Rose McGowan has been calling bullshit on Hollywood hypocrisy long before #MeToo was trending. And now that the world is listening, McGowan has no intention of letting up—even if that means taking other entertainment industry “Silence Breakers” to task. On Friday, McGowan unleashed righteous Twitter anger on Alyssa Milano, sharing a People article on the actress’ friendship with Harvey Weinstein’s ex, Georgina Chapman. The article, titled “Alyssa Milano Says Friend Georgina Chapman Is ‘Sad’ But Doing ‘Well’ Amid Weinstein Scandal,” transcribes a Wednesday Today show appearance, during which Milano told Megyn Kelly that, “Georgina is doing very well… She’s an amazing mother. She’s an amazing woman, and I think her priority right now is focusing on how to raise those two children to the best of her capacity given the situation.”
“She goes through very dark times. She’s very sad,” Milano continued. “This is not easy for her, but I have no doubt that not only will she come out on the other side of this, but she deserves to. She’s a good woman.”
In the wake of a series of damning sexual assault and harassment allegations against Harvey Weinstein, Chapman, who is the co-founder of fashion label Marchesa, announced that she was leaving the disgraced producer. In a statement at the time, Chapman told People, “I have chosen to leave my husband,” explaining, “My heart breaks for all the women who have suffered tremendous pain because of these unforgivable actions.” But McGowan, one of Weinstein’s numerous accusers, appears to think that Chapman was more complicit than she’s letting on. McGowan shared the People article on Twitter, writing, “You make me want to vomit. You actually gave me a body flashback. Well done, fake one.”
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In a separate tweet, McGowan addressed her former Charmed costar Milano directly, writing, “Alyssa, maybe you and Georgina can call up Camille Cosby.” McGowan also retweeted an account that responded to her initial post with, “I’m saying Georgina Chapman’s company was 100% funded by Weinstein money. No one knew who she was in the fashion world before she married him. I’m saying Weinstein bullied abused women to wear his wife’s clothing line. I’m saying she knew who and [what] she married and why.” McGowan captioned the retweet “and you are 100 percent correct.”
According to The New York Times, a 1997 $100,000 Weinstein settlement aimed to silence McGowan in light of an alleged incident between the producer and the actress. Still, McGowan has been sounding the alarm for quite some time. In 2016, she tweeted, “Because my ex sold our movie to my rapist for distribution #WhyWomenDontReport… it’s been an open secret in Hollywood/Media & they shamed me while adulating my rapist.” After the Times published their exposé in October, McGowan wrote, “Anyone who does business with _ is complicit. And deep down you know you are even dirtier. Cleanse yourselves.” The next day, she tweeted, “Ladies of Hollywood, your silence is deafening.”
In addition to sharing Weinstein-related posts and #MeToo updates, McGowan has used her large social media following to spotlight hypocrisy, and is unafraid to name A-listers. Following the accusations, McGowan tweeted at powerful men including Donald Trump, Ben Affleck, and Jeff Bezos. After Affleck and his BFF Matt Damon maintained a days-long silence on Weinstein, who gave the duo their first big Hollywood break, McGowan shared some strong words: “Hey @Mattdamon what’s it like to be a spineless profiteer who stays silent?” She also implicated the Affleck brothers, writing, “how’s your morning boys?” Affleck finally issued a statement condemning Weinstein, which strongly implied that the actor was just now learning of Weinstein’s decades of abuse. McGowan tells a different story. “@benaffleck ‘GODDAMNIT! I TOLD HIM TO STOP DOING THAT’ you said that to my face. The press conf I was made to go to after assault. You lie.” She countered, adding, “Ben Affleck fuck off.”
Of course Affleck, a powerful man whose brother has been accused of sexual harassment and who faces allegations of groping himself, is a predictable target. Conversely Milano, who was recently featured in Time’s “Silence Breakers” Person of the Year story along with McGowan, has been credited with helping to popularize the #MeToo hashtag. The hashtag was started by activist Tarana Burke in 2006 as a grassroots movement to support survivors in underprivileged communities. “It wasn’t built to be a viral campaign or a hashtag that is here today and forgotten tomorrow,” Burke explained to Ebony. “It was a catchphrase to be used from survivor to survivor to let folks know that they were not alone and that a movement for radical healing was happening and possible.”
In October, Milano urged her Twitter followers to use the hashtag to “give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem.” According to Time, “More than 1.7 million people immediately spoke out about their own harassment experiences after Milano’s tweet.”
While Time’s “Silence Breakers” cover story featured a wide array of voices, the magazine was criticized for the faces it chose to include on its cover, as well as the women who were left out. An article on Afropunk began, “A Black woman creates something, and white people credit themselves for it, after ignoring it for as long as possible. Where have we heard this before?” They continued, “As with most good things, a Black woman named Tarana Burke was the original creator of the #MeToo awareness movement, but you would never know that from whom Time chose to put on its cover instead.” The controversial cover, which honors “the voices that launched a movement,” features Susan Fowler, Isabel Pascual, Adama Iwu, Ashley Judd, and Taylor Swift. Also on Friday, McGowan tweeted, “I’m not missing from a cover, billions of hurt women are.”
