Staying out of the public eye. Rose McGowan canceled an upcoming appearance at the Tallgrass Film Festival amid the Harvey Weinstein sexual harassment case. The festival is taking place on October 18-22, in Wichita, Kansas, and the Charmed alum was scheduled to be awarded the Ad Astra Award on Thursday, October 19.
The film festival announced the cancellation on their website, writing: “We are sorry to announce that we’ve just been informed that Rose McGowan, this year’s recipient of the Ad Astra Award, has canceled all upcoming public appearances due to compounding factors surrounding recent revelations in the Harvey Weinstein sexual harassment case.”
We are sad to announce that @rosemcgowan has cancelled all upcoming public appearances including #Tallgrass15 (cont.) pic.twitter.com/Dluq4ZxoKK
— TallgrassFilm (@tallgrass) October 19, 2017
The actress, 44, publicly accused Weinstein of rape on October 12, via Twitter, after a temporary suspension of her account. In a series of tweets to Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, McGowan identified the film producer by name for the first time. “@jeffbezos I told the head of your studio that HW raped me. Over & over I said it. He said it hadn’t been proved. I said I was the proof,” she wrote, and later confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that the initials in her tweet belonged to Weinstein.
Tallgrass’ Creative Director Lela Meadow-Conner said they support the actress’ efforts and respect her decision. “While we’re disappointed that Rose cannot be here with us in person, we understand that her well being is the priority. We support her and our thoughts are with her,” Meadow-Conner wrote in a statement. “The whole world is now aware, in large part due to Rose’s efforts, about the rampant sexual harassment within the entertainment industry.”
In lieu of McGowan’s presence, the festival put together a panel of women filmmakers to speak on the topic and honor the actress. “Tallgrass has sought to honor Rose McGowan for three years now as we have always felt she epitomizes our motto: Stubbornly independent. We also felt that, in the process of the deserved attention her activism receives, arguably her presence as an independent film icon and genuine filmmaking talent can get lost in the mix,” Tallgrass’s Program Director Nick Pope said. “It was our goal to shine a light on her career and her talent and put that part of the Rose McGowan equation front and center for a very special evening. We will still honor her achievements from afar.”
As previously reported, Weinstein was fired from his film studio The Weinstein Company on Sunday, October 8, due to allegations from several women, including Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow and Ashley Judd. In a statement to Us Weekly, the producer’s spokesperson said, “All allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr. Weinstein.”
