Harvey Weinstein was chased around the room by a pet Chihuahua after he barged his way into the home of a production assistant he allegedly later sexually assaulted.
Elizabeth Entin has claimed the 67-year-old film producer was terrified of her tiny pooch named Peanut when it ran around his ankles back in 2006 after he allegedly forced his way into the apartment she shared with accuser Mimi Haleyi.
Speaking in the trial in New York on Tuesday (28.01.20), Entin – who was called to the stand as a secondary witness – said: "She [Haleyi] said (on the phone that) Harvey Weinstein showed up at our apartment … She said he just, you know, pushed his way in. Then we started kind of laughing about it because apparently my dog, this small Chihuahua, was chasing him around and he was kind of frightened about it … He said, ‘What is this thing? Get it away from me.’ "
After leaving the courtroom, a reporter asked Weinstein: "Are you afraid of Chihuahuas?"
To which he replied with a chuckle: "Do I look like I’m afraid of Chihuahuas?"
Earlier on, Entin described the moment Haleyi told her about the alleged sexual assault.
She recalled: "I was lying in bed. She was standing in the doorway, normally she’d flop on my bed. She was very nervous, she was pacing. She seemed anxious to talk to me and seemed not the typical comfortable way we normally spoke to each other.
"The conversation was not linear, she’d gone to the apartment of Harvey Weinstein and she assumed it was work related and he started grabbing her shoulders, kissing her, she said no, no and he wouldn’t stop.
"She said I’m on my period and he said I don’t care at which point he threw her down. He pulled off her underwear and pulled out her tampon and went down on her.
"I said Miriam that sounds like rape. I said why don’t we call a lawyer. She still seemed very distraught and was shaking and walked away and didn’t want to talk about it. She felt like she couldn’t talk and wasn’t very present."
On Monday (27.01.20), Haleyi – who was known as Miriam Haley before she changed it due to the scrutiny she received when she made the allegations against the producer in 2017 – stood before the stand to accuse Weinstein of sexually assaulting her in 2006.
The former ‘Project Runway’ production assistant, 42, claimed Weinstein invited her to his SoHo apartment in New York on July 10, 2006, where the alleged incident took place.
She said: "He greeted me he invited me in.
"Asked me if I wanted anything to drink and I believe the television was on and we were just having a normal exchange and sat down on the sofa."
Haleyi alleged Weinstein then made a move on her, which she attempted to reject.
She added: "I got up from the sofa and I said, ‘Oh, no, no, no.’ I just kind of tried to reject him and push him away … and he kissed me and fondling me."
The Finland native claimed she "tried to walk away from him" and tried "to get away," but Weinstein "pulled" her toward him.
She explained: "He was coming toward me physically and I was backed into a bedroom that was on the corner of that open space area. I walked backwards because he was pushing me with his body until I got to the bed and I fell backwards onto the bed and I tried to get up and he pushed me down.
"I just said, ‘No, no. I don’t want this to happen. This is not going to happen, I am on my period."
Haleyi alleged Weinstein pinned her down, and forcibly performed oral sex on her, despite her telling him she was on her period and was using a tampon.
She claimed: "[Every time I] tried to get up off the bed, he would push back down and hold me down. He pushed me down. He held me down. He held my arms to stay like that. I said, ‘no, no.’
"I couldn’t even get away from him at all – let alone out of the apartment. Ultimately, after a while I just checked out. He held me down on the bed and he forced himself on me orally. I was on my period. I had a tampon in there. I was mortified … He forced himself on me orally he put his mouth on my vagina.
"I kept trying to tell him, ‘No, don’t go there and don’t do that. I’m on my period. I have a tampon in.’ It was as if he didn’t believe me and he said something like ‘Where is it then?’ like that and he actually pulled my tampon out."
Weinstein is currently facing five charges relating to sexual assault, including two counts of predatory sexual assault, two counts of rape and one count of criminal sex act.
He has denied all allegations against him.
Harvey Weinstein was chased by Chihuahua
