Dawn Dunning, a one-time aspiring actress now working as a costume designer, on Wednesday testified that in 2004 Harvey Weinstein put his hand up her skirt and touched her genitals without her consent. The mogul later propositioned her to have a threesome with him and his assistant in exchange for roles in his upcoming films, she added on the witness stand in Weinstein’s criminal trial.
Dunning said she was waitressing at a nightclub in the Meatpacking District when she first met Weinstein. After introducing herself as an actress, Dunning said she and Weinstein had several meetings where the then-mogul offered to set up screen tests for her at Miramax for some of his upcoming films.
During these initial meetings, Dunning said that Weinstein made comments about her looks and her body, but that she didn’t feel “unsafe” at the time. But one day, when she was invited by Weinstein’s assistant to visit the set of a production in SoHo, she was led to a hotel room that was operating as a production studio. Dunning testified that Weinstein, when alone with her, put his hand up her skirt and touched her genitals.
“His hand went under my underwear,” Dunning said on the witness stand, through tears. “He was trying to put it in my vagina.”
Dunning said she was “shocked” because there weren’t any “red flags” or “alerts” that indicated the encounter would turn sexual.
Also Read: Harvey Weinstein Trial: Accuser's Former Roommate Corroborates Sexual Assault Claim
“I just kind of froze for a minute and then stood up. He told me not to make a big deal about it, he apologized and said it wouldn’t happen again,” she said. Afterward, Dunning testified that she didn’t tell anyone because she was “embarrassed.”
“I wanted to pretend like it didn’t happen. I just didn’t want to be a victim,” she said.
Soon after, Dunning said she was invited to have another meeting with Weinstein at the InterContinental Hotel near Park Avenue. She said she agreed to meet him because she gave him the “benefit of the doubt” that he would stick to his word and not do anything inappropriate to her again.
When she arrived at the hotel, she said shemet up with Weinstein’s assistant, who said they should go up to his suite rather than wait for him to come down. Dunning said that when she opened the door, Weinstein was only wearing an open hotel bathrobe. On a coffee table in the suite was a stack of papers. “He kind of just cut to the chase and said, ‘Here’s contracts for three films. I’ll sign them today if you have a threesome with me and my assistant,'” Dunning said.
She laughed off the proposition at first, thinking it was a crass joke. But it was then that Dunning said Weinstein grew angry, she said. “He started screaming at me. He said, ‘You’ll never make it in this business. This is how this industry works. This is how these three actresses got to where they are,'” Dunning recalled Weinstein telling her. The actresses he listed were Charlize Theron, Salma Hayek and one other whom Dunning couldn’t remember.
At that point, Dunning said Weinstein was “towering” over her and she became “really scared.” When she looked over at his assistant, Dunning said she just had a “blank expression” on her face. Dunning then said she ran out of the room, to the hallway elevator, and out of the hotel.
The interaction was so traumatizing for Dunning that she ultimately stopped pursuing a career as an actress afterward, she said. “This is the hardest thing I’ve ever done — the worst and hardest thing I’ve done,” Dunning said of testifying in the case. “I would not wish this on anybody.”
Theron told the New York Times last December that Weinstein would leverage his power over actresses: “One of his lines was that Renée (Zellweger) and I slept with him to get jobs. There was no limit to him. Even in the sexual favors, he would still pit us against each other.”
Dunning testified as one of the prosecution’s “prior bad acts” witnesses on Wednesday morning. Weinstein, who faces five felony counts, including predatory sexual assault and rape, has pleaded not guilty and denied accusations of nonconsensual sex.
Dunning first publicly shared her story to the New York Times in 2017, where she told the reporters about the encounter when Weinstein asked for a threesome.
Harvey Weinstein Scandal: A Timeline of a Hollywood Mogul's Downfall (Photos)
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Harvey Weinstein was once the king of the indie film world. But the Oscar-winning producer's career and reputation have imploded since fall 2017, when scores of women stepped forward to accuse him of sexual misconduct. Here's a breakdown of what happened.
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Getty ImagesOCT. 5, 2017
The New York Times published a story revealing that Harvey Weinstein had paid financial settlements to at least eight women who have accused him of sexual harassment or assault. Actress Ashley Judd is the only accuser to go on the record, accusing the mogul of assaulting her in his hotel room. In a statement, Weinstein apologizes, vows to take a self-imposed leave of absence from his company, and bizarrely declares war on the NRA.
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Getty ImagesOCT. 6, 2017
Senators Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker, as well as other Congressional Democrats, donate campaign contributions they received from Weinstein to charity.
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Getty ImagesOCT. 8, 2017
Weinstein is fired as CEO from The Weinstein Company.
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OCT. 10, 2017
The New Yorker publishes its own piece, written by Ronan Farrow, in which three women, including Italian actress Asia Argento, accuse Weinstein of rape. Through a spokesperson, Weinstein denies any account of nonconsensual sex.
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Getty ImagesModel and actress Cara Delevingne also comes forward on Oct. 11 to accuse Weinstein of making sexually inappropriate comments and harassing her.
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OCT. 12, 2017
The NYPD and London’s Metro Police both launch criminal investigations of Weinstein. On social media, Rose McGowan accuses Weinstein of raping her. (He has consistently denied engaging in nonconsensual sex.)
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OCT. 13, 2017
Director Quentin Tarantino, arguably Weinstein’s greatest discovery, says he is “heartbroken” by the scandal. A petition to expel Weinstein from AMPAS passes 100,000 signatures.
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OCT. 15, 2017
Actress Alyssa Milano kicks off a cultural movement by encouraging women to share their stories of sexual harassment and assault on social media. She asks them to tag the stories #MeToo.
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OCT. 17, 2017
Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy vows to start an industry-wide commission to create “protections against harassment and abuse.” Frequent Weinstein collaborator and filmmaker Kevin Smith vows to donate all of his Weinstein Company residuals to Women in Film.
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OCT. 25, 2017
The Taylor Sheridan film "Wind River," which had a successful release by the Weinstein Company in August, excises the Weinstein name from its home video and streaming releases. Principal financier Acadia Entertainment buys the film back from TWC and self-funds an awards campaign. (It doesn't land any Oscar nominations.)
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NOV. 6, 2017
The Television Academy bans Weinstein for life. The New Yorker runs a follow-up piece saying a battery of former Mossad agents and communications experts were used to silence stories of Weinstein’s impropriety for years.
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NOV. 15, 2017
TWC is hit with a class-action lawsuit from several of Weinstein’s accusers. The company is forced to sell its live-action "Paddington 2" to Warner Bros. to help infuse the studio with cash and keep the doors open.
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DEC. 6, 2017
The Academy announces its “standards of conduct,” which read, in part, “The Academy is categorically opposed to any form of abuse, harassment or discrimination on the basis of gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, disability, age, religion, or nationality.”
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JAN. 1, 2018
#TimesUp is born as four female talent agents from CAA create a legal defense fund for women in the U.S. workforce to protect them from sexual harassment. The effort is announced and endorsed by contributors like Meryl Streep, Viola Davis, Reese Witherspoon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Aniston, Fox Film head Stacey Snider, Fox TV honcho Dana Walden, Ava DuVernay and Oprah Winfrey, among others.
JANUARY 7
To draw attention to the mistreatment of women in Hollywood, virtually all women attending the Golden Globes wear black.
JANUARY 8
Immediately after he wins a Golden Globe wearing a #TimesUp pin, James Franco is accused of sexual misconduct by several women. The accusations, which the actor denies, come in the middle of the Oscar nomination voting period.
JANUARY 9
Lady Bird writer-director Greta Gerwig joins Mira Sorvino, Chloe Sevigny and others in saying she would not work in the future with director Woody Allen, who had been accused of sexual assault by his adoptive daughter, Dylan Farrow. (He has repeatedly denied the accusation.)
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JAN. 10, 2018
Page Six reports that Weinstein and Chapman reached the terms of an eight-figure divorce settlement, with Chapman securing primary custody of the couple's two children.
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JAN. 27, 2018
The Academy emails members to reveal the process by which violations of its code of conduct can be reported.
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FEB. 6, 2018
“I may be a 75-year-old white male,” says Academy President John Bailey at the annual Oscar Nominees Luncheon, “but I’m as gratified as any of you that the fossilized bedrock of many of Hollywood’s worst abuses [is] being jackhammered into oblivion.” (One month later, the Academy would investigate -- and then dismiss -- accusations of sexual harassment against Bailey himself.)
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FEB. 8, 2018
Los Angeles police send three sexual assault cases concerning Weinstein to the city’s district attorney for possible charges.
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MARCH 19, 2018
The Weinstein Company filed for bankruptcy in Delaware, reporting that it had less than $500,000 in cash on hand. Dallas-based Lantern Capital Partners stepped up as a stalking horse bidder prepared to buy virtually all of the company’s assets for $310 million.
As part of the company's bankruptcy filing, TWC also released all of Weinstein's accusers from any non-disclosure agreements that would've prevented them from speaking about Weinstein's alleged misconduct.
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MAY 8, 2018
Despite a last-minute bid from Broadway producer Howard Kagan’s Inclusion Media, a Delaware bankruptcy judge approves Lantern Capital's purchase of The Weinstein Company's assets.
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MAY 25, 2018
Following a months-long investigation by the NYPD, Weinstein is arrested on three felony charges of rape and criminal sex act in connection with two female accusers. Weinstein pleads not guilty and released on $1 million bail pending trial.
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GettyMAY 30, 2018
Weinstein is indicted on charges of rape in the first and third degrees, as well as on charges of criminal sexual act in the first degree, as announced by the Manhattan district attorney’s office. Then on June 1, Three women filed additional charges against Weinstein in a class action lawsuit, saying that Weinstein isolated the women “in an attempt to engage in unwanted sexual conduct that took many forms: flashing, groping, fondling, harassing, battering, false imprisonment, sexual assault and attempted rape, and/or completed rape.”
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Getty ImagesJULY 2, 2018
A grand jury served Weinstein with three more sexual assault charges, an additional count of criminal sexual act in the first degree for forcing a woman to have sex with him in 2006, and two counts of predatory sexual assault. The latter charge carries a minimum of 10 years in prison and a maximum of a life sentence. Weinstein would plead not guilty.
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Getty ImagesAUG. 3, 2018
Weinstein made a push to have a New York judge toss out a criminal sexual assault case brought against him, saying in a filing that the Manhattan district attorney “failed to provide the Grand Jury with exculpatory evidence of the long-term, consensual, intimate relationship between Mr. Weinstein and the alleged rape victim.”
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AUG. 19, 2018
A report in the New York Times said Asia Argento paid a settlement of $380,000 to actor Jimmy Bennett after accusing her of sexually assaulting him when he was just 17. Argento denied the accusations. Rose McGowan distanced herself from Argento, and Weinstein issued a statement saying Argento displayed a “stunning level of hypocrisy.” “The sheer duplicity of her conduct is quite extraordinary and should demonstrate to everyone how poorly the allegations against Mr. Weinstein were actually vetted and accordingly, cause all of us to pause and allow due process to prevail, not condemnation by fundamental dishonesty,” the statement continued.
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AUG. 30, 2018
Former NBC News producer Richard McHugh said that people at “the very highest levels of NBC” worked to quash Ronan Farrow’s Harvey Weinstein story that eventually published in The New Yorker. Then on Sept. 3, NBC News Chairman Andy Lack sent an internal memo saying that after eight months, Farrow's reporting “did not have a single victim or witness willing to go on the record.” Farrow disputed the memo and said NBC's list of sources was incomplete.
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SEPT. 6, 2018
The U.S. Attorney’s office in New York opened an investigation into Weinstein’s involvement with the private spy firm Black Cube to see if he violated any federal wire fraud laws. Weinstein had hired Black Cube to gather information on those accusing him of sexual assault.
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Spencer Platt / Getty ImagesAUG. 26, 2019
Weinstein is indicted on two new charges of predatory sexual assault. He faces seven counts, including first-degree and third-degree rape.
The new indictment also allows for Annabella Sciorra to testify at his trial. Though Weinstein cannot be charged for raping Sciorra at her apartment in 1993, as she had said in a 2017 interview with the New Yorker, the actress’ testimony could strengthen the D.A.’s case against Weinstein.
The criminal trial, originally scheduled to begin on Sept. 9, is also pushed back to Jan. 2020.
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Drew Angerer / Getty ImagesSEPT. 6, 2019
A judge grants the consolidation of charges against Weinstein, bringing the count back down to five. The consolidation, which was voluntarily requested by the district attorney’s office, dismisses prosecutors’ earlier charges of predatory sexual assault and essentially replaces them with the two new charges of predatory sexual assault that were included in the indictment last month.
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Dimitrios Kambouris / Getty ImagesSEPT. 10, 2019
Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, the New York Times reporters who first broke the Weinstein story, publish their book "She Said," which chronicles their investigation into the mogul and the aftermath of their initial story.
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Getty ImagesOCT. 15, 2019
Ronan Farrow publishes "Catch and Kill," his own recounting of reporting on Weinstein and the roadblocks he faced while trying to publish his work at NBC News. The book includes damning revelations about NBC News' leadership and a detailed accusation of rape against Matt Lauer. (Lauer has denied the accusation, and NBC News has repeatedly denied many of the details in the book.)
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David Dee Delgado / Getty Images
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Getty ImagesTime's Up denounces the tentative settlement, describing it as emblematic of a "broken system that privileges powerful abusers at the expense of survivors."
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David Dee Delgado / Getty ImagesDEC. 11, 2019
After accusations of ankle bracelet tampering, Weinstein's bail is increased to $5 million.
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Getty ImagesJAN. 6, 2020
The first day of Weinstein's criminal trial begins in Manhattan.
As court was convening, a group of "silence breakers" — including Rosanna Arquette, Rose McGowan, Lou Godbold, Sarah Ann Masse, Dominique Huett, Lauren Sivan, and Paula Williams — hold a press conference outside the courtroom to call on Weinstein to be held accountable for his actions.
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Getty ImagesJust hours after Weinstein left the courtroom after the first day of his trial, Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey announced new charges of sexual assault against the ex-mogul: one felony count each of forcible rape, forcible oral copulation, sexual penetration by use of force, and sexual battery by restraint.
An arraignment date has not yet been set, but a spokesperson for the DA's office told The Wrap that they expect to wait until Weinstein's trial in New York is complete first.
Weinstein's bail is set to $5 million and, if convicted, he faces up to 28 years in prison.
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2020-01-29 15:48:00Z
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