Mariska Hargitay Says Weinstein's Rape Conviction Was Overturned for One Reason

Mariska Hargitay at Variety's Power of Women event. Photo: Cindy Ord/Variety via Getty Images

Mariska Hargitay has a thing or two to say about Harvey Weinstein's overturned conviction at Variety's Power of Women ceremony. The Law and Order: SVU veteran believes a judge threw out the ruling for one reason. "Too many women's voices," she said on May 2 while accepting an award for her work at the Joyful Heart Foundation, an organization advocating for sexual-assault and abuse victims. "Too many women were allowed to speak." The New York State Court of Appeals tossed Weinstein's 2020 rape and sexual-assault conviction on April 25, saying "the only evidence against defendant was the complainants' testimony," referring to three accusers unrelated to the case who were called to the stand to testify about Weinstein's misconduct.

"The Daily podcast episode talked about how it was so risky for the prosecution to have that many women testify," Hargitay told an electrified crowd of women leaders and philanthropists during the luncheon held in the courtyard of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, on an unseasonably warm and glaringly bright afternoon. "Risky to let women speak? You're damn right it is. Too many women speaking brings change. Too many women speaking shakes the Establishment." She connected Weinstein's overturned conviction to the backlash against the Me Too movement. "The backlash is evidence of how powerful those voices were, those voices are."