Achi news desk-
“A bombshell, indeed,” Montreal actress Erica Rosenbaum said of the New York appeals court decision that threw out the conviction of disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.
Rosenbaum is among the Silence Breakers, a women’s group that emerged after allegations of sexual assault and harassment first surfaced against Weinstein in 2017.
“This is a very discouraging development but not surprising, unfortunately,” she says. “The legal system as it is, is simply not built to convict, so the survivors go out and tell their stories and re-traumatize for the sake of these trials, and then something like this happens. It will certainly cost a lot to tell these stories again.”
The Montreal native was in her twenties, dreaming of landing a big role and shuttling back and forth between her home and auditions in Hollywood, when she met Weinstein at a party in Los Angeles knowing he was the man many called “the star maker.”
In 2017, she broke her silence and detailed three separate incidents during meetings with Weinstein.
According to her, the ruling is “unfortunate” because many of the women who stepped forward were ready to stand up in court, despite the renewed trauma caused by the revisit in these moments, because they wanted to make a change and do the right thing.
“I was willing to share my story to lend to the predatory story that this particular character demonstrated,” she says. “It is very difficult to understand why we were asked to do this by lawyers, and the trial judge allowed it, and now this is the thing that allows this particular charge to be dropped, it is very worrying.”
The New York Supreme Court ruled that the judge should not have allowed the testimony of women whose accusations were not part of the charges against him.
Women’s groups claim that the decision highlights the limitations of the justice system that survivors can experience. The Canadian Women’s Foundation says about 30 percent of women and girls over the age of 15 in this country have experienced sexual violence at least once in their lives.
“I think they’re going to feel pretty worried today,” says Andrea Gunraj, the foundation’s vice president of public engagement. “They may feel re-traumatized, they may feel they won’t be listened to if they report.”
Still, Gunraj adds, there have been improvements in the years since the #MeToo movement went global, when legal proceedings against Weinstein got underway. “In 2017, survivors all over the world said #MeToo, and it opened a door to understanding sexual violence not only in entertainment but also in the workplace, in schools, in sports.”
Rosenbaum says today’s verdict will not deter her from sharing her story.
“I will continue to talk to anyone who will listen,” she says. “I talk to women’s groups, I talk to young people, and I’ll try to help others for the rest of my career, because the only thing I can do with my truth is help people stand up for themselves.”
Weinstein is not a free man. He is scheduled to serve a separate 16-year sentence for a rape conviction in California.
“He is behind bars where he belongs, because he is a criminal,” says Rosenbaum.
With files from the Associated Press
