Comic who called out Harvey Weinstein during a New York show says she hopes she ‘said enough’
Kelly Bachman, the comedian who called out Harvey Weinstein at a New York bar this week, says she hopes she “said enough.”
The comic was one of several performers in a variety show Wednesday night. She said she spotted the former Hollywood producer before her Actor’s Hour set and decided she had to say something. Another person in the audience spoke out against Weinstein and was asked to leave.
Bachman told CNN’s Ana Cabrera on Saturday that, as a rape survivor herself, she was thinking about how important it was to stand up to Weinstein before she went on stage.
“I was really trying to just say something, and in the moment, I really felt like I could have said more, and I really felt like I had let down other survivors by not saying more,” she said. “They’re my heroes for speaking out and I hope I did right by them in some way.”
Inside Manhattan’s Downtime Bar on Wednesday, she said that as a comic, “It’s my job to name the elephant in the room,” and that “Freddy Krueger” was in the room.
“I have been raped, surprisingly by no one in this room, but I’ve never gotten to confront those guys,” she had said. “So, just a general f*** you.”
Weinstein currently faces criminal charges of predatory sexual assault, criminal sexual act, first-degree rape and third-degree rape. He has pleaded not guilty and maintains all sexual encounters he’s been involved in have been consensual. His trial is expected to begin in January.
A spokesman for Weinstein said the former mogul was “out with friends enjoying the music and trying to find some solace in his life that has been turned upside down.”
“This scene was uncalled for, downright rude and an example of how due process is being squashed by the public, trying to take it away in the courtroom too.”
Bachman said Saturday what happened had nothing to do with due process.
“This is about protecting the artists in the space and making them feel as safe as they’re supposed to perform,” she said. “Bringing someone that has a reputation for destroying the careers of young women … to have a room full of young women exposed to that person in a way that’s treated as normal and maybe welcome, to me that’s a completely separate conversation than the conversation about due process.”
Comic was shocked by audience’s reaction
An audience member, Zoe Stuckless, also confronted Weinstein at his table and demanded he be asked to leave, according to video Stuckless shared on Facebook.
“Nobody’s going to say anything?” Stuckless shouted in a video posted to Facebook. Stuckless was then asked to leave, according to the video.
Bachman said Saturday she was in shock since the moment she saw Weinstein.
“I found out pretty quickly that he was invited, and no one was going to ask him to leave so I was totally shocked by that, that he seemed to just be … accepted as like a normal presence in the space,” she said.
It’s unclear whether Weinstein was invited to the event. The host of Actor’s Hour, Alexandra Laliberte, said in a statement that she “did not consider the underlying implications of Mr. Weinstein’s presence and was naively overwhelmed by the entire situation that unfolded.”
Bachman said seeing how people reacted to him being there was “the most triggering aspect.”
In a video of the performance the comic posted on Facebook, audience members could be heard booing her and one told her to shut up when she talked about Weinstein.
“When someone says, ‘Shut up,’ that to me reminds me of being silenced as a rape survivor, of not believed as a rape victim and so it’s very jarring,” she said.