Meryl Streep Calls Harvey Weinstein ‘Pathetic’ After He Named Her in Lawsuit

Meryl Streep is lashing out at Harvey Weinstein for using her name as a defense in his ongoing legal battles.

“Harvey Weinstein’s attorneys’ use of my (true) statement — that he was not sexually transgressive or physically abusive in our business relationship — as evidence that he was not abusive with many OTHER women is pathetic and exploitive,” the actress said in a statement.

“The criminal actions he is accused of conducting on the bodies of these women are his responsibility, and if there is any justice left in the system he will pay for them — regardless of how many good movies, made by many good people, Harvey was lucky enough to have acquired or financed,” she added.

According to Entertainment Weekly, the statement comes after Weinsten name-dropped Streep, as well as other actresses like Gwyneth Paltrow and Jennifer Lawrence, in an attempt to prove that not every actress he worked with had a negative experience.

In legal documents obtained by The Blast, the disgraced Hollywood producer’s lawyers used the three actresses as examples of women who supported him or continued to work with him despite his alleged history of sexual assault and harassment.

The filing comes in response to a class action suit previously filed by six actresses who claim that he, along with The Weinstein Company, used his power to bully women and cover up his alleged misconduct.

In the documents from The Blast, Weinstein’s attorneys notes that Streep “stated publicly that Weinstein had always been respectful to her in their working relationship.”

After Streep was criticized by Rose McGowan, who claims she was sexually assaulted by Weinstein, for not speaking out against the producer, the Oscar winner responded, saying, “Not every actor, actress, and director who made films that HW distributed knew he abused women, or that he raped Rose in the ’90s, other women before and others after, until they told us.”

She added, “We did not know that women’s silence was purchased by him and his enablers. HW needed us not to know this, because our association with him bought him credibility, an ability to lure young, aspiring women into circumstances where they would be hurt.”

Weinstein has admitted to making advances on actresses, but vehemently denies allegations of sexual harassment and assault.