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[PsychoSoldier]

According to an article on The Wrap by former New York Times journalist Sharon Waxman, an earlier story on Harvey Weinstein was gutted, specifically focused around an Italian executive alleged to have handled getting women for him.

An excerpt, though the whole thing is worth a read.

I also tracked down a woman in London who had been paid off after an unwanted sexual encounter with Weinstein. She was terrified to speak because of her non-disclosure agreement, but at least we had evidence of a pay-off.

The story I reported never ran.

After intense pressure from Weinstein, which included having Matt Damon and Russell Crowe call me directly to vouch for Lombardo and unknown discussions well above my head at the Times, the story was gutted.

MOD ABUSE EDIT

We should be clear that there is no claim that Damon or Crowe (at this point) helped bury a story about unwanted sexual advances by Weinstein. They called to vouch for Mr. Lomabardo (the former head of Miramax Italy) relating to if he was doing actual work on behalf of Miramax. From the authors original NYT story:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/13/b...es-exchief-in-italy-saying-he-had-2-jobs.html

In a statement and through company associates, Miramax said Mr. Lombardo filled a useful role while heading Miramax Italy, acting as a handler for talent during shoots in Italy of movies like "Gangs of New York," starting a film distribution operation, helping negotiate production space and the collection of overdue payments, overseeing development deals with Italian directors, and organizing Italian publicity tours for stars like Rachael Leigh Cook, Matt Damon and Russell Crowe. He also arranged the introduction of Miramax to financiers of a computer animation company called Wild Brain, based in San Francisco, which resulted in a co-production deal and gave Miramax the right to acquire a stake in Wild Brain.

But Mr. Crowe, the actor, in an e-mailed statement credited Mr. Lombardo with organizing an Italian premiere for his film "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World," which "just happened to include almost every" Oscar voter residing in Italy.

 

[chubigans]

Man, everybody sucks.

 

[Geist-]

Milkshake ducked.

 

[Khansolo1]

Not MATT Damon nooooooooo.
Fucking hell, everyone is bad now

 

[robotrock]

Someone post that list of directors and actors signing for Roman Polanski

 

[blackflag]

I just assume everyone sucks and I'm rarely surprised.

 

[geestack]

matt damon was a punk all along eh? guess ben affleck was better after all smh

 

[Ushojax]

Hollywood is 90% scumbags, this is not news.

 

[strafer]

Dammit Matt.

I hope Ben Affleck isn't involved.

 

[Subpar Spatula]

It looks like I'm the only decent human in the world.

 

[belushy]

Wtf Damon.... so disappointing.

 

[Random Human]

It wouldn’t surprise me at all if some other big names are roped into this story soon, and maybe this is the start?

 

[-Plasma Reus-]

Never expected MATT DAMON.

 

[Not]

Tom Hanks didn't though, right?

 

[Jombie]

And this story gets uglier. Shame on them if true.

 

[Linkura]

Someone post that list of directors and actors signing for Roman Polanski

Even better:

Never idolize people you don't know personally.

 

[Bruce Springsteen]

Not the least bit surprised, this is the same Hollywood that has protected the image of Woody Allen and Roman Polanski at all costs

 

[7Th]

You don't become a millionaire being a good person.

 

[Sweeney Tom]

Where's the gif of everyone standing and clapping for Polanski, and a couple noteworthy figures doing so while looking at each other as if to make sure they're clapping

ed: Up above

 

[entremet]

Crowe is a known jerk. Shame on Damon.

 

[polyh3dron]

Of course they didn't mind looking the other way when it was a studio mogul that could give them more work and help advance their careers. It's shitty. But this isn't some phenomenon unique to the film business. These types of predators exist in positions of power in many industries and have enablers under them looking out for themselves in them as well. Just look at Fox News for another example. Or Uber, for that matter. They probably assert their power over others in many other questionable ways not limited to sexual harassment too.

 

[Hellwarden]

People in Hollywood aren't your friends.

They don't care about you.

 

[Cutebrute]

I would love to see Jimmy Kimmel go in on Matt Damon for this one.

 

[D i Z]

Wouldn't be surprised tbh. Both these dudes are shifty as fuck at times.

 

[KHarvey16]

They vouched for the Italian guy who allegedly secured Russian escorts for Weinstein. How does he fit into the sexual harassment and abuse story? I’m a little fuzzy on how this ties together exactly and who was doing what.

 

[Lunaray]

Shouldn't be news to people who followed the Roman Polanski stories. Hollywood always protects its own.

 

[pswii60]

You don't become a millionaire being a good person.

If only people would remember this.

To become successful in Hollywood you literally must be a sociopath.

Even better:

Never idolize people you don't know personally.

And never meet your idol.

 

[Megasoum]

 

[Gattsu25]

Not MATT Damon nooooooooo.
Fucking hell, everyone is bad now

https://youtu.be/LkAoZggaWZE?t=7

 

[Spiritual_Chaos]

Matt Damon?

 

[Brakke]

matt damon was a punk all along eh? guess ben affleck was better after all smh

There’s no world in which Ben Affleck wins a prize for treating women well.

 

[clearacell]

Though they didnt directly do the deeds, allowing it to go on is pretty fucken bad.

 

[Ridley327]

Damon is not a tremendous surprise given that Good Will Hunting put Damon on the map as an actor and got him an Oscar for the screenplay, but I'm kind of shocked that Russell Crowe would be inclined to stand up for Harvey, since the only big thing they ever did together was Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, made well after Crowe became a major actor in Hollywood.

Granted, Crowe's reputation as it is shouldn't surprise anyone that's followed his public tantrums, but it's still strange to see him be used as muscle.

 

[BoogieWoogie]

2017 - Everything's shit.

 

[Aselith]

They vouched for the Italian guy who allegedly secured Russian escorts for Weinstein. How does he fit into the sexual harassment and abuse story? I’m a little fuzzy on how this ties together exactly and who was doing what.

He was killing the story on Weinstein's rape in this case so them vouching for him meant they were covering a rape

 

[ClosingADoor]

Oh, come on. How the fuck do you even go along with that. "Yo Matt, buddy, mind calling the papers to tell them I am a real stand up fellow and no sexual harasser? Thanks dude!"

Edit: It does seem a bit unclear what exactly happened. Did Damon and Crowe phone about the Lombardo guy and him hiring escorts, or about Weinstein and the pay off? The article should clear up who knew what a bit.

 

[Lil'DigiOp]

You don't become a millionaire being a good person.

I need everyone on GAF to read this sentence and burn it into your mind.

In our capitalist society... you are fucking "somebody" over for overt wealth. You may know them... you may not. They are still getting fucked if you're gunning for monetary success

 

[StoOgE]

They vouched for the Italian guy who allegedly secured Russian escorts for Weinstein. How does he fit into the sexual harassment and abuse story? I'm a little fuzzy on how this ties together exactly and who was doing what.

Yeah, this feels like the former times writer is trying to conflate two different stories about Weinstein being a dirtbag.

Having people vouch for the credibility of an Italian producer over reports he may have hired escorts doesn't seem to be the same thing.

I mean, this story hinges on the head of Miramax Italy being a sex peddler exclusively for Weinstein with no other job functions which seems far fetched even for Hollywood.

 

[jetjevons]

Everyone pouncing on Damon. Is it possible Damon wasn’t lying and that HIS experience of Lombardi was decent? No. He’s gotta be a scum bag.

 

[theechrisfox]

I would love to see Jimmy Kimmel go in on Matt Damon for this one.

Ran out of time for that one, probably.

 

[pushbyte]

Dammit Matt.

I hope Ben Affleck isn't involved.

I mean, there are all sorts of allegations about his brother Casey, so between that and this news about Matt Damon, it's hard for me to believe that he's completely clean.

 

[Trojita]

It looks like I'm the only decent human in the world.

You don't like My Hero Academia Season 2, so that's a no there dog.

 

[StoOgE]

He was killing the story on Weinstein's rape in this case so them vouching for him meant they were covering a rape

Where does it say that in this article? I see nothing about rape but 1 allegation of a payoff that couldn't be proven by the reporter (though I don't doubt) and an accusation that the head of Miramax Italy was exclusively the procurer of women and that Damon and Crowe vouched for the Italian studio head.

It does not appear from this piece that Damon or Crowe were saying anything about the alleged pay-off and it would be pretty standard operating procedure for a journo who is known to be writing an unfriendly piece to be provided information from people familiar with the story.

I wouldn't be shocked to learn that lots of actors were complicit in lots of shitty things, but this particular link feels spurious at most.

 

[D4Danger]

They vouched for the Italian guy who allegedly secured Russian escorts for Weinstein. How does he fit into the sexual harassment and abuse story? I'm a little fuzzy on how this ties together exactly and who was doing what.

they vouched for the producer which cast doubt on his real role of enabling Weinstein's behaviour.

At the end he says "Today I wonder: If this story had come to light at the time, would Weinstein have continued his behavior for another decade, evidenced by the scathing 2015 memo by former staffer Lauren O'Connor unearthed by Kantor and Twohey." which is the point because had that story come out then instead of being buried by industry favours it would've spared an unknown number of women a decade of abuse.

 

[whatsinaname]

Yeah, this feels like the former times writer is trying to conflate two different stories about Weinstein being a dirtbag.

Having people vouch for the credibility of an Italian producer over reports he may have hired escorts doesn't seem to be the same thing.

I mean, this story hinges on the head of Miramax Italy being a sex peddler exclusively for Weinstein with no other job functions which seems far fetched even for Hollywood.

I doubt the story was about Lombardo. It would have been a story about Weinstein. As she says here

After intense pressure from Weinstein, which included having Matt Damon and Russell Crowe call me directly to vouch for Lombardo

that the phone calls were parallel to intense pressure from weinstein.

 

[liquidtmd]

Everyone pouncing on Damon. Is it possible Damon wasn’t lying and that HIS experience of Lombardi was decent? No. He’s gotta be a scum bag.

Yep, I'm here currently.

This is not the same as saying 'believe the woman / believe the man'. Context really matters with this one.

 

[broncobuster]

When you learn Kevin Smith, Quentin Tarantino, Jennifer Lawrence, etc. knew, you shouldn't be surprised by it.

Harvey Weinstein's actions weren't some hidden thing nobody knew about. His influence and their financial interests were just too strong until now. And evidently, this all coming out is more about taking away his influence at the company than it is exposing his indiscretions.

 

[PsychoSoldier]

Even if Lombardo is clean, the sheer amount of pressure that seems to have been exerted to get the story buried and gutted should have indicative of something at play here.

That the sexual assault allegation got cut and it got buried are damning for the NYT.

 

[hypernima]

y'all really that surprised by matt damon and russell crowe showing their necks of all people?

 

[……forgetit]

https://youtu.be/LkAoZggaWZE?t=7

Jesus....