Harvey Weinstein Apologizes to Meryl Streep and Jennifer Lawrence

Weinstein's lawyers had cited the actresses in an attempt to get a sexual misconduct lawsuit against him dismissed.

Harvey Weinstein has issued an apology to Meryl Streep and Jennifer Lawrence after his lawyers used the actresses names in an attempt to dismiss a sexual misconduct lawsuit against him.

"Mr. Weinstein acknowledges the valuable input both Meryl Streep and Jennifer Lawrence have contributed to this conversation and apologizes," said his rep in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. "Moving forward, Mr. Weinstein has advised his counsel to not include specific names of former associates and to avoid whenever possible, even if they are in the public record."

The statement continued: "Mr. Weinstein has been informed that his civil counsel responded in court to a class action lawsuit which improperly sought to include all actresses who had previously worked with Mr. Weinstein, even where those actresses have made no claim of wrongdoing. Even though Mr. Weinstein has worked with hundreds of actresses and actors who had only professional and mutually respectful experiences with him, Mr. Weinstein has directed in the future that no specific names be used by his counsel, even where those actors have made previous public statements about him."

On Tuesday, Weinstein asked a New York federal judge to dismiss a racketeering lawsuit filed by six women claiming they were sexually assaulted or harassed by the disgraced Hollywood mogul. In their motion to dismiss the suit, Weinstein's lawyers argued that the class-action status of the allegations was invalid because the claims would apply to "all women who ever met with Weinstein, regardless of whether they claimed to have suffered any identifiable harm," specifically naming Streep and Lawrence.

Streep and Lawrence each issued swift responses to being named in the motion.

"Harvey Weinstein's attorneys' use of my (true) statement — that he was not sexually transgressive or physically abusive in our business relationship — as evidence that he was not abusive with many OTHER women is pathetic and exploitive," Streep said. "The criminal actions he is accused of conducting on the bodies of these women are his responsibility, and if there is any justice left in the system he will pay for them — regardless of how many good movies, made by many good people, Harvey was lucky enough to have acquired or financed."

Lawrence added in her own statement: "Harvey Weinstein and his company are continuing to do what they have always done, which is to take things out of context and use them for their own benefit. This is what predators do, and it must stop. For the record, while I was not victimized personally by Harvey Weinstein, I stand behind the women who have survived his terrible abuse and I applaud them in using all means necessary to bring him to justice whether through criminal or civil actions. Time's up."

Weinstein is facing more than 70 allegations of sexual misconduct since The New York Times and New Yorker first reported on the claims in October. He has denied any allegations of "nonconsensual" sexual activity.