Rose McGowan, made headlines this past weekend calling out billionaire talk show host Oprah Winfrey for her past involvements with men such as convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein and alleged abuser Russell Simmons, who is accused of raping 15 women.
Oprah has denied any knowledge of Weinstein’s disgusting criminal acts involving anyone.
Weinstein was convicted of a criminal sexual act in the first degree and rape in the third degree in early 2020, where he is serving a 23-year sentence and is expected to serve more time depending on his case in California involving many similar accusations.
Weinstein’s conviction marked a huge milestone for the survivors of the #MeToo movement, signaling no matter how much power, status, money a person has they can and will be brought to justice.
Russell Simmons
As for the Russell Simmons jab, McGowan seems to be referring to the 2020 documentary On the Record, which covered sexual misconduct allegations against the Def Jam Recordings and Phat Farm founder.
Winfrey has stated that Simmons did indeed attempt to pressure her about her involvement with the documentary but it had nothing to do with her decision to leave it.
To my understanding, Oprah believed production needed to be more thorough in doing their due diligence to truly substantiate one of the victims accounts.
I want it to be known that I unequivocally believe and support the women. Their stories deserve to be told and heard. In my opinion, there is more work to be done on the film to illuminate the full scope of what the victims endured, and it has become clear that the filmmakers and I are not aligned in that creative vision.
Oprah Winfrey to The Hollywood Reporter
McGowan clearly doesn’t accept Oprah’s explanation regarding her decision to drop out of the documentary involving the (15) women who’ve accused Russell Simmons of rape between 2017 and 2019.
Rose McGowan Stands Her Ground
On Wednesday, a Twitter user tweeted at McGowan, “Do you ever shut tf up and work on your own toxic shit? No? Clean your glass house before throwing stones at others.”
McGowan responded Tweeting, “You think I throw stones? No bitch, I drop bombs.”
McGowan continued to fire shots at Oprah, and the elite tweeting that she had “a message to the evil creeps in all industries, all nations. We, the people, have a message for you.” McGowan then linked Lily Allen’s 2009 song “Fuck You.”
She’s received backlash by defenders of Winfrey claiming because of her silence more women were destroyed, but I believe that to be unfair because as Weinstein’s conviction showed it took an army of destroyed women to bring the man to justice. She’s also received criticisms for continuously filmmaking with questionable people in Hollywood.
Moreover, when people say social media is not your friend, it truly isn’t sometimes, especially because the optics of this snapshot of McGowan praising Winfrey for a interview she did with Michael Jackson’s accusers. But people are saying she’s a hypocrite because all of a sudden she’s now slamming Oprah for her involvement with Weinstein and Simmons.
Is this hypocrisy or not?