Harvey Weinstein said Jennifer Aniston ‘should be killed’ over sex assault claims and begged Bloomberg and Bezos to help ‘resurrect’ his career, unsealed documents reveal ahead of his sentencing tomorrow
March 11, 2020 in News by RBN Staff
Source: Daily Mail
- Emails exchanged between Weinstein and his team show his response to the flood of sexual abuse allegations that sparked his downfall in October 2017
- The correspondence is detailed in court documents unsealed ahead of Weinstein’s sentencing for rape and sexual assault on Wednesday
- In one email Weinstein’s publicist forwarded a note from the National Enquirer about a story it was planning to run accusing him of groping Jennifer Aniston
- ‘Jen Aniston should be killed,’ Weinstein wrote in response
- The Enquirer never ended up publishing the report, which turned out to be false
- Other emails feature the desperate pleas Weinstein sent to some two dozen influential people, including billionaires Jeff Bezos and Michael Bloomberg
- He asks them for help in blocking the Weinstein Company from firing him
- The documents also include scathing notes from Weinstein’s brother Bob, who branded him an ‘inhuman pathological liar’ and said he deserved to go to hell
By MEGAN SHEETS
Harvey Weinstein said Jennifer Aniston ‘should be killed’ after he learned that the National Enquirer was planning to run a story accusing him of groping her, court documents have revealed.
A trove of emails and other communications between Weinstein and his team offer a disturbing look at his reaction to the avalanche of sexual misconduct allegations that sparked his downfall in the fall of 2017.
The correspondence is detailed in documents unsealed by the Manhattan Supreme Court ahead of Weinstein’s sentencing on Wednesday, where he faces up to 29 years in prison after being convicted of rape and sexual assault late last month.
In one email thread, a spokeswoman for the movie mogul forwarded a note from the Enquirer about a report that Weinstein had groped Aniston at a premiere event for their movie Derailed in 2005.
Weinstein responded to the note by writing: ‘Jen Aniston should be killed.’
Other emails feature the desperate pleas Weinstein sent to some two dozen influential people, including billionaires Jeff Bezos and Michael Bloomberg, asking for them to help ‘resurrect’ his crumbling career and reputation.
The documents also include scathing messages from Weinstein’s brother and former business partner Bob Weinstein, who branded him an ‘inhuman pathological liar’ and said he deserved to go to hell.
Harvey Weinstein said Jennifer Aniston ‘should be killed’ after he learned that the National Enquirer was planning to run a story accusing him of groping her, court documents have revealed. Weinstein and Aniston are pictured together at the premiere for Full Frontal in 2002
A trove of emails exchanged between Weinstein and his team is detailed in court documents, showing his response to the flood of sexual abuse allegations that sparked his downfall in October 2017. The documents were unsealed ahead of Weinstein’s sentencing on Wednesday, where he faces up to 29 years in prison. He is pictured arriving in court on February 24, hours before a jury convicted him of rape and sexual assault
The Aniston emails are dated October 31, 2017, less than a month after the New York Times and New Yorker published exposés about Weinstein’s alleged abuse, opening the floodgates for dozens of other victims
The Aniston emails are dated October 31, 2017, less than a month after the New York Times and New Yorker published exposés about Weinstein’s alleged abuse, opening the floodgates for dozens of other victims.
‘Not sure if you saw this one. Jennifer Aniston,’ Sallie Hofmeister, a senior executive at Sitrick public relations firm, wrote with the forwarded Enquirer email.
The email said: ‘Jennifer confided to a friend that during the production of the 2005 movie ‘Derailed’ Weinstein sexually assaulted her by pressing up against her back in [sic] grabbing her buttocks.’
‘Through the years he would frequently stare at her cleavage/breast and move his mouth around making Jennifer uncomfortable.
‘We also quote a source close to Jennifer who tells the Enquirer: ‘Harvey was infatuated with Jennifer Aniston — He had a massive crush on her and constantly talked about how hot she was.”
Weinstein responded to Hofmeister’s email from his iPhone about 45 minutes after receiving it, expressing his death wish.
The Enquirer never ended up running the allegations about Aniston, which turned out to be untrue.
‘He never got close enough to her to touch her,’ her publicist Stephen Huvane told the New York Times this week.
‘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.’
But Aniston did later accuse Weinstein of ‘piggish behavior’ during a premiere event for Derailed.
‘I remember I was sitting at the dinner table with Clive [Owen], and our producers and a friend of mine was sitting with me,’ the 51-year-old actress told Variety last year.
‘And he literally came to the table and said to my friend: ‘Get up!’ And I was like, ‘Oh my gosh.’ And so my friend got up and moved and Harvey sat down.
‘It was just such a level of gross entitlement and piggish behavior.’
Aniston also claimed that Weinstein had tried to bully her into wearing a dress designed by his then-wife Georgina Chapman to the movie’s premiere, but she refused.
The Enquirer never ended up running the allegations about Aniston, which turned out to be untrue. But Aniston did later accuse Weinstein of ‘piggish behavior’ during a premiere event for Derailed, claiming that he tried to bully her into wearing a dress designed by his then-wife Georgina Chapman (right with Weinstein and Aniston at the premiere)
The unsealed court documents revealed that board members of the now-shuttered Weinstein Company were looking to fire its founder within days of the initial news reports about his misconduct.
In a last-ditch effort to save his job, Weinstein emailed a group of his wealthy friends asking for their help.
Recipients included Amazon boss Bezos, former New York City mayor Bloomberg, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Netflix’s chief content officer Theodore A Sarandos Jr, and NBC vice chairman Ronald Meyer.
‘My board is thinking of firing me,’ Weinstein 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 else, and allow me to resurrect myself with a second chance.’
Other emails in the court documents feature the desperate pleas Weinstein sent to some two dozen influential people, including billionaire Michael Bloomberg (pictured together in 2014), asking for them to help ‘resurrect’ his crumbling career and reputation
Weinstein sent an email to Bloomberg asking him to vouch for him as he faced being fired from his own company
Weinstein also asked Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos for help, the documents show. The pair are pictured together at a media and technology conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, in 2011
Weinstein also reached out to Jeff Bezos, asking for written support
The documents also include scathing messages from Weinstein’s brother and former business partner Bob Weinstein (pictured together in 2009)
Excerpts from emails sent by Weinstein’s brother, Bob, show the full extent of the rage he felt towards the movie mogul
In an excoriating email exchange dated 1 November 2017 Weinstein’s brother Bob unloaded his vitriol and loathing for Harvey and his crimes.
He wrote, ‘You deserve a lifetime achievement award for the sheer savagery and immorality and inhumanness, for the acts u have perpetrated. Oh I forgot. They were all consensual. Then what are you in rehab for? Sex addiction. Don’t think so.’
He continued, ‘U must be being treated for something. I guess sexual predator comes to mind.’
According to his own brother, Weinstein had been ‘a sexual predator and abusive person for over forty years.’
‘I pray there is a real hell,’ he wrote. ‘That’s where u belong.’
Weinstein was convicted of third degree rape and criminal sexual assault on February 24
He was found guilty of sexually assaulting former production assistant Mimi Haleyi (left) in 2006 and raping aspiring actress Jessica Mann (right) in 2013
Weinstein was convicted of third degree rape and criminal sexual assault on February 24 for raping actress Jessica Mann in 2013 and forcibly performing oral sex on production assistant Mimi Haleyi in 2006.
He was acquitted of rape in the first degree and of two counts of predatory sexual assault which related to the two incidents.
He faces a minimum of four years in prison, but may be put behind bars for up to 29.
Weinstein – who is still awaiting a case in Los Angeles – has always denied sexual misconduct and has vowed to appeal his conviction.
On Monday, his lawyers filed court papers asking a judge to consider a sentence of only five years.
They argued that the disgraced producer deserves mercy because he’s already suffered a ‘historic’ fall from grace and is dealing with serious health issues.
The 67-year-old used a walker to aid his movement in and out of the courthouse throughout his New York trial after his lawyers said he underwent an unsuccessful back surgery in December following a car crash three months earlier.
He was originally supposed to go straight to Rikers Island immediately after his February 24 conviction, but was instead diverted to Bellevue Hospital after complaining of high blood pressure and heart palpitations.
He was transported to Rikers on March 5, and is currently being treated for a concussion after he fell and hit his head at the jail on Saturday night.