Oliver Stone backtracks on his defense of Harvey Weinstein, but now faces sexual harassment allegation of his own
Oliver Stone came to Harvey Weinstein’s defense, but now he’s backing off — and he’s also facing a sexual harassment allegation of his own.
“I’ve been travelling for the last couple of days and wasn’t aware of all the women who came out to support the original story in the New York Times,” the Oscar-winning director wrote on Facebook on Friday. “After looking at what has been reported in many publications over the last couple of days, I’m appalled and commend the courage of the women who’ve stepped forward to report sexual abuse or rape. I’ll therefore recuse myself from the Guantanamo series as long as the Weinstein Company is involved.”
So why is he backtracking? Earlier, at South Korea’s Busan International Film Festival, for which he’s chair of the jury, he was asked about the sexual harassment and assault allegations against Weinstein, whose Weinstein Company, from which he was just ousted, had acquired Stone’s Guantanamo series, focusing on detainees at the infamous Cuba-based prison.
“I’m a believer that you wait until this thing gets to trial,” Stone said of Weinstein, who through a rep denied all allegations of nonconsensual sex. “I believe a man shouldn’t be condemned by a vigilante system. It’s not easy what he’s going through either. During that period he was a rival. I never did business with him and didn’t really know him. I’ve heard horror stories on everyone in the business, so I’m not going to comment on gossip. I’ll wait and see, which is the right thing to do.”
No sooner did stories about Stone’s comments on Weinstein start to circulate than the director himself faced an allegation of sexual misconduct. Carrie Stevens, an actress (Days of Our Lives and Beverly Hills, 90210) and former Playboy model, took to Twitter to claim that Stone grabbed her breast — and grinned — during a party at media mogul Ted Field’s house in the early 1990s.
When I heard about Harvey, I recalled Oliver walking past me & grabbing my boob as he walked out the front door of a party. Two of a kind!
— Carrie Stevens (@CarrieStevensXO) October 13, 2017
Stevens spoke with the Hollywood Reporter and revealed more details about the alleged incident, saying, “It was at Ted Field’s home years ago, around the time Oliver did JFK. The party was in his honor. Oliver was on his way out; Ted was seeing him to the door. Oliver spied me standing nearby and just reached out and instead of doing what a normal person does and shaking my hand, he just groped my boob and honked it like a horn and grinned and kept walking.”
Stevens described herself as “humiliated” but said she “didn’t want to complain.”
“I didn’t want Ted to think I was ungrateful for the invitation, and I was new on the scene and just navigating my way around Hollywood,” she continued. “I came from the rock ’n’ roll scene. Eric Carr from Kiss was my boyfriend, and he had just passed away. I met Ted because he produced Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure. Kiss did the soundtrack, so I met him at the premiere. Ted is a nice guy, and he knew I was having a hard time over Eric’s passing, so he invited me to his party — last thing I wanted to do was be a troublemaker.”
She said she’s relieved she was “never alone with” Stone, saying, “If he’s grab[bing] me like that in front of people, imagine what he would do in private, given the chance.”
Stevens mentioned Weinstein, who is a Hollywood pariah at this point, as well. “I am lucky I never met Harvey. Unfortunately, I have met many of their kind in this business, and it took its toll. Unfortunately, I came to believe my body parts were the only thing I had going for me — and so I did Playboy. But I’ll tell you what: I always felt protected and respected by [Hugh Hefner] and Playboy Enterprises. I do know Oliver hung out at some parties at the mansion. Thankfully, I never saw him there. But I can tell you if he ever tried to grab anyone’s boob there, Hef would have had security show him the door.”
Stone has yet to respond to Stevens’s allegation on social media, and his rep has not yet responded to Yahoo Entertainment’s request for comment.
Read more from Yahoo Entertainment:
