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Cuomo Finally Decides To Return All $118,000 Of Harvey Weinstein's Donations
By
Jen Chung
Published Oct 13, 2017
Modified Oct 13, 2017
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By
Jen Chung
Published Oct 13, 2017
Modified Oct 13, 2017
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When news broke of movie producer Harvey Weinstein's decades of alleged sexual harassment last week, a number of Democratic politicians announced that they would make charitable contributions in the amount that Weinstein donated to them. However, Governor Andrew Cuomo said he would redirect only $50,000—out of the $118,204 he's received in total from Weinstein or his company.
This gave the state Republican party an opportunity to pounce. "In the dictionary next to the word 'hypocrisy' is a picture of Andrew Cuomo," party spokesperson Jessica Proud said. "Democrats across the country have had the sense to give the money back, but not Gov. Cuomo. What kind of message does it send to women and victims that despite everything we know about the abuse Harvey Weinstein inflicted on them, he still won't let go of his $60,000? His actions speak volumes."
And while he didn't specifically mention the governor, Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters that "no one in their right mind should be keeping contributions from Harvey Weinstein...Give that money back. Give it to charity. Get the hell away from it."
Cuomo's initial argument was that the $50,000 was the money donated for his 2018 gubernatorial campaign. Cuomo had told reporters on Thursday, "We returned the money Harvey donated to my gubernatorial campaign," he told reporters at a press conference on Thursday. "Obviously money he donated to past campaigns has been spent and has been gone."
The governor also argued that the public's focus shouldn't be on donations, but on fighting the culture of harassment women face: "I have three daughters. I want to make sure at the end of the day, this world is a safer, better world for my three daughters."
But hours after the governor made those statements, state Democratic party Executive Director Basil Smikle announced that the remaining Weinstein donation money would be returned, "[T]he extraordinary step will be taken of giving all contributions from prior campaigns whose committees have been closed for years so that we can dispense with the Republican ploys and focus on the real issue."
According to the Daily News, Smikle also criticized the state GOP as "shameful... to use this matter to score political points, but the real issues are far too serious to allow any distraction to overtake them... Will the Republicans accept the support of a President who himself disrespected, demeaned, and harassed women? Will they support pay equity? Where do they stand on Betsy DeVos rolling back Title IX protection for sexual assault on college campuses? Do they support Roe v. Wade? These are the answers that the people of this country deserve."
The calls to return the Hollywood producer's donations came after the NY Times' bombshell report that Weinstein, a powerful, Oscar-winning producer, sexually harassed—and settled with—many women, from actresses to employees since at least the 1990s. Then on Tuesday, the New Yorker followed up with an explosive story about Weinstein's behavior that included three rape accusations as well as audio tape of an NYPD sting operation into a sexual assault investigation. On the tape, Weinstein admits to gabbing a model's breast, "Oh, please, I'm sorry, come on, I'm used to that... I won't do it again."
Weinstein, who was fired from his company on Sunday (by email), is in Arizona to start sex addiction rehabilitation. Scotland Yard is opening an investigation into a claim that a woman was sexually abused by him, and the NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce confirmed the police department was investigating one of the rape claims. Boyce said they contacted Lucia Evans, who was an aspiring actress when she says Weinstein raped her at his Tribeca office building in 2004, "We reached out to her, and we’ll see where that case goes. The statute of limitations does not expire. That’s first-degree criminal sex act; it never expires. Not to do that would be not doing my job. So we are going to speak to her."
As for why Evans didn't report the rape, Boyce said, "[T]hat's not unusual. People feel shame, and they don’t want to come forward."
"I just put it in a part of my brain and closed the door," Evans told the New Yorker. "It was always my fault for not stopping him. I had an eating problem for years. I was disgusted with myself. It’s funny, all these unrelated things I did to hurt myself because of this one thing."
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governor cuomo
harvey weinstein
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rape
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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