Dominating Hollywood: Starting with Scarlett

Chapter 270 Direct Questioning
Compared to his brother Harvey Weinstein's sexual harassment crimes.

The fact that his younger brother Bob Weinstein privately contacted Oscar judges obviously caused a bigger stir in Hollywood.

Of course, for ordinary people, they don’t really care whether Weinstein Company secretly manipulated the Oscar selection.

They pay more attention to sexual harassment and various Hollywood gossips. They only speculate which other female stars have been violated by Harvey, or whether there are similar guys who sexually harass female stars besides Harvey.

But for Hollywood, especially the Oscars committee, this revelation is particularly serious.

Soon, the Oscar Committee issued a statement claiming that the Oscars have always been fair and that members of the academy have abided by rating ethics and have not given the green light to any particular film.

The Weinstein Company also issued a statement saying that the accusation was a false accusation. Although Bob Weinstein has been committed to the promotion of the film, this does not mean that he bribed the Oscar judges. The interactions between the two parties were completely normal friendships under normal circumstances.

In fact, everyone in Hollywood is well aware of the issue of award public relations, but no one has ever dared to really expose it.

Because the Oscars hold the lifeline of various companies and actors, in North America, movies that are not recognized by the Oscars are destined to be abandoned by the market and capital. Even if it is not very fair, it is at least authoritative enough.

Even though people often joke that it has changed and turned into a big show, it is undeniable that over the past few decades, it has successfully used its influence to make the public aware of many truly good movies that have not been noticed by the mainstream market.

So everyone is willing to abide by its rules, even if these rules cost some money.

When the Washington Post broke the news, all parties in Hollywood continued to pay attention to the follow-up of the news.

After Weinstein Company and the Oscars issued statements respectively, the Washington Post broke another news.

"Bob Weinstein secretly bribed certain Academy members."

And also attached a few photos as evidence.

In the photo, Bob Weinstein was chatting happily with an Oscar judge in his seventies and they entered a wine estate together.

The photographer seemed to be hiding in a tree, using a telephoto lens to capture the entire process of their meal through the leaves and floor-to-ceiling windows.

At the dinner table, Bob Weinstein handed a document to the Oscar jurors, who nodded and smiled, and the two continued to drink.

When the Oscar judge walked out of the winery, he had a small wooden box in his hand.

But before I could see clearly, the judges got into the special car arranged by Bob and left.

After these photos were released, the vast majority of people directly concluded that they had engaged in a power-for-money transaction, while a small number of people believed that this was a normal gift of friendship.

Bob Weinstein also immediately stood up and claimed that he and the Oscar judge had been friends for many years, and that he invited him over to taste the newly brewed red wine, and that the document was just a discussion between the two of them about the issue of wine shares.

Oscar simply did not respond.

Only the judge himself admitted in an interview that he did not accept bribes and that he and Bob Weinstein were just business partners. In this relationship, they have always maintained the purity of friendship and have never helped Bob to suppress or vote on certain films.

When Tang De heard this, he immediately sneered. Pure friendship?
It's ridiculous. Anyone can understand that the partnership between these two people is definitely a transaction.

But the evidence he had was not enough to prove this, so he could only hint at it.

Fortunately, he has other photos.

Before long, photos of Bob Weinstein's friendly exchanges with several Oscar judges appeared in reports by various media.

Now they couldn't use the same words to prevaricate.

After all, you can say it’s friendship with one person, but can you also say it’s friendship with a group of people?
Then Tang De would applaud their friendship.

But even so, Bob Weinstein firmly denied the allegations against him.

Then a rumor spread.

"Have you heard that this boss Bob likes men, and he likes old men!"

"Yes, I saw the photo. They were so close, holding hands, like lovers."

"It turns out that Oscar's old men also like men."

"No wonder Bob didn't follow in his brother's footsteps. It turns out that his sexual preferences are different from his brother's."

"One likes women, the other likes old men. Wow! That's exciting!"

As we all know, Hollywood gossip spreads the fastest. In just three days, everyone knew the news. Even if someone didn't know, someone would tell him.

Such news made many Oscar judges feel insulted, and they expressed their intention to sue the media that broke the news for defamation.

But the news was spread so secretly that no one knew where it came from, so in the end, several judges who could not bear the humiliation simply announced their withdrawal from the Oscars.

Bob Weinstein was also listed on the unwelcome list by the remaining Oscar judges and has been in a state of panic.

Since I'm going to become a homosexual if I get involved with him, it would be more comfortable to just cut it off.

For Tang De, this is enough.

He wanted to lift up Oscar's bright and beautiful robe to reveal the dense lice inside, but it was not something he could do at the moment.

He has only one goal all along, to discredit the Weinstein brothers, damage their business, and send them to jail so that they can out of sight and out of mind.

Now that everything has been successful, all that remains is to see how many years Harvey Weinstein is sentenced to.

But at this moment, something unexpected happened.

Bob Weinstein suddenly invited Don to a private cocktail party.

"What does this mean?" In the office, Tang De touched his chin and guessed, "Does he know that I did all this?"

Yu Fei, who was sorting out the information on the side, replied: "I don't think so. Perhaps this cocktail party is intended to unite the PR bosses."

"You're right." Tang De thought for a moment and felt that Youfei's guess was correct.

From Bob Weinstein's perspective, this matter was obviously aimed at their company and even the entire public relations group. Perhaps some bigwig wanted to muddy the waters and get involved.

So it is normal to want to communicate with people in the same industry, but why go directly to Tang De?
Logically speaking, Bob should go to the CEO of Bernay Public Relations.

So he directly rejected Bob's invitation and asked Yufei to tell the other party that he didn't have time.

But he still underestimated Bob. The next afternoon, Leonardo suddenly called him.

"Tang, are you free these two days? A friend wants to invite you to a cocktail party." "Cocktail party? Weinstein?"

"Uh-huh, how's it going?"

"I never expected that if I don't get involved, the next person who calls might be more important?"

"It's hard to say, it's nothing, Tang, he just wants to talk to you."

"Well, I'll put down what I'm doing and go there."

After hanging up the phone, Tang De called Tom to his office and arranged some things with him.

Two days later, Tang De drove his car to a secret manor outside the suburbs of New York.

There are flowers everywhere, and there is a spectacular art garden with many naked sculptures and neatly trimmed green plants, which looks like a scene from a fantasy movie.

As soon as Tang De got out of the car, the butler and servants came to provide services to him.

"Welcome! Tang, it's so hard to see you!" At the entrance of the yard, Bob Weinstein walked out with two glasses of wine and came to Tang De.

Tang De picked up a cup and said with a smile: "I'm just too busy. I have to take care of the movie and the company. God, why is there so much to do in this world?"

"Would you like to take a break? Relax?" Bob Weinstein said with a mysterious smile, as if hinting at something.

Tang De didn't respond: "Of course not. To be honest, I quite like the feeling of being busy."

Bob Weinstein nodded and said nothing more.

After the two walked into the cocktail party, they found that in addition to Leonardo, there was an unexpected person there.

Kevin Spacey, the man who won the Oscar for Best Actor for "American Beauty" and became known to the world through "House of Cards", is now sitting in a chair with his iconic hairstyle and a glass of red wine.

After seeing Tang De, he immediately stood up and said with a smile: "Look who it is, wow, it's my first time meeting you, what an honor, Tang."

"It's my honor, too." Tang De shook hands with him modestly, then sat down with Leonardo.

While drinking, he found that Kevin Spacey often looked at him with a strange look.

FXXK, this guy is not going to fall in love with me.

Tang De knew that Kevin Spacey's sexual orientation was male. In later generations, this guy was kicked out of the cast of "House of Cards" because of sexual harassment reports from many men, and became a scandal-ridden house collapse.

By the time he was acquitted by the court, he was already 65 years old and was burdened with debt. Although he actively sought to make a comeback, no capital was willing to hire him.

After all, he was out of touch with the times at that time. The future is no longer the present. It is not the era where one can correct mistakes and start over again like a prodigal son.

Tang De didn't expect to see him here, but after seeing him, his premonition became worse.

Kevin Spacey, Leonardo DiCaprio, Bob Weinstein, people who have nothing in common gathered here. There must be a reason they can't refuse.

This reason obviously has nothing to do with me, or rather, I am just one of the necessary conditions for this reason to appear.

Thinking of this, he looked up at Bob Weinstein and said straight to the point: "Weinstein, so what is it that requires me to come here?"

"Tang, okay, I won't keep you in suspense. Actually, I invited you this time because I want to negotiate with you." Bob Weinstein's words made Tang De's eyebrows twitch slightly.

"What do you mean? Peace talks? It seems like we have never been hostile to each other." Tang De asked puzzledly.

"Isn't it because of your involvement in my brother's affairs?" Bob Weinstein narrowed his eyes and said firmly.

In his eyes, Tang De's expression was only surprise: "What are you talking about? Harvey? Why should I mess with Harvey?"

"Because of the Norton Eye, because of Oscar."

"You mean Bernay?" Tang De smiled. "I admit that I am a shareholder of this company, but so what? Why should I go to such great lengths to target you? Do you think I care about Oscar?"

"Don't you care?" Bob Weinstein stared at him seriously, and the two people next to him fell silent.

"Do I need to care?" Tang De calmly took a sip of wine and cut off the head of the Cuban cigar with a cigar cutter: "I have won all the Oscars I can get. For me, the Oscars are no longer challenging."

He held the cigar in his mouth, puffing out smoke quietly, his eyes flickering as he looked at Bob Weinstein through the layers of smoke.

"Weinstein is very interesting. Are you saying these things to test me? Or do you want to have a new enemy?"

There was silence. For a moment, there was no other sound in the room except the sound of the cigar being smoked.

Bob Weinstein and Tang De looked at each other for half a minute, and finally he suddenly laughed: "Sorry, Tang, sorry, it seems that I misunderstood."

Tang De didn't say anything, just smoked his cigar quietly.

Leonardo said, "Okay, this must be a misunderstanding. Tang De has attended Harvey's party before. The belly button touching that is popular in Hollywood now is his masterpiece."

"Really?" Kevin Spacey seemed surprised to hear this.

In addition to gossip, a little game suddenly became popular among Hollywood female stars during this period, which was to touch the belly button from behind.

Whoever can touch his belly button will have a slimmer waist in the eyes of others.

This game is more popular among female models because this is what they do for a living. Even recently at Victoria's Secret, a well-known model touched her belly button with both hands on the stage, which scared everyone.

Kevin Spacey had also seen the related challenge, but he didn't expect that the instigator was sitting in front of him.

"Wow, Tang, you are so amazing. Any game you create can become a trend in Hollywood."

"Thank you, that was just a random thought." As the two of them talked, the atmosphere at the cocktail party finally eased.

Donde didn't know whether Bob Weinstein was just testing him on a regular basis or if he already had suspicions, but there was no doubt that he had no evidence.

Otherwise he wouldn't have stopped asking.

It’s a pity that Oscar chose to be partial, otherwise Bob Weinstein would definitely follow in his brother’s footsteps.

But Tang De had already thought of such an outcome before he made the plan, so there were not too many surprises.

Now he was more curious about what Bob Weinstein was going to do next?
(End of this chapter)