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Nancy has a “virus of unknown origin” while Sarah is rarin’ to go on a story she sunk her teeth into years ago: the trials of Harvey Weinstein, this time, his current NYC re-trial for criminal sexual acts. (His previous NY conviction was overturned in April 2024.)
The Weinstein case is interesting, because most people think they know it, but they really just know the salacious details and hype of early-#MeToo media stories. The criminal case against Weinstein — particularly in New York, though he was convicted in LA, too — is a murkier thing, littered with ambiguous exchanges, years-long relationships and rides on private planes. Weinstein may be a “sexual pig, an opportunist, a philanderer and a bully,” but does that mean the women accusing him played no role in this? And if not, what does that say about all that women’s “empowerment” we keep hearing about?
Also discussed:
Ethan Strauss brings the rain
Is Taylor Lorenz monstrous? Troubled? Both? Nancy and Sarah discuss
Sarah used to make jokes about crack babies (in college, y’all!)
Rejected from a threesome? Yeah, that happened
Ronan Farrow: It all begins with mom
“Candace Rogan” ???
2020: Let’s not put people in prison! Also 2020: Men accused of #MeToo crimes should go to prison!
Who will play Jessica Mann in the “American Crime Story” version of the Weinstein trials? Who, Harvey?
Should Harvey take the stand?
Gloria Allred’s daughter learned from the best
Sarah does not have an extra-large vagina
The sigh of Russell Brand exhaustion
Diddy may be going to prison forever
The genius of Don DeLillo
Plus, Sarah and Nancy discover they both just started gardens from seeds (so satisfying!), Polish women are the hottest on the planet, cunnilingus as weapon, and much more!
First Sunday Zoom is this Sunday! June 1, 8pmET/5pmPT. Paid subscribers (come on, now!) get link the day-of.
Meanwhile over on YouTube …
Episode Notes:
So this happened:
How it started/how it’s going
“Exclusive interview: Harvey Weinstein’s youngest accuser speaks out” (News Nation Now interview with Kaja Sokola)
“Weinstein Trial to Shift to Defense After 3rd Accuser’s Striking Account,” by Hurubie Meko (New York Times)
“Medical expert talks about erectile dysfunction shot at Harvey Weinstein’s NYC sex assault retrial” (New York Daily News)
Yes, we’ve been down this road…
49. Harvey Weinstein Is Guilty, But of What?
The Los Angeles trial of Harvey Weinstein ended with jurors proclaiming the disgraced movie mogul alternately guilty, not guilty, and [shrug emoji]. Nancy and Sarah plumb deeper on the trial, centered on the allegations of four Jane Does (including one spouse of a California governor). The two-month trial gained little traction in the press, perhaps because Weinstein was convicted in the court of public opinion five years ago. People are done with him, the monster in his cage. But not Nancy and Sarah! The latter goes deep on Weinstein’s childhood, his bullying mother, the forces that shaped him. Nancy reminds us how much young women will sacrifice to step into the Hollywood magic machine.
137. Harvey Weinstein, Interrupted
Married journalists Ann McElhinney and Phelim McAleer are the forces behind “The Harvey Weinstein Trial: Unfiltered” podcast, in which actors read daily excerpts of the courthouse testimony verbatim. Released during the trial in 2020, it’s an extraordinary document of a cultural flashpoint, providing a far deeper and more troubling portrait than most me…
… and yet there seems always more to learn from the pivots and how they are/are not explained to the public
“Harvey Weinstein and the Death Rattle of #MeToo,” by Kat Rosenfield (Free Press)
Forty Bucks and a Dream: Stories from Los Angeles, by Nancy Rommelmann
What’s in your hot box?
Sarah:
Nancy:
Libra, by Don DeLillo
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