Matthew Weiner denies sexual harassment allegation
Matthew Weiner, best known for creating "Mad Men," says he doesn't remember making an inappropriate comment toward his former writer Kater Gordon. Gordon worked as Weiner's assistant and as a staff writer on "Mad Men" and last year, she accused Weiner of once saying that she owed it to him to let him see her naked. Gordon said that she was not invited back after working on the show for one more season.
Weiner initially told Joy Press of Vanity Fair that though it's "not impossible," he does not remember saying that. Later, he said more definitively, "I never felt that way and I never acted that way towards Kater."
Weiner said that it felt "strange to find myself being accused" after highlighting power dynamics in the workplace on "Mad Men." He said of the comment, "I really don't remember saying that. I'm not hedging to say it's not impossible that I said that, but I really don't remember saying it."
The creator of the upcoming "Romanoffs" series said of Gordon's accusation, "I can't see a scenario where I would say that. What I can see is, it was 10 years ago and I don't remember saying it. When someone says you said something, like the experience we just had right now—I don't remember saying that."
Gordon told Vanity Fair that Weiner's alleged comments was not an "isolated incident."
"That was not an isolated incident, but it was the most affecting ... Bullies with unchecked power create environments of fear," she said. After leaving the TV industry, Gordon created Modern Alliance, a nonprofit dedicated to fighting sexual harassment.
When Gordon accused Weiner last year of sexual harassment, producer-writer Marti Noxon, who also worked on "Mad Men," supported her and said, "I believe her," and referred to Weiner as an "emotional terrorist."
Weiner said he was surprised by Noxon's tweet and seemed to say that he was not cognizant of the power he wielded over his staff.
"What you don't realize . . . I think this goes with all of it," he told Vanity Fair. "It goes with sexist language, it goes with jokes, it goes with everything about what I believe I have examined in my own behavior — is just that you don't know that you have any power."