NYT's Jodi Kantor says Quentin Tarantino had an "old fashioned" view of harassment
One of Hollywood's biggest directors, Quentin Tarantino, is coming clean about what he knew about Harvey Weinstein. Tarantino admitted he has known for decades about Weinstein's alleged sexual misconduct with women, and he told New York Times correspondent and CBS News contributor Jodi Kantor that he feels "ashamed" for doing nothing.
The two men have been close for decades and most of Tarantino's movies, like "Pulp Fiction" and "Kill Bill," were distributed by Weinstein.
Dozens of women have now come forward accusing Weinstein of harassment, assault or rape, and police have opened investigations in New York, London and L.A. Weinstein denies engaging in any non-consensual sex.
"Everyone who was close to Harvey had heard of at least one of those incidents," Tarantino said in the interview. "It was impossible they didn't."
Kantor joined "CBS This Morning" to discuss the fallout from her initial report and what she learned about the way some look at sexual harassment from her conversation with Tarantino.
"Part of the power is there are now many people asking themselves should I have said something 10, 15, 20 years ago," Kantor said. "Tarantino said to me specifically on the phone two days ago, 'Should I have done more? I knew these stories firsthand. One of them happened to my own girlfriend, Mira Sorvino. I didn't take it seriously enough. I minimized it. I brushed it aside.' So I think many people are saying I don't want to be that person, whether I was a victim or a witness or whatever – I don't want to brush it aside."
Kantor said she knew there were others in Hollywood who were waiting to see if they wanted to speak out, but she never anticipated the outpouring that resulted, such as the viral "#MeToo" movement. Since Kantor's first report about Weinstein two weeks ago, nearly 60 women have come forward with accounts of alleged harassment or worse.
"One of the things that Quentin Tarantino said to me is that when he heard these stories from women he didn't think 'sexual harassment.' He had a very old fashioned, almost dismissive image of 'Oh, the boss chased the secretary around the desk a little bit,' like it was some sort of comedic set piece. He said part of his recognition and he also said his culpability is the fact that he now realizes this was a terrifying situation for women to be in," she said.
On Thursday, a group of Weinstein Company employees penned an anonymous letter in which they asked that they be released from their non-disclosure agreements so they can speak out about what they knew.
"As a reporter I was thrilled that they made that statement about NDAs because I have said to many people on the phone this summer and other times, NDAs should not be used to cover up abuse," Kantor said. "A piece of paper is meant to prevent you from leaking competitor secrets but not to cover up abuse in the workplace. The Weinstein and Miramax company employees are a really interesting case because some of them did know and failed to speak up years ago but a lot of people either had no idea this was happening," she said.
One former assistant to Weinstein, who wanted to remain anonymous, told CBS News last week, "It was no secret that [Weinstein] had scores of women all across the globe," but he said the assault allegations came as a shock.
Kantor pointed out that many employees and former employees of both the Weinstein Company and Miramax helped the New York Times in their reporting.
"Our reporting became a way for them to finally do something after all these years. They didn't feel entirely right about what happened."
