For nearly a week, Rose McGowan has been vocal in her support of the rising number of women revealing allegations of Harvey Weinstein’s sexual assault, harassment, and misconduct. Just after midnight EST on Thursday, the actress, 44, announced on her Instagram page that said Twitter took away her ability to speak out on against the Hollywood producer. “TWITTER HAS SUSPENDED ME. THERE ARE POWERFUL FORCES AT WORK. BE MY VOICE.”
McGowan posted a snapshot of a message from Twitter that said it was determined that she “violated the Twitter Rules,” and would be limited to sending Direct Messages to her followers yet be deprived of tweets, retweets and likes. Her account would be restored in 12 hours.
At 9:20 a.m. EST Thursday, Twitter unlocked McGowan’s account after she deleted the offending post in question. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Twitter’s chief spokesperson Kristin Binns said that McGowan’s account was suspended because “one of her tweets included a private phone number, which violates our Terms of Service.” McGowan ended up deleting a tweet that read, “Anonymously sent to me. They all knew. It starts here.” It included a picture of an email that seemed to be setting up a meeting between her and Bob Weinstein and included his email signature and number.
But McGowan’s ire against the film industry didn’t come out of nowhere. Here, a timeline of how McGowan became one of Hollywood’s biggest critics.
1996: McGowan plays Tatum Riley, the best friend of Neve Campbell’s character Sidney Prescott in the hit horror movie Scream. She receives her first credit at Miramax, which the Weinstein brothers founded in 1979.
1997: An undisclosed incident allegedly occurs between McGowan and Weinstein in a hotel room during the Sundance Film Festival.
1997: McGowan is 23 years old when she reaches a $100,000 settlement, which prevents her from discussing the incident, according to The New York Times. Legal documents show that the settlement is “not to be construed as an admission” by Weinstein, but means to “avoid litigation and buy peace.”
Rose McGowan and Harvey Weinstein at a 2005 AIDS benefit in Cannes, France. Credit: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images
1998: McGowan acts alongside Ben Affleck in the science fiction horror movie Phantoms. It is her second and final Miramax credit.
2001: After starring in JawBreaker (1999), McGowan joins the cast of Charmed on The WB, replacing one of its lead actresses, Shannon Doherty.
2005: The Weinstein brothers leave Miramax and create Weinstein Company. McGowan is released from her contract at The WB after shooting the series finale of Charmed.
2007: McGowan lands top billing in director Robert Rodriguez’s Planet Terror, which, combined with Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof, becomes Grindhouse, a homage to B-movies, exploitation films and double features. The movie names Weinstein Co. as producer. (McGowan and costar Rosario Dawson shared the cover of Rolling Stone to promote the film.)
2015: McGowan tells BuzzFeed that “someone blacklisted me in the industry, and I couldn’t get a job in movies,” but she continues to work on television. She does not disclose who “blacklisted” her from Hollywood.
2016: McGowan tweets, “Because my ex sold our movie to my rapist for distribution #WhyWomenDontReport.” She never specifies who she means, but, as The Daily Beast points out, she was dating Rodriguez and their film Planet Terror was distributed by Weinstein Co. She tweets that she never went to authorities because a female criminal attorney told her she had “done a sex scene in a film” and she “would never win against the studio head.”
Thursday, October 5th, 2017: Times reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey unleash their account of women, including Ashley Judd, alleging Weinstein sexually mistreated them. (Weinstein issued a response that included an apology, and his lawyer – who has since stepped down – calls many the allegations ” patently false.”) McGowan takes to Twitter: “Anyone who does business with _ is complicit. And deep down you know you are even dirtier. Cleanse yourselves.”
Marley Shelton and Rose McGowan in ‘Grindhouse.’ Credit: Entertainment Pictures/Alamy
Friday, October 6th: McGowan tweets, “Ladies of Hollywood, your silence is deafening.”
Sunday, October 8th: Weinstein Co. board ousts Weinstein. McGowan tells the Hollywood Reporter, “Hollywood’s power is dying because society has changed and grown, and yet Hollywood male behaviour has not.” She adds: “The men of Hollywood need to know they own no woman. The days of Entourage-like behaviour and thinking is as dated as your largely bro nature.”
Monday, October 9th: The New Yorker publishes its own Harvey Weinstein story, an explosive expose by Ronan Farrow, alleging a deeper pattern of sexual harassment, intimidation and rape – with shocking, graphic accounts by Miramax/WC employees, actresses (including Asia Argento, Mira Sorvino) and other women, and a damning 2015 audio. The piece spurs further public outcry and more allegations from women who’ve encountered Weinstein over the years.
Tuesday, October 10th: Ben Affleck tweets that he is “saddened and angry” that Weinstein “used his position of power to intimidate, sexually harass and manipulate many women over decades.” McGowan accuses Affleck of lying about his knowledge of Weinstein’s alleged sexual assaults and harassment. She tweets, “.@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.” (A representative for Affleck did not respond to a request for comment.)
Thursday, October 12th: McGowan’s Twitter account is temporarily suspended then reinstated. She posts an explanation from @TwitterSafety and tweets, “when will nuclear war violate your terms of service?” She then calls on “all of us who have been hurt and silenced [to] #RISE,” adding that “#ROSEARMY is here and our voices are mighty.”
In the afternoon, she tweets a thread to Jeff Bezos, owner of Amazon, “@jeffbezos I told the head of your studio that HW raped me. Over & over I said it. He said it hadn’t been proven. I said I was the proof.” (A rep for Weinstein told the Hollywood Reporter he “unequivocally denied” the allegation rape.) McGowan continues to tell Bezos that Amazon mismanaged a script and called on him “to stop funding rapists, alleged pedos and sexual harassers.” She ended: “@jeffbezos Be the change you want to see in the world. Stand with truth.” (A representative for Amazon did not respond to a request for comment.)
Friday, October 13th: Using the hashtag #WomenBoycottTwitter, people are staying off the social media network to protest McGowan’s suspension. It’s unclear how many people are participating.
