HOUSE AND STATE DEPARTMENT'S ELISE JORDAN AND REPUBLICAN
STRATEGIST STEVE SCHMIDT ARE ALL BACK WITH US.
WE JUST HAD THAT CONVERSATION ABOUT THE SEXUAL HARASSMENT
ALLEGATIONS AGAINST HOLLYWOOD PRODUCER HARVEY WEINSTEIN, AND
WE'RE TALKING ABOUT THAT MUTED REACTION FROM --
>> SAID WHERE ARE ALL THE LEADING PEOPLE IN HOLLYWOOD?
>> SOME CORNERS OF THE MEDIA AS WELL, AND HOLLYWOOD.
WELL, NOW, MERYL STREEP IS SPEAKING OUT.
>> THAT'S A BIG ONE. >> REPORTED IN "THE HUFFINGTON
POST." HER FULL STATEMENT READS -- "THE
DISGRACEFUL NEWS ABOUT HARVEY WEINSTEIN HAS APPALLED THOSE OF
US WHOSE WORK HE CHAMPIONED AND THOSE WHOSE GOOD AND WORTHY
CAUSES HE SUPPORTED. THE INTREPID WOMEN WHO RAISED
THEIR VOICES TO EXPOSE THIS ABUSE ARE HEROES.
ONE THING CAN BE CLARIFIED, NOT EVERYBODY KNEW.
HARVEY SUPPORTED THE WORK FIERCELY, WAS EXASPERATINGLY BUT
RESPECTFUL WITH ME IN OUR WORKING RELATIONSHIP AND WITH
MANY OTHERS WITH WHOM HE WORKED PROFESSIONALLY.
I DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT THESE OTHER OFFENSES.
I DID NOT KNOW ABOUT HIS FINANCIAL SETTLEMENTS WITH
ACTRESSES AND COLLEAGUES. I DID NOT KNOW ABOUT HIS HAVING
MEETINGS IN HIS HOTEL ROOM, HIS BATHROOM, OR OTHER INAPPROPRIATE
COERCIVE ACTS. AND IF ANYBODY KNEW, I DON'T
BELIEVE THAT ALL THE INVESTIGATIVE REPORTERS IN THE
ENTERTAINMENT AND THE HARD NEWS MEDIA WOULD HAVE NEGLECTED FOR
DECADES TO WRITE ABOUT IT. THE BEHAVIOR IS INEXCUSABLE, BUT
THE ABUSE OF POWER FAMILIAR. EACH BRAVE VOICE THAT IS RAISED,
HEARD, AND CREDITED BY OUR WATCHDOG MEDIA WILL ULTIMATELY
CHANGE THE GAME." >> SO, MIKA, VERY GOOD.
VERY IMPORTANT, TOO, FOR ANYBODY THAT IS AFRAID TO SPEAK OUT.
YOU HAVE, YOU KNOW, PERHAPS THE MOST CELEBRATED, SUCCESSFUL
ACTRESS -- >> I LOVE IT.
>> -- IN HOLLYWOOD. >> GOOD FOR HER.
>> HAS COME OUT AND SPOKEN STRONGLY ABOUT HER BELIEFS.
>> YEAH, AND THIS IS AT A TIME LIKE THIS, WE NEED TO HEAR FROM
POWERFUL WOMEN WHO HAVE ALIGNED THEMSELVES, BENEFITED FROM,
GOTTEN MONEY FROM HARVEY WEINSTEIN ANY WAY, WHETHER IT'S
POLITICAL OR HOLLYWOOD RELATED, BECAUSE WE THEN GIVE VOICE TO
THE WOMEN WHO DON'T HAVE A VOICE.
>> BUT WE SHOULD ALSO HEAR FROM MEN JUST AS MUCH, RIGHT?
>> AND MEN, AND MEN, ABSOLUTELY. >> EXACTLY.
>> YOU KNOW, YOU'RE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT, AND I KEEP MAKING THAT
MISTAKE. WE NEED TO HEAR FROM WOMEN AND
MEN. THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE.
>> AND ELISE, HOW IMPORTANT, AGAIN, THAT IT COMES FROM MERYL
STREEP, WHO IS, AGAIN, ONE OF THE MOST CELEBRATED ACTRESSES OF
OUR TIME, ONE OF THE GREATEST ACTRESSES OF OUR TIME --
>> PROBABLY GOOD FRIENDS WITH HIM.
>> AND OBVIOUSLY OWES A LOT TO HIM.
HE OWES A LOT TO HER. THAT'S EXACTLY WHEN YOU SPEAK
OUT, WHEN IT'S NOT AN EASY THING TO DO.
>> EASY TO DO. >> BUT SHE JUST DID.
>> WELL, AND IT GIVES SPACE TO WOMEN WHO ARE QUESTIONING SHOULD
THEY COME FORWARD. >> RIGHT.
>> IT GIVES THEM -- IT HELPS GIVE THEM THE STRENGTH TO KNOW
THAT THEY'RE BEING BACKED UP AND SUPPORTED BY THE COMMUNITY.
AND MIKA, I GIVE YOU HUGE PROPS. THREE-BOOK DEAL.
YOU COULD TAKE A FINANCIAL HIT. YOU'RE CHOOSING TO DO THE RIGHT
THING BECAUSE YOU DO NOT APPRECIATE OR RESPECT THE WAY
THAT THEY, THIS COMPANY HAS TREATED WOMEN.
>> NO, WELL, NOT HARVEY WEINSTEIN.
>> YOU CAME, YOU DID IT EARLY. LENA DUNHAM DID IT EARLY.
HER PRODUCER, JENNY CONER, DID IT EARLY, WHICH I REALLY
RESPECT. THEY'RE PUTTING THEIR MONEY
WHERE THEIR MOUTH IS. AND WOMEN LIKE MERYL.
AND YOU LOOK AT SOMEONE LIKE ROSE McGOWAN, WHO HAD TALKED
ABOUT FOR YEARS YEARS AN ANONYM PRODUCER, A POWERFUL MOGUL WHO
HAD RAPED HER, AND SHE HAD HAD TO ENDURE THIS FOR YEARS, AND I
THINK THAT WOMEN HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY TO COME OUT AND
SUPPORT OTHER WOMEN. >> AND I DEFINITELY -- YOU KNOW,
HE'S STEPPED DOWN. I SAID I WOULD NOT DO THE BOOK
DEAL UNLESS HE DID. I HAVE TO SAY, THOUGH, I WANT
MORE. I WANT TO KNOW THAT THIS COMPANY
DOES NOT EMBRACE SEXUAL ABUSERS, SEXUAL HARASSERS, AND I WANT TO
HAVE A CONVERSATION WITH THEM BEFORE I MOVE FORWARD, BECAUSE
THIS IS STEP ONE. STEP TWO IS HAVING A WIDER
CONVERSATION ABOUT THE CULTURE WITHIN AN ORGANIZATION THAT, OF
COURSE, STARTS AT THE TOP. >> AND AGAIN, YOU SAID, THE
PEOPLE THAT YOU'VE WORKED WITH HAVE BEEN GREAT.
>> FIRST OF ALL, THEY'RE ALL WOMEN.
I WORK WITH AN ALL-FEMALE TEAM, AND THEY'RE INCREDIBLE.
AND I LOOK FORWARD TO WORKING WITH THEM MORE, SO I HOPE THIS
WORKS OUT. BUT FOR THEIR SAKE AND, QUITE
FRANKLY, THIS DOESN'T END WITH HARVEY WEINSTEIN STEPPING DOWN.
>> NO. >> THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING.
>> WELL, HE DIDN'T STEP DOWN. HE GOT PUSHED OUT, WHICH SAYS
SOMETHING ABOUT THE COMPANY. >> AND I THINK THAT WE ALSO NEED
TO JUST LOOK AT WHAT GRETCHEN
CARLSON STARTED BY SPEAKING OUT. AND YOU KNOW, AMANDA CARPENTER
TWEETED THAT IT WAS THE FIRST TIME IN HER LIFETIME SHE CAN
REMEMBER A WOMAN SPEAKING OUT ABOUT SEXUAL HARASSMENT AND NOT
BEING JUDGED FOR IT, AND I COULDN'T AGREE MORE WITH THAT.
I CAN'T THINK OF A TIME BEFORE GRETCHEN THAT A WOMAN COULD COME
OUT AND IT WASN'T SOMEHOW BECAUSE OF THE WAY SHE DRESSED,
THE WAY SHE BEHAVED, THIS AND THAT.
AND GRETCHEN KIND OF OPENED UP A NEW ERA WHERE MORE PEOPLE ARE
BEING OPEN. >> IT NEEDS TO HAPPEN IN
REALTIME, THOUGH. IT NEEDS TO HAPPEN IN REALTIME,
AND IT NEEDS TO HAPPEN WHEN IT IS AT A COST TO YOU