Harvey Weinstein pleaded not guilty on Tuesday, June 5, to felony rape and criminal sex act charges, the Associated Press reports.
The disgraced movie mogul, 66, appeared before Justice James M. Burke during a hearing at the State Supreme Court in New York City, where he answered a series of yes-no questions about his rights before entering his plea. He arrived in a navy suit shortly before 10 a.m. ET with his attorney Benjamin Brafman.
Weinstein turned himself in to authorities on May 25 on charges involving former actress Lucia Evans and a second woman, who has not been publicly identified. Evans, 36, has claimed that the former producer forced her to perform oral sex on him at his office in 2004, while the unidentified woman alleged that he raped her in a hotel room in 2013.
Weinstein was first accused of decades of sexual harassment and assault in damning exposés published by The New York Times and The New Yorker in October. The publications won a joint Pulitzer Prize for public service for their reporting. Dozens of women, including actresses Gwyneth Paltrow and Rose McGowan, have since come forward with additional allegations of misconduct.
The Oscar winner, who is out on $1 million bail, has denied all claims of nonconsensual sex. His lawyer has claimed that the sexual encounters with Evans and the second woman were consensual.
Weinstein and Georgina Chapman settled their divorce in January in the wake of the scandal. She claimed in a recent interview with Vogue that she was “never” suspicious about his behavior during their 10-year union.
“That’s what makes this so incredibly painful: I had what I thought was a very happy marriage,” the Marchesa cofounder, 42, said in the magazine’s June 2018 issue. “I loved my life. … He was a wonderful partner to me. He was a friend and a confidant and a supporter.”
