Kelly Bachman
photo by JT Anderson

NYC comedian Kelly Bachman confronts Harvey Weinstein, goes viral

If you hadn’t heard of Kelly Bachman before this week, you have now – or you will soon. The NYC comedian, director, producer, and writer, who also fronts a band called Boys Drool, has gone viral (and amassed an impressive number of twitter followers) after confronting Harvey Weinstein — the disgraced former Miramax Films and Weinstein Company producer who has been accused of rape, sexual assault, and sexual abuse by over eighty women — at a NYC bar on Wednesday night. As The Cut reports, Bachman, as well as comedian (and fellow Boys Drool member) Amber Rollo and actress Zoe Stuckless, encountered Weinstein at an actors’ event at Downtime Bar in Alphabet City (questions remain about what, exactly, Weinstein was doing at an event whose description reads “only writers, directors, actors, musicians, and a few lucky outsiders have the privilege of gaining entry to Actors Hour”).

In a video from the event she shared to twitter (watch it below), Bachman begins, “there’s an elephant in the room. It’s more of a Freddy Krueger, actually. I didn’t realize I needed to bring my own mace and rape whistle to Actors Hour.” Boos and a shout of “shut up” can be heard around the room, and Bachman continues, “sorry, that killed at group therapy for rape survivors. I have been raped, surprisingly not by anyone here, and I’ve never been able to confront those guys, so just a general ‘fuck you.'”

Speaking to The Cut, Bachman said, “being in that space, I felt like the air was sucked out of my chest. I’ve literally had nightmares about running into Harvey Weinstein. The fact that it came to life, it truly felt like Freddy Krueger. I wish I’d said more.”

Vulture shared a second video, of Zoe Stuckless addressing the room after an intermission. As Amber Rollo told Vulture, and you can see below, “a young woman [Stuckless, who uses they/them pronouns] started yelling about [Weinstein] being there. She was shouting and crying and seemed to be the only sane person there. SHE was kicked out [by the event organizers]. What the actual fuck?”

Rollo tweeted that after the incident with Stuckless, she “went in and called him a fucking monster and told him he should disappear. His friend/body guard/goon/family member called me a cunt and I really really wanted to lunge over the table and strangle him.” She told The Cut that “around ten women” left with her, but that “inside there were still 50 more people or so who were willing to be complicit while a serial rapist sat there.”

In a since-deleted statement, organizers behind Actor’s Hour, including actor and producer Alexandra Laliberte, denied inviting Weinstein to the event. According to Vulture, who screencapped the statement, one person commented on the post that they’d seen Weinstein at a previous event. The statement read:

Dear Friends,

In light of the events last night, we feel it is important to state that Harvey Weinstein was NOT invited by the organizer or anyone associated with this organization.

We believe the people who spoke out were brave and justified and we fully encourage freedom of speech. We apologize wholeheartedly for the way the situation was handled.

Actor’s Hour is a free space for Artists of all kinds, and we regret that last night it did not feel that way for many. For that, we are deeply deeply sorry.

We sincerely hope that what we have built over the past year speaks louder than last nights event.

UPDATE: Actor’s Hour made a new statement. In addition, House of Yes cancelled an upcoming edition of Actor’s Hour that they were scheduled to host.

Meanwhile, Weinstein made a statement to TMZ via a spokesperson. It reads:

Harvey Weinstein was out with friends enjoying the music and trying to find some solace in his life that has been turned upside down. This scene was uncalled for, downright rude and an example of how due process today is being squashed by the public, trying to take it away in the courtroom too.