Ian McEwan defends Harvey Weinstein against threat of ‘mob’ justice

Author Ian McEwan has been widely attacked for ‘disturbing’ comments that appear to defend Harvey Weinstein.

Ian McEwan has been criticised for saying he wants to maintain a “degree of scepticism” about the charges against Harvey Weinstein. Picture: Getty Images.

He has been sacked by his own company, expelled from the Oscars board and last week was charged with rape. There are not many voices speaking up in Harvey Weinstein’s defence.

Yet one of Britain’s leading novelists has voiced concern about the dangers of “mob” justice.

Ian McEwan said that he intended to maintain a “degree of scepticism” about the charges against the disgraced Hollywood producer until the evidence was set out at trial. The Atonement author said that Weinstein appeared to be a “moral monster” but added that he was cautious about any accusations that emerge when a “whole mob is in full cry”.

McEwan’s comments were condemned as disturbing by equality campaigners, who pointed out that dozens of actors had gone on the record with allegations against the film mogul despite the risk to their careers. However, his views touch on a question that will be central to the criminal case against Weinstein: whether it is possible for the man who gave rise to the #MeToo movement to get a fair trial.

Harvey Weinstein leaving court in New York last week. Picture: MEGA.

The producer has been charged with two rapes and a criminal sexual act for alleged incidents involving two separate women. Mr Weinstein, 66, handed himself in to police in New York on Friday. He has repeatedly denied non-consensual sex and intends to plead not guilty.

Asked about the case on BBC Radio 4’s Today program, McEwan, 69, said: “It seems a kind of circus to me. There is the media stuff, which we have to penetrate. We don’t know what actually happened; it seems he is a moral monster who has had his comeuppance but I always like to encourage in myself just a degree of scepticism once the whole mob is in full cry, so I am going to withhold judgments until I have heard the arguments in court.”

The novelist’s defence of due process drew criticism on social media as activists accused him of marginalising the experiences of women. Catherine Mayer, author and co-founder of the Women’s Equality Party (WEP), said that men such as McEwan “cry rough justice” about the treatment of alleged offenders while querying the testimony of their young victims. “He’s seeing multiple women speaking about these things as a mob, when it is actually evidence of the crime at scale,” she told The Times. “I’m so sick of these supposedly great men of literature who are posited as great public thinkers but are not nearly as interesting as they think they are.”

The author Stella Duffy, also a founding member of the WEP, said that it was “seriously disturbing” for “comfortable white privileged men” to dismiss the #MeToo movement as a mob.

In New York yesterday, Mr Weinstein’s lawyer said that he had serious doubts about whether his client could obtain a fair trial. “One of my concerns is that by virtue of some of the publicity that has occurred … the ability for people to keep an open mind is of concern to me,” Ben Brafman said after a private hearing with a judge and prosecutors.

“I also think that the pressure that is being brought to bear on the district attorney’s office demanding that an indictment or prosecution of Mr Weinstein proceed is inappropriate.”

Mr Weinstein posted a $1 million cash bail and will wear an electronic monitor that tracks his movements.

McEwan’s novella On Chesil Beach has just been adapted for film. He was nominated for the Man Booker Prize six times and won in 1998 with Amsterdam.

The Times