J. Law Just Called Out Harvey Weinstein For Trying To Use Her Words For His Benefit

Another actor is taking a stand against Harvey Weinstein. On Thursday, Jennifer Lawrence slammed Weinstein for attempting to use words she made about the producer in December 2017 against her. "Harvey Weinstein and his company are continuing to do what they have always done which is to take things out of context and use them for their own benefit," Lawrence said a statement obtained by TMZ. "This is what predators do, and it must stop."

Her statement continued:

For the record, while I was not victimized personally by Harvey Weinstein, I stand behind the women who have survived his terrible abuse and I applaud them in using all means necessary to bring him to justice whether through criminal or civil actions. Time’s up.

UPDATE: A spokesperson for Weinstein released the following statement on his behalf:

Mr. Weinstein has been informed that his civil counsel responded in court to a class action lawsuit which improperly sought to include all actresses who had previously worked with Mr. Weinstein, even where those actresses have made no claim of wrongdoing.

Even though Mr. Weinstein has worked with hundreds of actresses and actors who had only professional and mutually respectful experiences with him, Mr. Weinstein has directed in the future that no specific names be used by his counsel, even where those actors have made previous public statements about him.

Mr. Weinstein acknowledges the valuable input both Meryl Streep and Jennifer Lawrence have contributed to this conversation and apologizes. Once again, moving forward, Mr. Weinstein has advised his counsel to not include specific names of former associates; and to avoid whenever possible, even if they are in the public record.

EARLIER: Deadline reports that on Tuesday, court documents were filed by Weinstein and his team in an effort to dismiss a class action lawsuit filed by six women in December 2017, who have alleged Weinstein either sexually assaulted or harassed them. (Weinstein's rep has previously denied "any allegations of non-consensual sex".)

As part of his defense, Weinstein reportedly used a previous statement made by Lawrence in an interview conducted by Oprah Winfrey for The Hollywood Reporter last December, where she said that Weinstein "had only ever been nice" to her. Lawrence starred in Silver Linings Playbook, which was produced by The Weinstein Company.

Her full remark made to Winfrey reads:

"Just speaking for myself, I had known him since I was 20, and he had only ever been nice to me — except for the moments that he wasn't, and then I called him an asshole, and we moved on. He was paternal to me. So I needed a moment to process everything because I thought I knew this guy, and then he's being accused of rape. We all knew he was a dog, we knew that he was a —"

At that point Winfrey interjected and used the word "brute" to describe Weinstein. Lawrence continued, "A tough guy, a brute, a tough guy to negotiate with. I didn't know that he was a rapist. And it's so widespread, the abuse, from so many different people — it's directors, it's producers — that I think everybody needed to [process it]. Everybody needs to deal with this in their own way; everybody needs to heal."

After The New York Times released its October 2017 exposé on Weinstein detailing sexual harassment allegations against him, Lawrence responded by telling The Daily Beast in a statement, "I was deeply disturbed to hear the news about Harvey Weinstein’s behavior. I worked with Harvey five years ago and I did not experience any form of harassment personally, nor did I know about any of these allegations. This kind of abuse is inexcusable and absolutely upsetting." She added, "My heart goes out to all of the women affected by these gross actions. And I want to thank them for their bravery to come forward."

At the time of the NYT report, Weinstein's lawyer released the following statement: "He denies many of the accusations as patently false." Weinstein also gave his own statement in which he didn't comment on any of the allegations in particular. "I appreciate the way I’ve behaved with colleagues in the past has caused a lot of pain, and I sincerely apologize for it." He continued, "Though I’m trying to do better, I know I have a long way to go."

Similar to Lawrence, Meryl Streep also commented on Weinstein for attempting to use female actor's words, including her own, for his own defense. In a statement obtained by Deadline, Streep said:

Harvey Weinstein's attorneys' use of my (true) statement — that he was not sexually transgressive or physically abusive in our business relationship — as evidence that he was not abusive with many OTHER women is pathetic and exploitative. The criminal actions he is accused of conducting on the bodies of these women are his responsibility, and if there is any justice left in the system he will pay for them — regardless of how many good movies, made by many good people, Harvey was lucky enough to have acquired or financed.

According to Deadline, the court documents filed by Weinstein and his team included a statement from Streep who once stated that the producer had always been respectful to her when they worked together. Her exact comment given to The Huffington Post last October read: "One thing can be clarified. Not everybody knew. Harvey supported the work fiercely, was exasperating but respectful with me in our working relationship, and with many others with whom he worked professionally."

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, call the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 800-656-HOPE (4673) or visit online.rainn.org.