Harvey Weinstein won’t be in Hollywood for Oscars weekend, but he’ll be there… in spirit.
Harvey Weinstein’s perpetual Oscars presence will obviously not happen this year after a mountain of sexual misconduct allegations surfaced against the cinematic mogul. His likeness, however, has already made a Hollywood appearance in close proximity to the Dolby Theatre where the Academy Awards ceremony shall occur. Plastic Jesus — the artist who presented the Oscar-snorting statue and Kanye-West-As-Jesus creation — has unveiled his newest piece, which is appropriately revolving for a number of reasons.
The golden statue, called “Casting Couch,” features a man that looks an awful lot like Weinstein wearing a bathrobe. He’s holding an Oscar statuette right next to his crotch and has casually draped an arm along the backside of a chaise lounge while waiting for someone to join him. The real-life Weinstein will be waiting for a long time for that to happen, and Plastic Jesus explains his project:
“Harvey Weinstein became an icon in the entertainment industry. His power and influence was almost without compare. However, whilst many thought the ‘casting couch’ was a thing of the past it was clearly still a part of the Hollywood culture. “For many years the exploitation of many hopefuls and established names in the industry was brushed under the carpet with their complaints of harassment and sexual abuse being ignore or worse. Hopefully now in the light of recent allegations, against many leading figures in Hollywood the industry will clean up it’s act.”
Alongside fellow artist Joshua “Ginger” Monroe, the project took Plastic Jesus two months to complete. During that time, they posted photos of their casting process with a “similar sized friend” before Monroe crafted the face to resemble Weinstein. The final product is unsettling but certainly gets the point across — Time’s Up in Hollywood for sure.