Oscars: Weinstein accusers Ashley Judd, Mira Sorvino walk red carpet together for #TimesUp

Ashley Judd and Mira Sorvino had each other’s backs on the Oscars red carpet.

Ahead of the 90th annual Academy Awards, the actresses walked the red carpet arm-in-arm in support of Time’s Up, the organization created to provide legal support for women seeking to prevent sexual harassment and gender biases across the country.

“I’m so fortunate to be with my friend and acting colleague, fellow humanitarian, fellow Harvard graduate. I chose my date extremely well,” Judd said on the red carpet. “What’s so spectacular about this moment is that finally the world is able to hear, because I believe that we women, one, our voices have been squelched, and then number two, those of us that have come forward, we have often been disbelieved, shamed, and so much of the movement is about externalizing that blame and putting it back where it belongs, which is with the perpetrator.”

“I want people to know that this movement isn’t stopping,” Sorvino said. “We’re going forward until we have an equitable and safe world for women. Right now, I’ve been very actively supporting legislation in California through a group called Equal Rights Advocates. … There’s a hashtag #TakeTheLead and you can sign their position, and it’s the strongest suite of bills against sexual harassment anywhere in the country. And so we want to take our activism and our power into and change things for any women, anywhere, working in any workplace.”

Judd and Sorvino have been at the forefront of the movement, and of the sexual misconduct accusations against producer Harvey Weinstein. (Weinstein has denied all allegations of non-consensual sex.) Judd went public with her claims in October 2017, detailing an alleged incident with Weinstein in his hotel room to the New York Times. Sorvino told The New Yorker of a similar inappropriate alleged encounter in 1995 with Weinstein.

The pair were also named by Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson in December 2017 as two actresses he was told by Weinstein and his brother, Bob Weinstein, not to cast in his epic trilogy, telling New Zealand publication Stuff that he now believes the warning was part of “a smear campaign.” Weinstein has denied the claims, while Judd and Sorvino both expressed their disappointment over the revelation and gratitude toward Jackson for coming forward.

To donate to the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund, which will provide subsidized legal support to women and men in all industries who have experienced sexual harassment, assault, or abuse in the workplace, visit its GoFundMe page. Learn more about Time’s Up, an organization of women in entertainment combating sexual harassment and inequality, on its website.