and apologizes,” a spokesperson for the disgraced mogul said in a statement Thursday.
“Mr. Weinstein has been informed that his civil counsel responded in court to a class action lawsuit which improperly sought to include all actresses who had previously worked with Mr. Weinstein, even where those actresses have made no claim of wrongdoing.
“Even though Mr. Weinstein has worked with hundreds of actresses and actors who had only professional and mutually respectful experiences with him,” the statement adds, “Mr. Weinstein has directed in the future that no specific names be used by his counsel, even where those actors have made previous public statements about him.”
Weinstein has admitted to making advances on actresses, but vehemently denies allegations of sexual harassment and assault. A spokesperson for the producer previously told PEOPLE in a statement that “any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr. Weinstein. Mr. Weinstein has further confirmed that there were never any acts of retaliation against any women for refusing his advances.”
