Italian Director Wears 'Weinstein Is Innocent' Shirt At Venice Film Festival

Italian film director Luciano Silighini Garagnani appeared to express support for the disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein at the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, over the weekend.

On Saturday, ahead of the premiere of Luca Guadagnino’s “Suspiria,” Garagnani arrived on the red carpet wearing a T-shirt that said “WEINSTEIN IS INNOCENT” with an image of Weinstein. Garagnani showed off his shirt for the camera as others posed beside him, pointing to the shirt and smiling. As Vulture notes, men like Weinstein have allegedly treated the film festival circuit as a “hunting ground” for their victims.

In an emailed statement to HuffPost, Garagnani said his T-shirt was not meant to be seen as “something against women but in defense of those who have really suffered the pain of sexual violence.”

You can read the rest of his statement, which has been lightly edited to address spelling and grammar, below:

This is an action against the dissimulation of this sector where lots of women accuse the accused without [being] brave to explain that they have obtained the role because someone, with different motivation and not for the real ability, put them in the right place at the right moment. If someone [really wants to] report the shameless and obscure world of the show business, it is the moment that actresses, models and presenters begin to talk, saying: ’I have this role because with a heavy heart I slept with ....’
It is only in this way that we will break the hypocrisy and we will defeat this despicable marketplace.

HuffPost also reached out to representatives for The Weinstein Company and Weinstein himself, but did not immediately receive a response.

More than 70 women have accused Weinstein of various forms of sexual misconduct , including rape. In May, the movie mogul was indicted on rape charges to which he pleaded not guilty . In July, Weinstein was indicted on more charges , including two counts of predatory sexual assault, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.

This article has been updated to include Garagnani’s statement to HuffPost. 

Need help? Visit RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Online Hotline  or the National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s website .