Newly Unsealed Docs: Ben Affleck, Other Famous Names On Weinstein’s ‘Red Flag List’

Newly revealed documents from the trial against disgraced mega-producer and former progressive darling Harvey Weinstein shows that several high-profile figures, including actor Ben Affleck, were on the now convicted sex offender’s “red flag list.”

Last week, a Manhattan jury convicted Weinstein on two of the lesser of the five charges brought against him in the state of New York. The jury found Weinstein guilty of a criminal sex act in the first degree and rape in the third degree, but acquitted him on two counts of predatory sexual assault and one count of first-degree rape. The producer now faces five to 29 years in prison.

Variety, which has published a series of reports on the roughly 1,000 pages of newly unsealed court documents, revealed Tuesday that Affleck and Weinstein accusers Annabella Sciorra and Rose McGowan, are among the roughly 70 individuals who appear on a “red flag list,” which was initially cited during the much-publicized New York trial.

“Prior to the publication of bombshell reports, which ignited the #MeToo movement and led to the former movie mogul’s downfall, Weinstein kept a list of names of people he was concerned could be talking to journalists in 2017 about his sexual conduct with women,” Variety explains. “Affleck’s name appeared on that document, known as the red flag list, which was reviewed by Variety on Tuesday afternoon.”

“Roughly 70 names are on the list, including Affleck and Sciorra, in addition to accusers Rose McGowan, Zelda Perkins, Lysette Anthony and Rowena Chiu,” the outlet reports. “Also on the list are former Weinstein Company exec Irwin Reiter; Weinstein’s former assistant and “Russian Doll” creator Leslye Headland; and producers Megan Ellison, Donna Gigliotti, Jason Blum and Jennifer Todd.”

Variety notes that the “red flag list” came up during Weinstein’s widely covered trial, but only Sciorra, who testified at the trial, was cited as having appeared on it. “The lead prosecutor requested that the list (which included both men and women) be provided to the jury so they could see all of the names, but the judge denied that plea,” Variety notes.

In a separate report, Variety revealed Tuesday that Weinstein wrote in an Oct. 31, 2017 email that actress Jennifer Aniston “should be killed.”

“Jen Aniston should be killed,” the producer wrote in response to a request by a National Enquirer reporter for comment about an allegation that he sexually assaulted her, a claim the actress has since said is untrue.

“In October 2017, the National Enquirer reached out for comment from Weinstein’s then-rep Sallie Hofmeister, a crisis management expert he had hired shortly after the reports of sexual harassment and assault broke in the New York Times and New Yorker in October 2017,” Variety reported Tuesday.

“The National Enquirer intends to publish a story reporting Jennifer Aniston was sexually assaulted by Harvey Weinstein,” the reporter wrote in the request for comment.

A representative for Aniston responded to the revelation. “The National Enquirer claims are false,” Stephen Huvane told Variety in an emailed response. “Jennifer has not been harassed or assaulted by Harvey.”