7 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Post
Harvey Weinstein's lawyers argue the alleged perv is the real victim during erratic closing arguments: ‘He's the one who's being abused'
Disgraced movie producer Harvey Weinstein is the 'poster boy' of cancel culture, his defense attorney ranted during erratic closing arguments, insisting the convicted sex pest is the real victim of the women accusing him of rape.
'They're using their youth, their beauty, their charm, their charisma to get stuff from him,' defense attorney Arthur Aidala said Tuesday of the three women who testified against the once-powerful Hollywood kingpin during his ongoing sex-crimes retrial in Manhattan Superior Court.
'I know it's going to sound crazy, but he's the one who's being abused. He's the one who's getting used.'
5 Harvey Weinstein at his retrial in Manhattan Superior Court.
Steven Hirsch
During the three-hour speech to jurors, Aidala portrayed the relationships between Weinstein and his three accusers — fromer TV production assistant Miriam 'Mimi' Haley, Polish model Kaja Sokola and former actress Jessica Mann — as 'transactional' sexual relationships that were consensual.
He claimed the victims are women with broken dreams 'who wanted to cut the line' to stardom.
The attorney's animated theatrics balanced a tightrope of absurdity — from mockingly impersonating one of the women to entering the witness stand to discus his own sex life, with his wife in attendance — in an effort to dissuade jurors from reconvicting the one-time movie mogul.
5 Harvey Weinstein's retrial in a New York courtroom.
Steven Hirsch
'They needed to get the poster boy, the original sinner for the MeToo movement,' Aidala said, referring to prosecutor's decision for a retrial.
'They tried to do it five years ago, and there was a redo, and they're trying to do it again.'
At one point, Aidala took shots at Weinstein's physical appearance, calling the hulking wheelchair-bound ex-Miramax boss a 'fat dude' incapable of 'playing naked Twister' – a hyperbole to how witnesses have described the 'Pulp Fiction' producer's sinister demeanor during the alleged attacks.
'Some of these descriptions from these women sound like 'Cirque du Soleil'!' Aidala charged
The former studio chief's attorney even posed a hypothetical scenario to jurors about a broken shard of glass falling into his own Grandma's 'Sunday Sauce' — likening it to the prosecution's case and the accusers and whether his grandma would still serve the pasta knowing the risk.
5 Kaja Sokola testified against the disgraced movie producer during his high-profile Manhattan trial.
Steven Hirsch
'If there's a doubt about his life, their case — you've got to throw it out, you've got to throw it out,' he said.
Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Nicole Blumberg fiercely challenged Aidala's spirited remarks, telling the jury that Weinstein — accused of sexual conduct by more than 80 women — wielded his 'power and influence' to trap his victims.
5 Miriam 'Mimi' Haley, former production assistant on 'Project Runway,' also testified in court.
Steven Hirsch
'This was not a courting game as Mr. Aidala wants you to believe,' Blumberg charged at the jury. 'This is not a transaction. This is not people the defendant was fooling around with unless fooling around with is a euphemism for rape… it wasn't about fooling around — it was rape.'
Blumberg later argued: 'He never had an interest in their careers. He had an interest in their bodies,' where no meant 'try a little bit harder' until he eventually 'took it anyway.'
5 Witness Jessica Mann leaving court, accompanied by others.
Steven Hirsch
Weinstein, 73, who has maintained his innocence, faces up to 25 years in prison on two counts of first-degree criminal sexual act, and four years in prison on a charge of third-degree rape.
He was originally convicted at trial in 2022, but New York's highest court reversed the conviction last year.
Weinstein was separately convicted of rape in California after an Italian model testified that he threw himself on her after appearing uninvited outside her hotel room during an Italian film festival in 2013. The convicted sex fiend was sentenced to 16 years in prison in that case but is appealing.
The prosecution will continue with closing arguments Wednesday morning.
