Casting Couch

A golden Harvey Weinstein statue has popped up in Hollywood
Current affairs | 3 March 2018
text Cal Morris

Harvey Weinstein has made a public appearance in LA this week – in the form of a golden statue titled Casting Couch created by street artists Plastic Jesus and Joshua “Ginger” Monroe.

The sculpture, appearing opposite Elvis Presley’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, depicts a dressing-gown clad Weinstein, holding his Oscar in a rather telling position around the crotch area, while seated on his infamous casting couch.

“Casting Couch” Oscars 2018. A collaboration between @plasticjesus & @morgothlot Harvey Weinstein became an icon in the entertainment industry. His power and influence was almost without compare. However, whilst many thought the ‘casting couch’ was a thing of the past it was clearly still a part of the Hollywood culture. For many years the exploitation of many hopefuls and established names in the industry was brushed under the carpet with their complaints of harassment and sexual abuse being ignore or worse. Hopefully now in the light of recent allegations, against many leading figures in Hollywood the industry will clean up it’s act.” The life size sculpture took 2 months to produce with Ginger taking care of the head and upper body, Initially a casting was taken from a similar sized friend and then Ginger skilfully molded the face to match Weinstein’s bloated, unshaven appearance. #oscars #academyawards #metoo #weinstein #sexassault #harrasment #hollywood #streetart #oscars2018 Special Thanks for your generous donation and making this year's Oscars statue happen: Mark & Dianne Weisberg, Mary Ripley, Lizbeth Cuadras, Dr E.W., Simon Kenney, Aaron Von Ossko, Melissa Higdon, Frank Albinder, Mike Wynn, Matty Mo, Robert Ulrich, Jess McBride, Jason Van Ostrander, Agnieszka Enchev, Jon Stern, Michael Kane. Erik Johnson & @jesushands & @padhia & @simplysaraart , @missmichellefit , @savage_boy_lol_18 @pverik

A post shared by Plastic Jesus® (@plasticjesus) on

Weinstein’s career ended last year after more than 80 women stepped forward to share their stories of the continued abuse that he had inflicted them. The former movie mogul has since denied all of the allegations of non-consensual sex that have been made against him and retired from the public eye to A-List rehab The Meadows in Arizona, which ironically have started a similar support course for victims of the “#MeToo” movement.

The instillation couldn’t have been placed at a better time, with the Oscars set to take place this Sunday. Plastic Jesus states that the statue took two months to produce, and was paid for by “donations” – his other works include building a tiny wall around Donald Trump’s star on the Walk of Fame, as well as erecting “No Kardashian Parking” signs all over Los Angeles.

The 90th Academy Awards take place on Sunday 4th March at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.


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