Law&Crime Sidebar - Mel Gibson Granted Right to Testify in Harvey Weinstein Sex Crimes Trial

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Starting point is 00:00:35 keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. Prosecutors in Harvey Weinstein's sex crimes trial in L.A. may call Mel Gibson to testify. What could it mean? I'm Ann Jeanette Levy and you are watching Sidebar here on Law and crime. Welcome back to Sidebar here on Law and Crime. I'm Ann Janette Levy. Harvey Weinstein is on trial in Los Angeles for sex crimes involving five Jane Does. These crimes are alleged to have happened from 2004 to 2013. And guess what? Prosecutors have gotten the green light from the judge in the case to possibly call Mel Gibson to testify. He could possibly help bolster the story,

Starting point is 00:01:29 according to prosecutors of Jane Doe number three. She was a masseuse and apparently the name Harvey Weinstein came up between Mel Gibson and Jane Doe number three in a conversation. And she had a visceral reaction apparently to the name Harvey Weinstein. So that is what Mel Gibson could possibly testify about if he's called to testify for the prosecution in this sex crimes trial. We're going to take just a minute here to thank our friends Brian and Chris. at the Commercial Break podcast. And you know why we're doing that? Because they gave us a little bit of cash to do it. Brian and Chrissy and the commercial break look at burning questions like, should I learn a Martian light language? And do television preachers have big enough airplanes? Well, I know you guys have really never asked yourselves those questions, but the commercial break has those questions answered for you. And that's because they are one of Apple's top three comedy improv podcast and you can find it on all of the major podcast platforms like apple spotify google and many more and you can also watch the commercial break at youtube.com slash the commercial

Starting point is 00:02:39 break and you'll also find it on the podcast website tcbpodcast.com Brian and Chrissy are best friends and they get together every Monday, Wednesday and Friday to talk about life love and the pursuit of absurdity. Things like TV dating shows, monster hunters, psychic readings. You name it. They've got it for you. So check it out. The commercial break is available anywhere you get your podcast and at YouTube.com slash the commercial break and TCBpodcast.com. It's not everyone's cup of tea, but guess what? It's free. We've also learned that one of the Jane Does in this case is actually the First Lady of California. Her name is Jennifer Seibel Newsom, the wife of Governor Gavin Newsom. So this is a really interesting trial that's unfolding in

Starting point is 00:03:29 Los Angeles. Harvey Weinstein, of course, maintains that his sexual encounters with these women were all consensual. So this is going to be really interesting, especially if Mel Gibson testifies. And joining me to talk about this is Mitra Ahorian. She is an entertainment lawyer in Los Angeles. Mitra, welcome back to Sidebar. It's always great to have you on. Thanks, Tengenet. Always a pleasure being here. And it's always a pleasure to have you on, Mitra. You know, I find this really interesting because Mel Gibson apparently knows this woman who was a masseuse and apparently had an interaction of sorts with Harvey Weinstein. And Melk Gibson apparently spoke with this woman. This woman had this visceral reaction to the name Harvey Weinstein being mentioned during this conversation. Then Mel Gibson in a little bit of the telephone game, kind of relays this story to a producer with ABC's 2020, the news magazine show. So I find this kind of wild because Mel Gibson is somebody who doesn't have the greatest past, right? He's made anti-Semitic remarks in the past. His movie The Passion of the Christ

Starting point is 00:04:39 was very controversial and he and Harvey Weinstein have kind of a past from that. Yeah. So Mel Gibson is definitely trying to make a comeback, not just, you know, in this regard, but with some other movies that are in development. He, yeah, he had a bad rap for quite some time coming off of Passion of the Christ. If you recall, like you mentioned, there were some anti-Semitic remarks that were attributed to him. And his career sort of went on the decline from that. And this is what we're hearing now.

Starting point is 00:05:11 So there was a motion in Lemonade to exclude evidence. We're now having the pre-trial motions to decide what evidence can come in and what evidence can't. Prosecutors, of course, like you mentioned, want to bring in Mel Gibson's testimony. Apparently, he was getting a massage, his masseuse of Weinstein's name came up. He's saying that his masseuse sort of had this PTSD reaction to his name, which suggested that there was a sexual assault there. And Weinstein's lawyers are, of course, downplaying this and saying that, well, she didn't

Starting point is 00:05:45 actually say that there was any abuse. So in any case, that's for a jury to decide, you know, sort of what those statements mean. But the question comes, is our Weinstein's lawyers allowed to bring up these anti-Semitic comments and sort of these things that don't make Mel Gibson look good, right? So all these things that affected his reputation could undoubtedly affect the, you know, whether his testimony is given weight or not. and whether he's a likable witness. And so Weinstein's lawyers want to be able to bring in some, you know, some evidence of the fact that he made these statements. And the judge ruled on that and said that, okay, well, you can talk about the fact that there was this feud. Apparently Weinstein's book publishing company, Miramax Books, had put out a book that had sparked this feud over Passion of the Christ and whether there were these anti-Semitic comments. And Weinstein's lawyers want to talk about this and want to say, okay, well, there is this feud. So now we have this very biased witness who's coming in and testifying against Weinstein. He doesn't like Weinstein.

Starting point is 00:07:00 So we should be able to ask him questions about this. And the judge said, okay, that makes sense. You can. But you can't ask him about comments that he's made generally. You can ask specifically about things that have to do between, you know, that show this sort of bias between Gibson and Weinstein. Right. And Mitra Weinstein is obviously a Jewish name. Mel Gibson is a Catholic. He's been very vocal about that in the past. And this is a feud. There's like a feud of sorts going back years and years between Mel Gibson and Harvey Weinstein. So it'll be interesting to see how this plays out because just because the prosecution says they've got the permission of the judge to call Mel Gibson, it doesn't necessarily mean that he'll testify in the case. yeah you're absolutely right um you know it's interesting because the way that wine scene lawyers are sort of arguing against his testimony coming in or rather arguing that they can cross him in

Starting point is 00:07:58 these ways um is by saying okay well the prosecutors want to make this case as high profile as possible they want to bring in as many celebrities as possible and mel gipson is one of them because this brings attention on the case and it's not good for winstein um and also So, you know, they allege that Mel Gibson's trying to align himself with the Me Too movement to sort of repair his reputation. And so it's interesting that they're also, you know, telling the judge that, well, there's these ulterior motives for even wanting to bring Mel Gibson in as a witness. And Mitra Mel Gibson, of course, is a huge, huge name in Hollywood. But he does have this checkered past. Back in 2006, he was pulled over. And during this traffic stop, apparently, he was drunk and he was saying things to the police officer who pulled him over asking him, are you a Jew and saying things to the effect of that the Jews were responsible for all of the wars in the world. Mel Gibson's publicist later issued a statement apologizing basically on his

Starting point is 00:09:03 behalf and saying that he was inebriated and what he said was unacceptable. So I'm thinking to myself, isn't Mel Gibson after all of these years still kind of damaged goods in Hollywood? I think for years he was, but it's possible for people to make turnarounds. And I can tell you that there are a couple of Mel Gibson movies that are in development that we will be seeing, assuming they make it all the way to the screens. And so, you know, he is a big name. He's a household name. So even though there's this taint, I think that there are certainly some people who

Starting point is 00:09:36 will still go and support him and his work. Mitra, as far as Jane Doe number three goes, I'm thinking to myself, you know, she's giving a massage to Mel Gibson. The name Harvey Weinstein comes up. She apparently has this post-traumatic stress disorder kind of reaction to that name being brought up. But is that enough, do you think, to kind of help bolster this woman's credibility and to possibly back up the story that she's going to tell the jury? I don't think it's enough, but, you know, anytime you have some sort corroborating evidence when you have someone else saying, you know what, she didn't just keep this to herself, she actually said something about it at the time. And I think anytime you have something

Starting point is 00:10:19 like that, it does lend credence to the allegations made by the alleged victims. Maitra, how closely do you feel that Hollywood is really watching this trial? Because Harvey Weinstein's done. Miramax is done. I know his brother is still kind of floating around out there. There aren't any cameras that are going to be allowed in the courtroom. The judge has ruled against that. So we're really going to be reading about this in, you know, print media. You know, they might be talking about it on television, but we're really going to get probably the bulk of the information on websites and in newspapers. So how closely is Hollywood watching the trial of Harvey Weinstein? As you mentioned, we don't have the cameras in the courtroom, which would make it sort of a spectacle the way we see with some

Starting point is 00:11:06 other celebrity cases, which, you know, Johnny Depp being one of them where it became this whole spectacle. You know, at this point, the trades are covering it. So the entertainment trades are covering it. It is talked about in, you know, the various publications in Hollywood with updates. But, you know, Harvey Weinstein, for all intents and purposes, is done in Hollywood. Enough evidence has come forward. Enough celebrities have come forward in saying that they were a victim of his sexual advances, enough people who worked with him, who are neutrals who weren't victims, have come forward. And he's been convicted, you know, in New York. So as far as Hollywood is considered, I mean, Harvey Weinstein is the epitome of the Me Too movement in Hollywood.

Starting point is 00:11:57 And he's, he was canceled a long time ago. I found that really interesting too. And really just in the week or last week or 10 days or so, Mitra, we got word that the, that the, you know, First Lady of California is one of the Jane Does in this case. So does her being the first lady of California give her any credibility when it comes to accusing Harvey Weinstein of sex crimes? I found that surprising. I mean, I'm curious about her testimony and where and when this happened and what exactly happened. Newsom, of course, has been, you know, or the past couple of years getting more and more publicity because of COVID and because of, you know, having been, you know, press conferences every day or every other day about COVID.

Starting point is 00:12:42 So everybody became very familiar with his name, which became sort of this household name. So anyone who even didn't know his name now would have that affiliation. So her name is quite big for her to come forward as one of five is a big deal. So she will be testifying. And I'm very curious to see what it is that she's going to say. Well, I am certainly interested to hear what Jennifer Newsom has to say to that jury, what she's going to be telling them and testifying to. So we'll all be watching. Mitra O'Horion, an entertainment lawyer out of Los Angeles. Thanks, as always, for joining us. We appreciate it. Thanks, Andrew Nett.

Starting point is 00:13:17 And that's it for this edition of Law and Crime Sidebar podcast. It is produced by Sam Goldberg, Michael Dininger, and Logan Harris. Bobby Zoki is our YouTube manager. Alyssa Fisher handles our bookings and Kiera Bronson handles our social media. You can find Sidebar and download it and listen to it on Apple, Spotify, Google, and wherever else you get your podcast. You can also watch it as always on Law and Crimes YouTube channel. I'm Ann Janette Levy and we will see you next time. You can binge all episodes of this Law and Crime series ad free right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or or Spotify.

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Law&Crime Sidebar - Mel Gibson Granted Right to Testify in Harvey Weinstein Sex Crimes Trial

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