Matt Damon and Russell Crowe Reportedly Helped Kill a New York Times Article About Harvey Weinstein in 2004

The New York Times article that ultimately led to Harvey Weinstein being fired wasn’t the first attempt at bringing his accusers’ stories to light. Writing in TheWrap, Sharon Waxman says that she attempted to do just that while working as a reporter for the NYT in 2004, but her story was pulled in part due to “intense pressure from Weinstein, which included having Matt Damon and Russell Crowe call me directly.”

That’s her only reference to either actor in the article. At that time Weinstein was still with Miramax, which distributed Damon’s “Good Will Hunting” and “The Talented Mr. Ripley” and co-produced Crowe’s “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World,” among many others. Waxman refers to the Times as one of Weinstein’s “enablers” in the media, though she admits that she did not pursue the story upon founding TheWrap in 2009.

Jessica Chastain has reacted to the accusation that Damon and Crowe helped squash the story, calling it “heart shattering.” Read Waxman’s full article here.