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allegations

Lupita Nyong’o' is just one in an alarming number of high-profile women who have come forward with allegations against Harvey Weinstein in recent days.

And while the allegations – all of which display an unsettling number of similarities – mount, Harvey Weinstein has, on the whole, maintained a deafening silence.

However, Lupita's lengthy op-ed in The New York Times – a piece which details her various encounters with the movie mogul – was one of the few allegations to spark a response from the once highly-regarded producer.

In the piece, the 12 Years a Slave actress recalls one particular meeting with the producer which took place in his family home.

After being cajoled away from the people present, Weinstein suggested performing a massage on the Oscar-winner – a suggestion which Lupita found disturbing.

"For the first time since I met him, I felt unsafe," she remembered. "I panicked a little and thought quickly to offer to give him one instead: It would allow me to be in control physically, to know exactly where his hands were at all times."

"Before long he said he wanted to take off his pants,” she wrote. “I told him not to do that and informed him that it would make me extremely uncomfortable. He got up anyway to do so and I headed for the door, saying that I was not at all comfortable with that."

This incident was couched by encounters which left Lupita in no doubt of the producer's influence in Hollywood.

During one meeting over dinner, Lupita recalls Weinstein saying: ‘Let’s cut to the chase. I have a private room upstairs where we can have the rest of our meal.’I was stunned. I told him I preferred to eat in the restaurant."

"He told me not to be so naïve. If I wanted to be an actress, then I had to be willing to do this sort of thing. He said he had dated Famous Actress X and Y and look where that had gotten them."

After explaining that she abruptly called the meeting to a close, Lupita says the next time she encountered Weinstein was at an after-party for 12 Years a Slave where the producer apologised for his conduct.

"He was ashamed of his actions and he promised to respect me moving forward," Lupita wrote. "I said thank you and left it at that. But I made a quiet promise to myself to never ever work with Harvey Weinstein."

Lupita's op-ed has been contradicted by Weinstein, who issued a statement through his representative, which not only denies the claims, but seeks to highlight Lupita's supposed admiration of the now disgraced Hollywood heavy-hitter.

"Mr. Weinstein has a different recollection of the events, but believes Lupita is a brilliant actress and a major force for the industry," reads the statement. "Last year, she sent a personal invitation to Mr. Weinstein to see her in her Broadway show Eclipsed."

Lupita is one of just two actresses Weinstein has responded to, having previously denied wrongdoing against Ashley Judd.

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Pussycat Dolls founder, Robin Antin has denied claims made by former member, Kaya Jones, that the band was a 'prostitute ring'. 

It comes after Kaya recently posted a series of tweets in which she said the girls had to "sleep with whoever they say."

The claims come amid a ripple in the entertainment industry as women continue to come forward with allegations against the famed film producer, Harvey Weinstein.

Many fans have thanked the star for speaking about her experiences and praised her for being so brave, though the band's bosses were quick to dismiss the claims. 

According to The Blast, group founder, Robin Antin said Kaya was never an official member of the group and was "clearly looking for her 15 minutes." 

In the series of shocking tweets, Kaya went on to mention a 'den mother', before calling on them to tell the public "why another 1 of her girl group girls committed suicide?"

The rest of the group, fronted by Nicole Scherzinger, have yet to comment on the allegations, and it is unclear at this stage whether or not an investigation will commence. 

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After her explosive performance at the MTV VMA Awards and a very strong family front shown on stage, Beyoncé now has something new to deal with – her dad.

Matthew Knowles has claimed on The Roula and Ryan radio show that his daughter and son-in-law’s marriage troubles were purposely put out there in a bid to boost ticket sales for their On The Run Tour.

Say. What?!

Despite any concrete evidence that the couple’s marriage was in any such trouble, reports consistently kept coming out over the last few months speculating otherwise – could this be why?

How does he know this? Well, because they’ve done it before, apparently: “I know because we’ve done this before. So you sometimes have to ignite that tour. It’s called the Jedi mind trick. The Jedi mind trick fools you a lot.”

Queen Bey’s dad even went as far as to say Jay-Z’s elevator scuffle with Solange was released on purpose: “Everyone’s talking about it! Ticket sales went up! Solange’s album sales went up 200%!”

So…he’s saying Beyoncé put her reputation as a serious music artist on the line to get her sister’s album sales up? Hmm.

Something tells us the superstar couple will be just delighted that Matthew has outed them as putting on one hell of a media show. 

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