DETROIT – The Latest on sexual harassment in the entertainment and media industries (all times local):
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7:50 p.m.
CNN is reporting that four more women are leveling allegations of sexual harassment against journalist Mark Halperin.
The news channel said Friday that one woman is claiming Halperin masturbated in front of her.
CNN said a second woman alleged that the “Game Change” co-author threw her against a restaurant window and threatened to derail her career after she rebuffed him.
The four women, who were not identified in the CNN report, said the encounters took place between the late 1980s and 2006, during which time Halperin worked at ABC News.
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CNN said that Halperin denied that he masturbated in front of anyone or physically assaulted or threatened anyone.
In a statement Friday, the newsman said he was sorry for causing pain and anguish and apologized to the women he said he mistreated.
The new allegations bring the number of women accusing Halperin of sexual misconduct to about 12.
The journalist has been suspended from his role as a MSNBC contributor, while a follow-up book to “Game Change” was canceled by Penguin Press and HBO dropped plans for a miniseries based on it.
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7:05 p.m.
The Atlantic magazine is removing contributing editor Leon Wieseltier from its masthead after allegations emerged this week that Wieseltier harassed numerous women during his years with The New Republic.
In a staff memo issued Friday, and shared with The Associated Press, Atlantic Editor in Chief Jeffrey Goldberg wrote that the magazine has “zero tolerance” for workplace harassment.
Wieseltier, literary editor of The New Republic from 1983-2014, has been accused by former colleagues of unwanted advances, abusive language and other forms of inappropriate behavior. He has apologized and vowed not to “waste this reckoning.”
Two other institutions have broken ties with the 65-year-old Wieseltier. The Emerson Collective, an organization run by Steve Jobs’ widow, Laurene Powell Jobs, canceled a planned magazine that Wieseltier was supposed to edit. The Brookings Institution, where Wieseltier was a senior fellow, has suspended him without pay.
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10:50 a.m.
Actress Rose McGowan says she has been “silenced for 20 years” but won’t remain quiet about sexual assault and harassment.
The actress on Friday made her first public remarks since accusing film producer Harvey Weinstein of rape. She was speaking at The Women’s Convention in Detroit.
She says “the monster’s face is everywhere, my nightmare,” but she thanked the audience for “giving me wings during this very difficult time.” She added it’s time to “clean house” in male-dominated Hollywood.
On Twitter, McGowan has amassed supporters and urged on them to call out harassment using the #RoseArmy hashtag.
Weinstein was fired from The Weinstein Company on Oct. 8. The Oscar-winning producer apologized without addressing any specific conduct, but has denied later allegations by several women that he raped them.
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1 a.m.
Actress Rose McGowan is scheduled to make her first public remarks since accusing film producer Harvey Weinstein of rape.
McGowan is slated to deliver the opening remarks at The Women’s Convention in Detroit on Friday, and will participate in another panel on sexual abuse in schools.
McGowan has been one of the leading voices against sexual harassment in Hollywood, and tweeted earlier this month that she was raped by a man with the initials “HW.” The Hollywood Reporter says McGowan confirmed she was referring to Weinstein.
The New York Times reported that Weinstein paid a financial settlement of $100,000 to McGowan in 1997 over an incident in a hotel room during the Sundance Film Festival in Utah.
A Weinstein representative has denied all allegations of non-consensual sex.
