Rose McGowan is being hailed for her bravery in calling out the powerful CAA talent agency for enabling Harvey Weinstein. She refers to CAA agents as his “pimps.”
CAA represented many of the actresses who were sent to meetings with Weinstein at his suite at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif.
“Harvey worked very closely with CAA. It’s amazing they’ve managed to escape all this scandal unscathed,” one Hollywood veteran told me.
CAA has even been hailed for its embrace of the #TimesUp movement against sexual harassment and for providing its offices in Los Angeles, New York and London for simultaneous meetings.
Attached to the invite for Wednesday’s meeting, McGowan tweeted: “Who do you think is behind this ‘great’ pr? Why, it’s the company of pimps that sent so many into the Monster’s Lair themselves. CAA. #TIMESUP fakes.”
And when Weinstein was desperately trying to kill Ronan Farrow’s exposé in the New Yorker, he called a CAA managing partner, Bryan Lourd, who told Weinstein that Farrow, a CAA client, wouldn’t meet with him.
CAA issued an apology last month after it was reported that at least eight of its agents had been approached with complaints about Weinstein’s behavior.
“We apologize to any person the agency let down for not meeting the high expectations we place on ourselves, as individuals and as a company,” the statement read. “We unequivocally support those who have spoken out publicly.”
A spokewoman for Weinstein said, “Mr. Weinstein categorically denies engaging in any non-consensual conduct or alleged threatening behavior and it’s absolutely absurd to refer to CAA agents as ‘pimps.’ Any time Mr. Weinstein or the Company dealt with CAA, each matter was 100 percent professional. When Mr. Weinstein’s team contacted Mr. Lourd to see if his client would like to discuss his investigative report, he stated Mr. Farrow had no interest in speaking and that was the end of the inquiry.”
While Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, Julia Roberts, Penélope Cruz and Reese Witherspoon are still repped by CAA, Rae Dawn Chong left in 1990, when she says her complaint of being harassed by fellow CAA client Steven Seagal was ignored.
A CAA spokeswoman had no comment.
