Rose McGowan makes first public comments since Weinstein scandal

Rose McGowan made her first public remarks since she wrote on Twitter that Harvey Weinstein raped her. She spoke at The Women's Convention in Detroit on Friday. 

Tarana Burke, who started the #MeToo hashtag 10 years ago, introduced McGowan to the stage as the actress "who screamed her Me Too on the internet." 

"Thank you for all of the strong, powerful 'Me Toos' because we all because we are all 'Me Too' and thank you Tarana for giving us two words and a hashtag that freed us," said McGowan. "I have been silenced for 20 years. I have been slut-shamed. I have been harassed. I have been maligned and you know what? I'm just like you. Because what happened to me behind the scenes happens to all of us in society and it cannot stand and it will not stand."

McGowan talked about her own hashtag, #RoseArmy, and said it wasn't about herself. "It's about the flower, because we have thorns and thorns carry justice." 

She rallied her audience and said, "It's time to rise. It's time to be brave in the face of unspeakable actions. From one monster we look away to another." McGowan added that the monsters "must die." 

The actress urged women to speak up about their experiences. 

"For all of us who have been grabbed by the motherf****** p****y, no more," she said. "Name it. Shame it. Call it out. Join me. Join all of us as we amplify each other's voices." 

McGowan also said there needs to be more women behind the scenes in Hollywood.

"We are given one view," she said. "I know the men behind the view and they should not be in your mind and they should not be in mine. It's time to clean the house." The actress continued and said, "The scarlet letter is theirs. It is not ours," before saying, "We will not go away. I am brave and I am you." 

This was the first time McGowan made a public appearance since Oct. 12, when McGowan wrote on Twitter, "HW raped me," referring to Weinstein. 

McGowan last year said that she had been raped by a "studio head." The New Yorker exposé that ran Tuesday reported that Weinstein had allegedly sexually assaulted three women, though the third woman was unnamed. The New York Times earlier reported that Weinstein paid a financial settlement of $100,000 to McGowan in 1997 over an incident in a hotel room at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah. 

The Summit County Sheriff's Office, which shares a records system with Park City Police, had no reports or calls involving Weinstein or McGowan in the past 30 years, sheriff's spokesman Lt. Andrew Wright said.

The Times reported Weinstein's settlement with McGowan included provisions about speaking about the case in the future. She did not comment for the story, but she did tweet about the story afterward and condemned Weinstein and his allies on Twitter for days. 

Her account was temporarily suspended on Oct. 12, and when it was reinstated, McGowan became more blunt about about her past experience with Weinstein. Shortly before a series a tweets addressed to Amazon chief Jeff Bezos, McGowan tweeted a woman warrior picture with a "Rosearmy" hashtag and stated "It's on."

• Twitter explains suspending Rose McGowan's account

"I told the head of your studio that HW raped me," said McGowan in tweets directed to Bezos. "Over and Over I said it. He said it hadn't been proven. I said I was the proof." 

In subsequent tweets, McGowan appeared to suggest that Amazon Studios, which is overseen by Roy Price, previously dropped a project penned by McGowan after she insisted Weinstein not be involved. Price later resigned after allegations of sexual harassment from a producer on the series "The Man In the High Castle." 

McGowan went on to urge Bezos "to stop funding rapists" and told him "be the change you want to see in the world."

McGowan, 44, has emerged as one of the most vocal in Hollywood about sexual abuse and harassment in the industry. She has pushed for the remaining board members of The Weinstein Co. to resign in the wake of the allegations against Weinstein. She also called Ben Affleck "a liar" on Twitter, suggesting the actor knew about Weinstein's conduct. (She and Affleck co-starred in 1997 "Going All the Way" and 1998's "Phantoms.")

In:
• Rape
• #MeToo Movement
• Sexual Assault