October 18, 2017
In the aftermath of film mogul Harvey Weinstein's precipitous downfall, most of the world's attention has rightfully gone to the women he allegedly victimized, as well as protecting and respecting the dignity of women who face sexual harassment more generally than society has fully acknowledged.
Few people who were intimately tied to Weinstein's film empire have expressed much more than disappointment, shock and horror — all to be expected, but hardly revealing of Weinstein's complete character.
Kevin Smith was among that small group. In a tweet last week, the New Jersey-born filmmaker addressed his suddenly uncomfortable relationship to Weinstein, whose companies financed most of his "View Askewniverse" hits, including the breakout "Clerks" in 1994.
He financed the first 14 years of my career - and now I know while I was profiting, others were in terrible pain. It makes me feel ashamed. https://t.co/T0hInW7EqJ
— KevinSmith (@ThatKevinSmith) October 9, 2017
In the latest episode of his Hollywood Babble-On podcast, Smith spoke at greater length about his feelings since learning of the allegations against Weinstein.
"My entire career is tied up with the man," Smith said. "Everything I did in the beginning has his name on it. And I spent many years lionizing him."
Smith makes clear that he's not a victim in this at all, but feels some responsibility to make amends for it.
"It's been a weird f***ing week, man," Smith continued. "I just wanted to make some f***ing movies and that's it. That's why I came, that's why I made 'Clerks.' And no f***ing movie is worth all this. Like, my entire career, f*** it, take it. It's wrapped up in something really f***ing horrible."
Brought nearly to tears, Smith said one of the few things he is able to do — and will do — is donate the residuals from his films to a worthy cause. All future residuals will go to the non-profit Women in Film, which provides grants, scholarships and mentoring to aspiring filmmakers.
The full discussion about Weinstein starts at the 1:25:27 mark in the podcast below.
