Harvey Weinstein denies Angelina Jolie's sexual assault accusations
Harvey Weinstein has denied Angelina Jolie's accusation she had to "escape" his alleged attempt to sexually assault her.
The disgraced movie mogul, who is currently serving 23 years in prison for rape and sexual assault, responded to recent comments from Maleficent star, claiming she needed to "escape" an assault by the producer.
Describing the alleged incident in an interview with The Guardian, she said: "It was beyond a pass, it was something I had to escape. I stayed away and warned people about him."
In a statement to TMZ.com issued via an assistant, Weinstein hit back, saying: "THERE WAS NEVER an assault, and NEVER an attempt to assault. It is brazenly untrue and clickbait publicity. You're Angelina Jolie, every male and female in the world, I'm sure, shows interest in you. Is the whole world assaulting you?"
He also accused the actress of repeating the claim in a bid to promote her new book, Know Your Rights: And Claim Them.
Jolie also opened up about how her aversion to Weinstein impacted her marriage with now ex-husband Brad Pitt.
She said that Pitt, 57, wanted Weinstein to produce his 2012 film Killing Them Softly, which they fought about and it "hurt." The Weinstein Company distributed the film. The 46-year-old also revealed that she turned down a role in Martin Scorsese's 2004 film The Aviator to avoid working with the producer.
The actress and director first spoke out about the alleged incident with Weinstein in an interview with the New York Times in 2017, claiming the Miramax founder made "unwanted advances" at her while in a hotel room. She was among a host of women, including other major Hollywood stars, to accuse Weinstein of sexual misconduct ranging from harassment to assault.
"I had a bad experience with Harvey Weinstein in my youth, and as a result, chose never to work with him again and warn others when they did," the actress said. "This behavior towards women in any field, any country is unacceptable."
Weinstein was convicted of a criminal sex act in the first degree and rape in the third degree at a New York trial in February last year. He is awaiting trial on 10 additional charges of rape or sexual assault in California.
