Twitter suspends Rose McGowan over Ben Affleck tweets
One of the strongest voices against misogyny in Hollywood just got reprimanded by the social networking site for calling out one of Affleck’s tweets regarding the Harvey Weinstein scandal
Rose McGowan has just been suspended from Twitter. Her crime? She told fellow actor Ben Affleck to “fuck off”.
McGowan’s harsh words to the Batman vs Superman star were in response to a tweet in which Affleck said he was “saddened and angry” to discover that Harvey Weinstein – whose company, Miramax, produced Affleck's big break Good Will Hunting – has been using his power and influence in the film industry to allegedly sexually harrass and assault women.
McGowan’s anger seems to stem from a belief that Affleck was well aware of both the kind of man Weinstein was, and of his past behaviour. In a follow-up to her “fuck off” tweet, McGowan writes that after she herself was assaulted by Weinstein, Affleck said to her: “GODDAMNIT! I TOLD HIM TO STOP DOING THAT”.
@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.
— rose mcgowan (@rosemcgowan) October 10, 2017
McGowan, whose first major role was in Gregg Araki’s Doom Generation in 1995 and who went on to star in the likes of Jawbreakers and Grindhouse, has been a strong voice against misogyny in Hollywood over the years, and has been vocal during the recent revelations of Weinstein’s misconduct, shockingly laid out in this piece from the New Yorker where multiple women share harrowing accounts of sexual assault and harassment by the film executive. Since the New Yorker story, other actors have come forward with stories of Weinstein’s predatory behaviour, including Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow, Cara Delevingne and Léa Seydoux.
On Instagram, McGowan revealed that Twitter has suspended her account for 12 hours, saying that the social media site has “determined that [McGowan’s] account violated the Twitter rules”. The notification also demands that she delete the offending tweets against Affleck. In response, McGowan wrote “TWITTER HAS SUSPENDED ME. THERE ARE POWERFUL FORCES AT WORK. BE MY VOICE.”
It seems that where Twitter is concerned, inciting nuclear war and racial hatred is fine, but calling out a Hollywood actor's lies and hypocrisy is beyond the pale.