Seth MacFarlane's Harvey Weinstein Oscars jab in 2013 was an international tip-off to the allegations against the movie mogul that have now exploded, leading Hollywood and the liberal political establishment to suddenly turn on him this week after claiming to know nothing about his numerous sexual advances on A-listers and starlets over the years.
And there were several other inklings of Weinstein’s alleged predation, suggesting it was an open secret, The Hollywood Reporter and CNN reported.
One of the incidents that led to Weinstein’s self-banishment to a European sex-addiction clinic was recounted by the victim actress to MacFarlane, creator of "Family Guy," who daringly joked about it while hosting the Academy Awards ceremony, Entertainment Weekly reported.
"Congratulations, you five ladies no longer have to pretend to be attracted to Harvey Weinstein," MacFarlane joked while presenting the five nominees for the 2013 best supporting actress, ET said.
On Wednesday, MacFarlane said on Twitter that the joke was a swing at the powerful donor to the Democratic Party on behalf of his friend and actress Jessica Barth, one of the women who came forward this week to speak out about harassment by Weinstein.
In a 2012 episode of "30 Rock," an exchange between characters Jenna Maroney, played by Jane Krakowski, and Tracy Jordan, played by Tracy Morgan, took a stab at Weinstein, CNN reported.
The Maroney character joked that she "turned down intercourse with Harvey Weinstein on no less than three occasions...out of five," CNN said.
The next season on "30 Rock," the same character joked, "I know how former lovers can have a hold over you long after they're gone. In some ways, I'm still pinned under a passed-out Harvey Weinstein, and it's Thanksgiving."
The HBO series "Entourage" introduced a thinly veiled Weinstein-like character in Season 2, a foul-mouth movie produced named Harvey Weingard, The Hollywood Reporter said back in 2011. One of the series' stars, Kevin Connelly, told THR he was approached by Weinstein about the character at a party.
"Harvey Weinstein just came over and told me to tell my producers they're dead," Connolly told THR then. "'Tell them if they ever mention my name again, they’re dead.'"
"Entourage" producers, though, used that line in a later season, THR said.
Weinstein, co-founder of the Weinstein Company and the driving force behind some of Hollywood's biggest hit movies, was fired by his company after articles in The New York Times and New Yorker magazine detailed his alleged sexual misconduct dating back years.