Weinsten's lawyer explains that the disgraced producer looked haggard and frail during his appearance at the Manhattan courthouse because of bad back pain after Twitter users claim he faked it.
- Dec 7, 2019
AceShowbiz - Harvey Weinsten didn't appear to be in the best shape when he showed up in court for a pretrial hearing on Friday, December 6. The former movie mogul was limping as he arrived and left the Manhattan courthouse in New York City flanked on both sides by assistants who held him up by his arms.
Instead of showing sympathy, many have accused the 67-year-old of pulling a Bill Cosby by pretending to be frail. "Harvey Weinstein, 67, hobbles into court ... Just like Bill Cosby..now he is frail & looking for sympathy?" one tweeted.
"#HarveyWeinstein is doing the Bill Cosby 'I'm frail' perp walk. Fragile, my a**," another commented on Weinstein's court appearance. A third user mocked him, "Shame if he were to fall down and break every bone in his body."
But Donna Rotunno, one of Weinstein's lead lawyers, insists that her client is really hurting. "He has a back problem and he's in a lot pain," she tells USA TODAY. "It's been exacerbated by some issues and now he's dealing with it."
Rotunno claims that the disgraced movie producer uses a walker in his "regular life," but "he decided not to use it today because he didn't want to seem as if he's trying to get publicity and now people are slamming him. It's disgusting." She adds, "There's nothing fake about it - you can tell by his appearance from August to now, it's clear that he's suffering."
Sources additionally tell The Post that Weinstein is suffering from Type 2 diabetes, back issues and other health problems since his arrest.
During the pretrial hearing, prosecutors in his sex-crimes case accused him of violating his bail conditions by mishandling his electronic ankle monitor. They requested the producer's bail be increased from $1 million to $5 million due to violations linked to his electronic tagging device, but his lawyer insisted the problems are "technical glitches" that will be fixed. Judge James Burke postponed ruling on the bail issue and set a continuation hearing for next week.
Weinstein's trial for charges of predatory sexual assault, criminal sex act and rape in connection with three different accusers is set to begin in January 2020.
