Reports: 2 women kicked out of Downtime on Avenue B for confronting accused rapist Harvey Weinstein at event for artists

I spoke to the Zoe Stuckless, who confronted Harvey Weinstein last night, called him a "fucking rapist," and was then kicked out of Actors Hours — meant to be a safe performance/networking space for young artists — by the event coordinators themselves: https://t.co/KgzhRvrsaS

— rachel handler (@rachel_handler) October 24, 2019

In case that you didn't see this story from this yesterday — outlets from BuzzFeed to TMZ covered it.

Disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein showed up Wednesday night at an event called Actors Hour ("The first speakeasy dedicated to artists"), which took place at newish basement venue Downtime at 25 Avenue B between Second Street and Third Street.

According to various published reports, Weinstein, sitting at a reserved table with an entourage, was mostly welcomed in the space.

From The Cut:

The women — comedians Kelly Bachman and Amber Rollo, and actress Zoe Stuckless — say they were attending a showcase ... when they spotted the disgraced producer in the crowd. Weinstein, who has been accused by over 80 women of sexual misconduct, is currently out on $1 million bail after pleading not guilty to rape, a criminal sex act, sex abuse, and sexual misconduct charges for incidents involving two women in May 2018. At the event, he was flanked by several companions, male and female, and his group was sitting at one of the only tables in the low-lit, small room. “To me it seemed like old-school Weinstein, surrounded by actors,” said Bachman, who was there to perform.

Bachman is a rape survivor, and felt panicked. When it was her time to go onstage, she considered leaving. “But I got up there,” she said, “and he’s staring at me with shark eyes — maybe that’s just his face. So I just tried to address it as best as I could.”

Keep getting new followers today is it because my tweets are so fire? lol fuck Weinstein and thanks @ambercrollo ILY #mysecondtweet pic.twitter.com/hLjWn5VM8Y

— Kelly Bachman (@bellykachman) October 24, 2019

In the above clip, you can hear several people boo Bachman. According to Stuckless, the hecklers included event organizers and bartenders.

Eventually Stuckless and Rollo confronted Weinstein, who showed no emotion. "I went in and called him a fucking monster and told him he should disappear. His friend/body guard/goon/family member called me a cunt and I really really wanted to lunge over the table and strangle him..."

Both Stuckless and Rollo were kicked out of Downtime.

Let me explain that one more time, an event that was supposed to support actors and artists invited a serial rapist who has ruined at least 87 actors lives and supported that monster over an actor in the room. They supported HIM over all the actors in the room.

— clever, but make it spooky (@ambercrollo) October 24, 2019

As Gothamist reported, Actors Hour released (then deleted) a statement claiming that Weinstein "was NOT invited by the organizer or anyone associated with the organization."

However, other sources have stated "that he was personally invited by the organizer and had a table reserved especially for him ..."

Downtime released the following statement on Facebook:

Dear Patrons,
We want to address some concerns about a recent incident at Downtime.

A company called Actors Hour rented our bar for a private event, with a guest list all their own. Shortly into the evening, one guest began heckling another, causing a disturbance to everyone in attendance. After several requests to stop were ignored, we kindly asked the heckler to leave.

Please know that our goal at Downtime is to create an environment where everyone feels welcome. We respect the privacy of our patrons and event partners, and want to ensure that all guests are treated equally, with the same service and respect.

In keeping with this goal, we made a decision that would allow the evening to continue as planned.

Thank you,
Downtime

Commenters weren't really letting them get away with that tone-deaf response...



Updated 9:30 p.m.

A reader shared this photo ... showing the entrance to Downtime...