Emma Thompson calls Harvey Weinstein 'predator'

NEW YORK (AP) — Emma Thompson said in a new interview that she spent her 20s "trying to get old men's tongues out of my mouth" and Harvey Weinstein falls into an endemic pattern of "extreme masculinity" at the top of the Hollywood power structure.

Speaking Thursday to Emily Maitlis on BBC Two's "Newsnight," the Oscar-winning star of "Howards End" who appears in the new film "The Meyerowitz Stories" called the more than 30 accusations of sexual assault and harassment against Weinstein a symbol of a "crisis" not only in Hollywood but society overall.

She called Weinstein a "predator" and compared him to the late English TV and radio host Jimmy Savile, who was at the center of several hundred sexual abuse accusations, including children as young as 8. Many of the complaints were lodged after his 2011 death.

Weinstein has denied any nonconsensual sexual conduct with any women.

Thompson said she had only "business contact" with Weinstein but recalled his "bullying behavior" in that arena.

The actress said "many" men in Hollywood are in the Weinstein vein and took issue with whether it matters if such men claim one victim or many. Thompson asked, "Does it only count if you really have done it to loads and loads and loads of women or does it count if you do it to one woman, once? I think the latter."