Meryl Streep Said She Didn't Know About Harvey Weinstein, Street Art Says Otherwise

Someone in Los Angeles doesn't believe Meryl Streep. The Oscar-winning actress responded to Rose [...]

By Libby Birk

Someone in Los Angeles doesn't believe Meryl Streep. The Oscar-winning actress responded to Rose McGowan — who called out Streep for allegedly knowing about Harvey Weinstein's crimes, and said she had no idea — but new street art in LA says otherwise.

The actress is now being targeted by posters of Streep with a red and white "She knew" banner — reminiscent of the style made famous by artist Barbara Kruger — over her eyes. The signs went up Tuesday in Los Angeles near the SAG-AFTRA building, Hollywood and Highland complex and in Pasadena near Streep's home.

Whoever is behind the signage is unknown.

The posters come after McGowan called out Streep for comments she made about Weinstein earlier this month. McGowan shared an article on Twitter with Streep's quote calling Weinstein "the most gargantuan example of disrespect."

"No, Meryl, IT'S A F— CRIME. You are such a lie [ROSE ARMY] Meryl Streep on Harvey Weinstein allegations: It's 'the most gargantuan example of disrespect,'" McGowan wrote.

She included a link to a USA Today report on Streep's appearance at the Massachusetts Conference for Women with Gloria Steinam. The site reports that Streep called the accusations Weinstein is facing "the most gargantuan example of disrespect" shown in other industries.

McGowan also criticized Streep for reportedly planning a silent protest against sexual harassment at the Golden Globes by wearing all black.

"Actresses, like Meryl Streep, who happily worked for The Pig Monster, are wearing black [at the Golden Globes] in a silent protest," McGowan wrote in a now-deleted tweet. "YOUR SILENCE is THE problem. You'll accept a fake award breathlessly & affect no real change. I despise your hypocrisy. Maybe you should all wear Marchesa."

Marchesa is the label Weinstein started with his now-estranged wife, Georgina Chapman.

Later in the month, Streep clapped back at McGowan, saying she "wasn't deliberately silent" and "didn't know" about Weinstein's sex abuse throughout his long career as a powerful producer in Hollywood.

"It hurt to be attacked by Rose McGowan in banner headlines this weekend, but I want to let her know I did not know about Weinstein's crimes, not in the 90s when he attacked her, or through subsequent decades when he proceeded to attack others," Streep said in a statement her publicist released to The Huffington Post. "I wasn't deliberately silent. I didn't know. I don't tacitly approve of rape. I didn't know. I don't like young women being assaulted. I didn't know this was happening."

Streep said she gave McGowan her personal phone number with the help of mutual friends, hoping McGowan would reach out. "She did not, but I hope she reads this," Streep said.

"I am truly sorry she sees me as an adversary, because we are both, together with all the women in our business, standing in defiance of the same implacable foe: a status quo that wants so badly to return to the bad old days, the old ways where women were used, abused and refused entry into the decision-making, top levels of the industry. That's where the cover-ups convene," Streep concluded. "Those rooms must be disinfected, and integrated, before anything even begins to change."

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