Harvey Weinstein Apologizes for Using Meryl Streep and Jennifer Lawrence in Legal Defense

Harvey Weinstein apologized after his civil lawyer named three actresses in his defense to a class-action suit based on his alleged sexual harassment allegations.

The disgraced Hollywood producer’s lawyers named Meryl Streep, Jennifer Lawrence and Gwyneth Paltrow in court documents as examples of women who supported him or continued to work with him despite his alleged history of sexual assault, in an attempt to prove that not every actress he worked with had a negative experience.

“Mr. Weinstein acknowledges the valuable input both Meryl Streep and Jennifer Lawrence have contributed to this conversation and apologizes. Once again, moving forward, Mr. Weinstein has advised his counsel to not include specific names of former associates; and to avoid whenever possible, even if they are in the public record,” a representative for Weinstein told TMZ.

Streep spoke out against being mentioned in the filings Wednesday.

“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.

Weinstein’s lawyers filings, obtained by The Blast, 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.