Jennifer Aniston 'should be killed': Weinstein's rage laid bare in unsealed court documents

The film producer also attempted to get support from Jeff Bezos and Tim Cook when he feared losing his job

Andrew Pulver
@Andrew_Pulver
Wed 11 Mar 2020 12.32 GMT
Last modified on Wed 11 Mar 2020 12.35 GMT

Unsealed court papers have revealed that disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein said that Jennifer Aniston “should be killed”. They also say he attempted to get help from billionaires Jeff Bezos and Michael Bloomberg to avoid being fired by the Weinstein Company.

Following Weinstein’s conviction for rape in the third degree and a criminal sex act in February, the New York City criminal courthouse has made public around a thousand pages of documents collected for Weinstein’s case. According to Variety, Weinstein was contacted in October 2017 by a reporter from the National Enquirer over a story that the magazine was planning to publish that alleged Aniston had claimed Weinstein had sexually assaulted her. Weinstein responded by email: “Jen Aniston should be killed.” Aniston’s representative has since told Variety that the Enquirer’s claims were false: “Jennifer has not been harassed or assaulted by Harvey.”

The documents also revealed that actor-director Ben Affleck was one of many industry figures on a “red flag list” compiled by Weinstein, which he sent to a private detective as a guide to those he suspected of talking about his sexual behaviour to the media. The existence of the list was revealed during Weinstein’s trial, when the investigator, Sam Anson, said that Annabella Sciorra, who had testified against Weinstein, was named. Alongside Affleck and Sciorra on the list were Rose McGowan, Zelda Perkins, Lysette Anthony and Rowena Chiu (who have all accused Weinstein of sexual assault, which he denies) and high-profile producers Megan Ellison and Jason Blum.

Weinstein’s attempts to salvage his position in October 2017, when it became clear that the board of the Weinstein Company were about to fire him, were also revealed. He sent a string of emails to powerful corporate figures, including Bloomberg, Bezos, Netflix’s Ted Sarandos and Apple’s Tim Cook asking for their intervention and “a private letter of support”. His email to Bezos read: “There are many false allegations and over time, we’ll prove it, but right now, I’m the poster boy for bad behavior.”

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