Oliver Stone Says He Won’t Do ‘Guantanamo’ Series If Weinstein Co Involved

Hours after reserving judgment regarding disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein, Oliver Stone has walked back comments he made at the Busan International Film Festival and said he will “recuse” himself from Showtime’s Guantanamo series “as long as the Weinstein Company is involved.”

Stone made the initial comments at the fest in Korea yesterday, where he is president of a jury. A few hours later, he posted a message to Facebook explaining that due to his recent travel schedule he was not aware “of all the women who came out to support the original story in the New York Times” which detailed allegations of sexual abuse by Weinstein.

“After looking at what has been reported in many publications over the last couple of days, I’m appalled and commend the courage of the women who’ve stepped forward to report sexual abuse or rape,” Stone wrote.

In July this year, Showtime landed Guantanamo, a drama series set to begin with a 10-part first season. Stone has been poised to direct the two-hour opening episode in his first foray into scripted television. Weinstein Television acquired the project in May.

Earlier Thursday, Stone had responded to a question about Weinstein, saying, “I’m a believer that you wait until this thing gets to trial. I believe a man shouldn’t be condemned by a vigilante system. It’s not easy what he’s going through, either. He was a rival and I never did business with him. I’ve heard horror stories on everyone in the business. So I’m not going to comment on that. I’ll wait and see, which is the right thing to do.”

Here’s the follow-up Facebook post: