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Actress Cate Blanchett has spoken about working with Harvey Weinstein, saying the disgraced Hollywood producer "preyed" on the vulnerable and that she got a bad feeling from him.
Asked in an interview with entertainment website Variety if Weinstein had ever sexually harassed or acted inappropriately towards her, Blanchett said he had.
"I think he really primarily preyed, like most predators, on the vulnerable," Blanchett said.
"I mean, I got a bad feeling from him ... he would often say to me, 'We're not friends'."
Asked what she thought the producer had meant by that comment, Blanchett responded, "Well, I wouldn't do what he was asking me to do". She declined to elaborate.
The Australian actress, who has appeared in Weinstein-related films including The Talented Mr Ripley and Carol, said she hoped the producer would be jailed.
"Statutory rape is a crime, the last time I looked," she said.
"I think it's really important that people get tried through the judicial system.
"It's a really important arm of democracy that we must uphold because it's under threat from a lot of different quarters."
Weinstein is facing criminal investigations in several countries. He has denied having non-consensual sex with anyone.
This week actress Ashley Judd filed a defamation and sexual harassment lawsuit against the film producer, alleging he damaged her movie career after she refused his sexual advances.
Judd was one of the first women in October 2017 to make an on-the-record allegation of sexual misconduct against Weinstein, which soon afterward evolved into the social media #MeToo movement against sexual harassment and assault.
The Oscar-winning producer has since been accused of sexual impropriety by more than 70 women.
ABC/Reuters
Topics: film-movies, arts-and-entertainment, sexual-offences, law-crime-and-justice, united-states
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