• Actress Rose McGowan was arraigned Thursday on a felony cocaine charge, days after she alleged in The New Yorker that the drugs may been planted to discredit her. McGowan, 44, is accused by prosecutors of possessing cocaine that was found in a wallet recovered by an airline crew after her Jan. 20 flight to Washington Dulles International Airport, where she had flown to join the Women's March in the nation's capital. One of the most outspoken actresses to accuse Harvey Weinstein of sexual abuse, McGowan told The New Yorker that she's been so fearful of the movie mogul that she hired her own private investigator to make sure the drug warrant against her was real. Weinstein has denied the allegations. McGowan said she reported the lost wallet to the airline after landing. She told the magazine that it must have been taken from her backpack while she was traveling, possibly when she left it on her airline seat while using the restroom. McGowan had been expected to appear in court for her arraignment, but a judge agreed to waive her appearance at the request of her lawyer and scheduled a preliminary hearing for Jan. 23. McGowan, who did not enter a plea Thursday, told the magazine earlier that she "will clearly plead not guilty." McGowan appeared in the Charmed TV series and in numerous films, including Scream in 1996.
• London's Old Vic Theatre said Thursday it has received 20 allegations of inappropriate behavior by its former artistic director Kevin Spacey, and acknowledged that a "cult of personality" around the Hollywood star had made it difficult for people to come forward. The London theater launched an investigation into Spacey last month after claims of sexual harassment emerged in the United States. Spacey, 58, led the Old Vic between 2004 and 2015. The Old Vic said it had received 20 allegations of "a range of inappropriate behavior," from actions that made people feel uncomfortable to "sexually inappropriate" touching. All the alleged victims are young men, none under 18 years old. The reported incidents took place between 1995 and 2013, many of them at the Old Vic, and all but four of the alleged victims are former staff members of the theater. In all but one case, the complainants say they didn't report them at the time. The theater said Spacey's "star power" contributed to an atmosphere in which the staff "didn't feel confident that the Old Vic would take those allegations seriously, given who he was." One man says he reported an incident to his manager, who didn't act on the information. The Old Vic said it had encouraged 14 of the complainants to go to police, but couldn't confirm whether any had done so.
A Section on 11/17/2017