Rose McGowan is making her voice heard after her alleged abuser Harvey Weinstein’s sex crime convictions were overturned.
The 50-year-old actress shared a video on Instagram on Thursday in which she offered words of encouragement to Weinstein’s other accusers and other rape survivors.
“They will never change who we are,” he captioned the clip, which was filmed against a green background. ‘Blessings to all who gave all their #spirit #courage #unity.’
Weinstein’s 2020 conviction in New York was overturned on Thursday by the New York Court of Appeals after a slim majority of judges ruled that the disgraced film producer had not received a fair trial.
Despite the ruling, the 72-year-old former mogul is not a free man, as he will remain in prison after being convicted in Los Angeles in a separate rape case, although Weinstein is also appealing that ruling.
Rose McGowan, 50, offered words of encouragement to other rape survivors in a video posted to Instagram on Thursday following the news that Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 sex crimes conviction had been overturned.
New York’s Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, ruled 4-3 on Thursday that Weinstein had not received a fair trial; photographed in October 2022 in Los Angeles
‘I’m proud of how far we’ve come. How much we have woken up. What we know about ourselves to be true. “And what we know about others is true,” McGowan said confidently. “No matter what they tear down, they cannot take away from us who we are, what we are, what we have been through and what we can achieve in this life.”
The Doom Generation star included words of encouragement for other survivors who may have been discouraged by Weinstein’s legal victory.
‘We are not victims. We are people wounded by evil,’ he declared. ‘Evil stays together as seen… but we are better.
‘To all those who fight the good fight. You are light. You are beautiful. You matter. “I’m with you,” McGowan continued. ‘Some days we get our butts hit more times than others. But we will rise. We can find the little joys no matter what.’
She reminded her fans and followers that they should not be ashamed to pause to ‘shed those tears’, but urged them to continue fighting for justice.
‘You are brave, you are beautiful, you are strong. We know the truth. “We know what we are and what they are,” she added, calling her viewers “amazing” and saying she was “proud” of them.
McGowan ended the brief speech on a weary but optimistic note.
‘Tomorrow we will get up. Stand up, dust ourselves off, and seek every ounce of joy and beauty we can. Much love,’ she concluded.
‘We are not victims. We are people wounded by evil,’ he declared. “Evil stands together as seen… but we are better,” McGowan told his followers.
He urged other survivors to stay strong: ‘Some days they hit us harder than others. But we will rise. We can find the small joys no matter what happens’; seen in 2019 in London
In 2017, the New York Times reported that Weinstein paid McGowan $100,000 for an alleged 1997 incident, although he did not admit guilt; photographed in 2015
Later that year, McGowan publicly accused Weinstein of raping her in 1997, which he denied; photographed in 2020 in New York
McGowan’s story of alleged abuse at the hands of Weinstein came to light in 2017, when the Me Too movement began to spread across the United States, most publicly in the entertainment industry.
According to the New York Times, the Planet Terror star was one of at least eight women Weinstein had paid off over the years, and is said to have received a $100,000 settlement, for which the film producer did not. admitted no crime.
She had previously claimed in 2016 to have been raped by a studio head years earlier, but did not reveal a name at the time.
Shortly after the deal was reported, McGowan took to social media to urge women to “keep fighting,” while encouraging men to join her fight as “allies.”
However, he did not directly address the Times’ reports or confirm that he had received a settlement.
Following the initial report, Weinstein denied ‘many’ of the allegations.
Later in 2017, McGowan publicly claimed that Weinstein had raped her and accused Amazon of canceling a planned series after she reported on the alleged incident from years ago.
Weinstein was convicted in February 2020 in New York of one count of first-degree criminal sexual assault and one count of third-degree rape, and was subsequently sentenced to 23 years in prison.
Weinstein was later convicted of sex crimes in Los Angeles in 2022 and sentenced to 16 years, to be served after his sentence in New York ended. He is also appealing that verdict; seen in 2017
Weinstein faced a second trial in Los Angeles and was found guilty in December 2022 of rape, forcible oral copulation and third-degree sexual misconduct. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison for the crimes, to be served consecutively.
But on Thursday, the New York Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, overturned Weinstein’s prior convictions. Four of the seven judges ruled that the trial judge was wrong to allow other accusers to share their claims in court, even though Weinstein was not charged over those alleged incidents.
According to the slim majority, allowing the other women to testify could have prejudiced the jury against the film producer.
However, he still remains jailed for his West Coast conviction, although Weinstein’s lawyers are also trying to overturn it.
