Harvey Weinstein is a ‘monster,’ says Abrahamson

Irish film director Lenny Abrahamson has described the film producer Harvey Weinstein as a "monster".

Abrahamson, one of Ireland’s highest profile directors, said Weinstein will be the first of many in the industry to be exposed.

“I hope they are quaking in their boots,” he added.

Weinstein is facing multiple allegations of sexual assault, rape and harassment following a lengthy investigation by The New York Times.

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Abrahamson said men like Weinstein are only able to get away with their actions because “people in a position to challenge abuse choose to look the other way”.

He tweeted: “All of us have a duty to expose the harassers and resist the culture of accommodation that grows around powerful men.

“The closer we are to power ourselves, like the senior executives in Weinstein’s company, the greater our responsibility.

“What’s for sure is that Weinstein will be the first of many who will now be exposed. I hope they are quaking in their boots.

“The capacity of people like that to make the abused feel complicit is one of the most awful aspects of how they operate.”

Mr Abrahamson has directed successful Irish films such as Room and Garage.

In response to a tweet from one woman who suggested that Weinstein is only facing consequences because of a string of box office failures, Mr Abrahamson responded: “Yes”.

Weinstein was involved in one of the most successful Irish films of all time, My Left Foot, the biopic of Christy Brown which won Oscars for Daniel Day Lewis and Brenda Fricker.

Neither actor had any time for Weinstein. Shortly after he won the Oscar for best actor in 1990, Day Lewis told Weinstein: “There’s only one part of you that works — the ability to pick scripts and pick movies. Otherwise, you’re a complete disaster as a person.”

Fricker told RTÉ’s Radio 1’s Liveline programme that she felt a physical disgust in his presence.

“I was older. Not his type. But I saw the very young girls surrounding him. I instinctively worried for them.”