Harvey Weinstein reportedly assembled a “hit list” of 91 actors, publicists, producers and others within the film industry who might have gone public with sexual misconduct claims against the now-disgraced producer. The names included actresses Rose McGowan, Annabella Sciorra and Sophie Dix.
The Guardian obtained the hit list and published it on Saturday. Weinstein himself apparently made the list around nine months before The New York Times‘ Oct. 5 report on the Oscar winner. The people on the list were given to a group hired to stop claims of sexual harassment going public.
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The original version of the list included 85 names, with six others added at a later date. The women on the list include McGowan, who has been one of the most vocal critics of Hollywood’s treatment of sexual harassment and accused Weinstein of raping her.
Another actress on the list was Laura Madden, who has claimed Weinstein wanted her to give him massages at London and Dublin hotels in 1991. Madden told her story in the original New York Times report. The Guardian reports that the list includes a note that Madden already met with a Weinstein private investigator, who noted she was “very bitter” about him.
Zelda Perkins, a former Miramax assistant in London, was also on the list. Perkins said she faced years of sexual harassment before she left the company in 1998. She broke a non-disclosure agreement in her interview with the Financial Times.
The Guardian reports that over 50 names are highlighted red, meaning they were individuals Weinstein wanted targeted first. Actress Katherine Kendall and former Weinstein employee Lauren O’Connor, who have also accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct, are on the list.
Director Brett Ratner, who is facing his own sexual harassment scandal, was also on the list.
Although the Guardian was the first to post an extract of the “hitlist,” Ronan Farrow reported on the existence of a list used by Weinstein-hired private investigators in his Nov. 6 The New Yorker report on Weinstein’s efforts to track journalists and accusers.
Farrow reported that Weinstein hired Black Cube, a private investigation firm run by former Mossad and Israeli intelligence agents, a list of actresses and journalists who might speak publicly about sexual harassment allegations against Weinstein. The producer had two former employees create the lists.
“Any ‘lists’ that were prepared included names of former employees and others who were relevant to the research and preparation of a book about Miramax,” Sallie Hofmeister, a spokesperson for Weinstein, told The New Yorker. “Former employees conducting interviews for the book reported receiving unwanted contacts from the media.”
Hofmeister also said, “It is a fiction to suggest that any individuals were targeted or suppressed at any time.”
