Rose McGowan’s Twitter Account Suspended in Wake of Harvey Weinstein Scandal
Zack Sharf
Rose McGowan revealed her Twitter account was suspended in an Instagram post which read, “TWITTER HAS SUSPENDED ME. THERE ARE POWERFUL FORCES AT WORK. BE MY VOICE.” McGowan posted the Twitter violation notice, which notified her that she had “violated Twitter rules” and that she would be suspended for 12 hours.
McGowan has been one of the most prominent voices in the Harvey Weinstein scandal, using social media to support his many accusers and slam those who are condemning the former executive after years of negligence. After Ben Affleck released his official statement saying the Weinstein news “made him sick,” for instance, McGowan tweeted and told him to “fuck off.” She’s also called Harvey’s brother, Bob Weinstein, complicit and praised Ronan Farrow for his The New Yorker article.
Ben Affleck fuck off
— rose mcgowan (@rosemcgowan) October 10, 2017
Bob Weinstein is a POS. They allllll knew. pic.twitter.com/zWJZf52ywq
— rose mcgowan (@rosemcgowan) October 11, 2017
you made me proud, kid https://t.co/wg60aHByza
— rose mcgowan (@rosemcgowan) October 10, 2017
McGowan has always used social media as a platform for exposing injustice within the industry. In an October 2016 Twitter thread, she discussed her own experience with sexual harassment, which included the humiliation she felt after learning an ex-boyfriend of hers sold a film to her abuser.
McGowan has never named Weinstein because of an NDA agreement she signed after striking a settlement with him, but the story is widely believed to be about him and her ex Robert Rodriguez. The original New York Times article mentioned McGowan settled with Weinstein for $100,000 following an encounter in a hotel room at the Sundance Film Festival in 1997. After The New Yorker article included three women who claim Weinstein raped them, McGowan tweeted that she could finally say the word “rape.”
Now am I allowed to say rapist https://t.co/95Ze9BixCT
— rose mcgowan (@rosemcgowan) October 10, 2017
Twitter is allowed to suspend an account “if it has been reported to [them] as violating [their] Rules surrounding abuse.” The company’s official policy reads: “When an account engages in abusive behavior, like sending threats to others or impersonating other accounts, we may suspend it temporarily or, in some cases, permanently.”
