“I actually didn’t believe this day would come. I didn’t believe this day would come.”
Rose McGowan says she was raped by Harvey Weinstein in 1997. She tried to warn people about him. For a long time, no one believed her, she said. But that began to change last year when she spoke with investigative journalists about Weinstein.
On Friday, she was floored by the scene of Weinstein surrendering to authorities in New York.
“I can say this, the man who pinned me down had handcuffs on him today,” she told NBC’s Megyn Kelly in an interview shortly after the arrest.
Weinstein has been charged with first- and third-degree rape and committing a criminal sexual act in the first degree from incidents with two separate women. Weinstein pleaded not guilty, and maintains that he “has never engaged in non-consensual sexual behavior with anyone,” his lawyer said in a statement Friday.
The allegations of sexual misconduct by more than 80 women against Weinstein spanned decades. The arrest and arraignment was a meaningful moment for dozens of other women who have accused him of misconduct.
Asia Argento, who like McGowan was among the first to share her story with journalists last fall said in a statement to CNN: “After decades of abusing women with impunity, finally, the beginning of the end of Harvey Weinstein’s reign of terror. I wish I could say this brings me peace. Unfortunately, the damage he has done to women can never be undone. He belongs in prison.”
McGowan expressed a similar sentiment to Amy Robach on ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Friday morning.
“His face has terrorized me for so long,” she said.
McGowan said she has been talking with another one of Weinstein’s accusers about possibly attending some of the courtroom proceedings.
“If she wants to go, I will go with her,” McGowan said.
NBC’s Kelly asked: “If he were watching this today, what would you say to him?”
McGowan paused, thought about it, and said “We got you. We got you. Yeah.”
She tweeted out a similar message later in the day.
McGowan has been one of the most prominent faces of the #MeToo movement. On “GMA,” McGowan acknowledged that some members of the public are “sick of” hearing about allegations of abuse.
Her response to critics of the movement: “Imagine how tired we are. Imagine how tired we are of it.”
On NBC’s Today show, speaking with Kelly, McGowan said this issue is “gender neutral” because it’s ultimately about “abuse of power.”
She also asserted that Weinstein still has some privilege because he was able to surrender after negotiating the details with the NYPD.
“We have to understand, he turned himself in on a Friday,” she said. “That’s a slow news weekend, Memorial Day. So he still has privileges from high up, somewhere. But this is a big strike into the heart of abuse of power. And it shows people worldwide, which is what I was hoping the whole time, that this cannot and will not stand.”