George Clooney says Harvey Weinstein claims ‘indefensible’

HE’S been roped into the ongoing scandal of Hollywood titan Harvey Weinstein. And now George Clooney has broken his silence.

George Clooney at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2017.

GEORGE Clooney, one of the most high-profile male actors in Hollywood, has called movie mogul Harvey Weinstein’s actions indefensible in an interview with The Daily Beast.

Clooney admitted he had heard rumours that started in the 1990s regarding women sleeping with Weinstein for roles, but had dismissed them as a way to belittle the talent of the women.

“The part we’re hearing now about eight women being paid off, I didn’t hear anything about that and I don’t know anyone that did,” he said in an interview with The Daily Beast.

“That’s a whole other level and there’s no way you can reconcile that. There’s nothing to say except that it’s indefensible.”

Harvey Weinstein arrives at the Oscars in Los Angeles in 2017.

Clooney seconded the statement recently released by Meryl Streep, asserting that despite observers calling Weinstein’s behaviour an open secret in Hollywood, many in the industry did not know what was going on.

“I’ve known Harvey for 20 years,” Clooney said.

“We’ve had dinners, we’ve been on location together, we’ve had arguments. But I can tell you that I’ve never seen any of this behaviour — ever.” The Suburbicon director added that he hoped something positive could come out of the scandal.

“Maybe that’s what good will come out of this: that not just in Hollywood, although Hollywood is now the focus, but in all of these cases the victims will feel that they will be listened to, and that they don’t need to be afraid.”

Weinstein gave Clooney his first big break as an actor in the film From Dusk Till Dawn, as well as his first big directing break with Confessions of a Dangerous Mind.