After a slew of controversial posters were spotted around Los Angeles last week, the “artist” behind them has come forward. The posters featured Meryl Streep beside Harvey Weinstein with a red band across her eyes that said, “She Knew.”
Street artist takes aim at Meryl Streep with ‘She Knew’ tag around town. pic.twitter.com/UniDauXRlP
— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) December 19, 2017
These posters were intended as a direct insinuation that Streep was aware of the sexual assault accusations that have followed Weinstein for over twenty years. The man responsible for the posters is a 49-year-old former U.S. marine who calls himself Sabo, who has been active with LA’s street art scene for over a decade. A self-proclaimed Donald Trump supporter, the right wing artist used the posters as revenge against Streep for her criticisms of the current president.
After using her latest film, The Post, to take jabs at Trump, Sabo stated, “She’s swiping at us so we’re swiping back.”
The posters were put up just a day after the acclaimed actress stated that she was unaware of Weinstein’s sexual misconduct and the numerous allegations that have come out against him over the past few months.
In her statement, Streep said, “I did not know about Weinstein’s crimes, not in the ’90s when he attacked [Rose McGowan], or through subsequent decades when he proceeded to attack others. I wasn’t deliberately silent. I didn’t know. I don’t tacitly approve of rape. I didn’t know. I don’t like young women being assaulted. I didn’t know this was happening.”
Though he cannot conclusively prove that Streep was aware of Weinstein’s crimes, Sabo told The Guardian, “I wasn’t sitting in a room with her. I can’t say 100 percent. But I’d say anyone in the industry had a pretty good idea. I think she knew. Maybe she was providing Weinstein with the fresh meat.”
With the help of an assistant, Sabo erected the posters overnight and left them unsigned. He has previously targeted other notable leftwing figures as well, including Barack Obama, Bernie Sanders and Hilary Clinton.
An important piece of criticism surrounding his work was noted by Heidi Stevens in an article for the Chicago Tribune, “Women aren’t responsible for men’s bad behavior.”
This poorly executed stunt may have a name behind it now, but the reasoning for it is anything but surprising.