WASHINGTON: She started the year leading the chorus of opprobrium against U.S. President Donald Trump but 12 months on Meryl Streep, multiple Oscar-winner and doyenne of the liberal Hollywood elite, has become a target herself.

The 68-year-old is coming under fire over her denials that she knew about the misconduct of movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, who is alleged to have spent his career sexually assaulting, harassing and intimidating women.

On Tuesday around a dozen posters appeared in Los Angeles, depicting Streep as an enabler of Weinstein, who has always denied non-consensual sexual contact with any of his accusers.

Sabo, a 49-year-old right-wing guerilla artist and former U.S. marine claimed responsibility for the posters, which show Streep with a red stripe across her face and the text, “She knew.”

Film in limelight

He added that he had conceived the campaign as retaliation for Streep using her latest film The Post to attack Mr. Trump, who is facing accusations of his own by as many as 16 women who say he sexually assaulted them.

Streep has worked on several Weinstein produced films and jokingly referred to him as “God” at the 2012 Golden Globes.

‘Silence, a problem’

Rose McGowan, one of the #MeToo social media campaign’s most prominent advocates and an alleged victim of Weinstein, criticised Streep in a since-deleted tweet over plans for actresses to wear black to the Golden Globes in a silent protest against sexual assault.

“YOUR SILENCE is THE problem. You’ll accept a fake award breathlessly & affect (sic) no real change. I despise your hypocrisy,” McGowan tweeted.

Streep recently responded in a lengthy statement to the Huffington Post that she “did not know about Weinstein’s crimes, not in the 90s when he attacked (McGowan), or through subsequent decades when he proceeded to attack others.”

The Hindu