Actress Emma Thompson: Weinstein is 'tip of the iceberg' in industry where harassment is 'endemic'

Actress Emma Thompson lit into Harvey Weinstein, President Donald Trump and the wider culture of "the crisis of extreme masculinity" and sexual harassment in the world at large in an interview with the BBC News.

When presented with new stories from accusers who said that producer Harvey Weinstein sexually harassed them, exposed himself to them or otherwise took uninvited personal liberties, Thompson said she wasn't surprised to hear the accounts.

"I don't know about those things but they don't surprise me at all," said Thompson, "and they're endemic to the system anyway."

"What I find sort of extraordinary is that this man is at the top of a very particular iceberg," she continued. Weinstein is not a "sex addict," she said. "He's a predator."

A predator, she said, who's at "the top of a ladder of harassment and belittling and bullying and interference and what my mother would have referred to in the old days as 'pestering.'"

What's clear, she said, is that there's a "crisis in masculinity and the crisis of extreme masculinity, which is this sort of behavior."

"Not only is it not okay, but it also is represented by the most powerful man in the world, at the moment," she said, referring to President Donald Trump.

She went on to say that yes, this sort of thing is going on all the time in Hollywood, that's baked into the system and while there are questions of degree, sexually harassing or bullying any woman, any time is wrong.

Thompson reportedly took Weinstein to task on the set of "Brideshead Revisited" in 2007 when he told British actress Heyley Atweall she looked like "a fat pig" in the morning rushes and should eat less for the remainder of the filming.

"When Atwell told her Oscar-winning co-star Emma Thompson that the Miramax head ordered her to go on a diet, Thompson flipped. She took Weinstein aside and threatened to quit if he forced Atwell or any other woman on set to go on a diet," said Page Six.

“Emma called Harvey out for being a misogynist and a bully and really gave him a hard time,” said a source familiar with the situation.

Multiple women -- including actresses Angelina Jolie and Gwyneth Paltrow -- have come forward to reveal that Weinstein harassed them, touched them inappropriately or placed them in sexually charged situations without their consent.

At least 15 women have accused President Donald Trump of unwanted sexual advances. Trump has denied the allegations.

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