News
Comedian Booed by Audience for Shaming “Rapist” Harvey Weinstein, Actor Kicked Out of Event
“I didn’t know we had to bring our own Mace and rape whistles to Actor’s Hour.”
(TMU) — Disgraced movie producer Harvey Weinstein is surely one of the most hated people in the United States, but he seems to still be welcomed and even defended in some Hollywood circles.
Earlier this week, Weinstein was invited to an event called Actor’s Hour that was taking place in Lower Manhattan at the Downtime bar.
Kelly Bachman, one of the comedians scheduled to perform at the event, was shocked and horrified to see Weinstein in the audience upon her arrival. To her surprise, no one else seemed to think it was a big deal—or at the very least, none of them had the courage to say anything about it.
When Bachman was on stage, she called Weinstein out as “the elephant in the room” and compared him to the fictional character “Freddy Krueger.”
“I didn’t know we had to bring our own Mace and rape whistles to Actor’s Hour,” she said.
At that point, some of the audience members began to boo at the comedian. In the video, one person who Bachman identified as the MC of the event can be heard yelling at her to “shut up.”
Backman then said, “This kills at group therapy for rape survivors,” and revealed that she herself was a survivor of rape.
TW: Harvey Weinstein.Last night I was booked to perform stand-up on a variety show at Downtime Bar NYC in Lower East Side, sponsored by an organization for artists Actor's Hour – A Speakeasy for Artists! (Fundraiser Underground Edition) They film their events, and it seemed like a great opportunity for me to get a tape. I brought my new 10 min. set, excited to work it out in a warm room of my peers. Instead I found the boogeyman himself, Harvey Weinstein, sitting at a reserved table with his friends. He was INVITED by Actors Hour—I’m told that he was specifically invited by their founder, Alexandra Laliberte. I saw he was there right away, but no one in the room was saying anything out loud. I learned from a whisper that Weinstein was invited to Actors Hour’s last event as well, and that he would not be asked to leave. A few audience members seemed terrified into silence while others were unaffected or even seemed to admire him. The few performers before me said nothing about it on stage. I whispered to an audience member, “I have to say something, right?” She said “No, don’t—” and looked away. At this point I was in total shock, but I really really wanted to get this new tape! I got on stage and tried my best to address him before carrying on with my set. I l was boo’d and told to “shut up” by men in the back of the room. I was shaking and hot-faced the entire time, in a traumatized state from my own experiences as a survivor of rape. I’ve literally had nightmares about seeing Harvey Weinstein in New York, the way I have nightmares about Stephen King’s It or Freddy Krueger. And he was 50 feet away from me, staring with shark eyes, surrounded by his allies. After I went up, the next few performers also did not address It. One comic seemed to want to make fun of ME by saying “I’d like to address an elephant in the room too. Is the producer of Goodwill Hunting here? That’s a great movie.” During the show’s intermission a brave as hell woman (who I do not know the name of!) finally yelled out and cried, demanding that Harvey Weinstein be asked to leave. She was kicked out instead. I left with her and bad ass Amber Rollo who called Harvey Weinstein a fucking monster, only to be called a “cunt” by his friend and also escorted out. I later learned that the emcee of the show was one of the people who boo’d me. He told someone that I shouldn’t have brought it up unless I was going to be funny and make everyone comfortable. To be clear, I don’t want to make anyone comfortable about this. I was uncomfortable. I am still uncomfortable. I have no idea why an organization created to support actors is protecting a man who has raped, blackmailed and ruined the careers of actors, but I do not regret speaking out against that. I really wish I could’ve said more, or been more funny, but this is what I said. I'll post the rest of the set at some point just to prove that SOME of it was funny ? But really, fuck them and fuck Downtime Bar ❤️these are NOT safe spaces for artists. Please do NOT support them. Support survivors and believe them. Here's Actors Hour's website by the way, in case you want to send them a note. https://www.actorshour.com/
Posted by Kelly Bachman on Thursday, October 24, 2019
Zoe Stuckless, a 21-year-old actor, was later thrown out of the event not long after confronting Weinstein. The Downtime bar later issued a statement saying that a guest was kicked out for “heckling” another guest.
“Shortly into the evening, one guest began heckling another, causing a disturbance to everyone in attendance. After several requests to stop were ignored, we kindly asked the heckler to leave,” the statement read.
The following is a video showing the encounter between Stuckless and Weinstein.
Posted by Zoe Stuckless on Wednesday, October 23, 2019
Weinstein was later confronted by other members of the audience, including Amber Rollo, a comedian who had shown up to support Bachman’s performance.
Alexandra Laliberte, the organizer of Actor’s Hour, has since denied that she ever invited Weinstein, but Bachman and other patrons of the event said that he was seated at a special reserved table.
Weinstein’s spokesperson Juda Engelmayer issued a statement suggesting that sine Harvey Weinstein has not been officially convicted, he should still be presumed innocent and be able to go about his life as if nothing happened, until he is actually convicted.
However, it is important to note that the evidence against Weinstein is significant, and the only reason that he has not been convicted of many of his crimes is because the statute of limitations for those types of crimes in the state of California was only 5 years. This is something that he has been doing throughout the duration of his career.
The few cases in which the victims may actually find justice through the courts have happened fairly recently or have occurred in states where the statute of limitations is not as short.
By John Vibes | Creative Commons | TheMindUnleashed.com
Typos, corrections and/or news tips? Email us at Contact@TheMindUnleashed.com
