Asia Argento: Anthony Bourdain paid off accuser who she says came on to her

The late Anthony Bourdain had a whirlwind relationship with his girlfriend Asia Argento, who has now been accused of sexually assaulting 22-year-old actor Jimmy Bennett when he was 17.

In a new statement responding to the New York Times report, the actress denies any sexual contact and says Bourdain was the one who paid Bennett off.

“I strongly deny and oppose the contents of the New York Times article,” she says in a statement to journalist Yashar Ali. “I am deeply shocked and hurt by having read news that is absolutely false. I have never had any sexual relationship with Bennett.”

Instead, Agento says the two only had a friendship which ended last fall when Bennett “unexpectedly made an exorbitant request of money from me” following her public accusation of sexual assault against Harvey Weinstein. The actress says Bennett reached out knowing her boyfriend Bourdain was “a man of great perceived wealth” and the late chef decided to handle the matter quietly.

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Asia Argento on Tuesday issued a statement, denying she ever had an inappropriate sexual relationship with former child co-star Jimmy Bennett but explaining her late boyfriend Anthony Bourdain, afraid of “negative publicity,” personally paid out $380,000 to this “dangerous” person to make him leave them alone.

Argento’s denial of the “absolutely false” sexual assault allegations made by Bennett came in a statement to Huffington Post writer Yashar Ali.

However, in texts between Argento and Bourdain that were obtained by TMZ, the Italian actress and director suggests there was some kind of intimate encounter between her and Bennett in a California hotel room in 2013. But Argento suggests a then-17-year-old Bennett was the aggressor, saying she was “frozen” when he was “on top” of her.

“He told me I had been his sexual fantasy since he was 12,” Argento texted to Bourdain, TMZ reported.

Two days earlier, the New York Times reported Bennett’s claims that Argento, a leading figure in the #MeToo movement, had sexually assaulted him in a hotel room at the Ritz-Carlton in Marina Del Rey in 2013 when he was 17 and she was 37.

The Times report sent the world of #MeToo advocacy reeling. Skeptics of the movement cried hypocrisy on the part of Argento, while supporters expressed concern that the allegations against the actress would undermine the important message of #MeToo. #MeToo advocates Tarana Burke and Rose McGowan on Monday sought to distance themselves from Argento.

McGowan tweeted “My heart is broken. I will continue my work on behalf of victims everywhere.” But she also asked people to “be gentle” until they knew all the facts behind the Argento story.

Questions also emerged about how much Bourdain, the 61-year-old TV personality and culinary star, knew about Bennett’s claims and whether this knowledge had any impact on his own #MeToo advocacy, his relationship with Argento or his state of mind before his death by suicide in June.

What’s clear is that Argento and Bennett knew each other from when she cast him in a 2004 film she directed. He was 7 at the time. Since then, they were reported to have stayed in contact, with Argento serving as both a mentor and mother figure to him, even referring to him as her “son” in social media posts.

But those good feelings apparently changed in November 2017, a month after Argento became one of the first of dozens of women to go public with allegations that she was a victim of powerful producer Harvey Weinstein.

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mississippi fan said:

Oh this is going to be interesting. I'm curious to see how many fellow #MeToo supporters turn their backs on Argento. Or just how many women are going to get exposed for having done exactly what they are condemning the men for.

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The Tribeca TV Festival is kicking off its second year with a star-studded programming lineup, along with a first look at the final season of Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown.

The festival, which will take place Sept. 20-23 at Spring Studios in New York City, will host the world premiere of the first episode of season 12 of the CNN travel show, hosted by the late chef. While the series is coming to an end after Bourdain’s death, CNN previously announced there was enough material to air a final season.

The seven episodes will premiere this fall, EW previously confirmed. Though, there will only be one episode of the final season to feature Bourdain’s written narration — the still-untitled chapter set in Kenya with W. Kamau Bell — as it was the only one completed before his death.

Other highlights to look forward to from the upcoming festival include the 20th season premiere of NBC’s Law & Order: SVU alongside its star and executive producer Mariska Hargitay, executive producer Dick Wolf, longtime cast member Ice-T, and members of the current cast.

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CNN has announced it will produce a feature-length documentary about the life and travels of Anthony Bourdain.

Unlike Bourdain’s series, “Parts Unknown,” which airs on television, the documentary will premiere first at festivals in early 2019 and then roll out to cinemas later in the year. After a theatrical screening, it will air on CNN.

“We just want to make it perfect,” Amy Entelis, CNN’s executive vice president for talent and content, told Vanity Fair. “We want to make it exquisite for Tony. We want to do him justice.”

The documentary will give viewers a deeper glimpse into the man’s life off-camera. Although Bourdain wrote about his pre-TV career in his books, including the best-seller “Kitchen Confidential,” “there was still a hunger to know more about him, and to honor his work and celebrate him,” Entelis told Vanity Fair.


Zero Point Zero, Bourdain’s production company, and the Bourdain estate will contribute to “the definitive Bourdain feature documentary,” according to CNN. The film has already begun pre-production, although it is still unnamed.

CNN Films has also produced films like “Blackfish,” “Glenn Campbell,” and the recent Ruth Bader Ginsburg documentary “RBG.”

This fall, CNN will air episodes of the season Bourdain was in the middle of filming when he committed suicide in June. The final season of “Parts Unknown” will contain eight episodes, including two made in homage to Bourdain and the series.

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Things are starting to get even worse for Asia Argento. CNN has pulled episodes of Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown that feature Argento. It’s the latest development since the disgraced #MeToo advocate was accused of sexual assault by Jimmy Bennett.

The news network has pulled two episodes that feature Argento which include the time when Bourdain traveled to Rome, which the late TV host called their “most beautiful show” and Hong Kong, which he deemed a “professional highlight.” According to BuzzFeed News, CNN said that due to the reports surrounding her, they will discontinue airing episodes that feature Argento until further notice.

Bennett, the actor-musician claims he was sexually assaulted by Argento in a Marina del Rey hotel room in 2013 when he was 17. Argento has since denied the accusations saying that she never engaged in a sexual relationship with him, and that she was “deeply shocked and hurt having read the news that is absolutely false.” The Italian actress did, however, confirm that her late boyfriend, Bourdain, paid Bennett as much as $380,000 to stop harassing Argento as part of a shakedown.

In a statement, Bennett said: “I did not initially speak out about my story because I chose to handle it in private with the person who wronged me. My trauma resurfaced as she came out as a victim herself. I have not made a public statement in the past days and hours because I was ashamed and afraid to be part of the public narrative.”

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The moves follow calls for Argento’s ouster after a New York Times story published last Sunday alleged she sexually assaulted a 17-year-old male in 2013 and arranged a deal to pay him $380,000 over the incident.

In the wake of the NYT story, Argento, who has been a public face of the #MeToo campaign and an accuser of Harvey Weinstein, denied that she engaged in a sexual relationship with the then-underaged Jimmy Bennett. She did, however, confirm that her late boyfriend, chef/author/TV host Anthony Bourdain, paid Bennett as much as $380,000 to stop harassing her as part of a shakedown. Later, a selfie photo of Argento and Bennett together in bed was released while what appears to be a series of texts between Argento and a friend detailing the interaction with Bennett also leaked out.

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Asia Argento has responded to actor Jimmy Bennett’s sexual assault claims in a lengthy statement through a new attorney, who adds Argento’s stopping payments to Bennett as arranged by her ex Anthony Bourdain.

Lawyer Mark Jay Heller denies reports Argento had a sexual relationship with Bennett, claiming, “Her relationship with Bennett was never sexual, but rather the relationship was a long distance friendship over many years.”

The statement acknowledges Argento’s late ex, Bourdain, entered a $380,000 agreement with Bennett to protect Argento. But, “Now that Mr. Bourdain has passed away and is not able to comment on his desire to avoid potential scandal … Asia will not permit any portion of the balance of the $380,000 payment to be paid to Bennett who has already received $250,000 from Anthony Bourdain.”

The statement says: “Asia’s courage to originally make the accusations against Harvey Weinstein has not waned … Phase Two of the #metoo movement dictates that the voice of a victim, even one with a history that may be in question, should be heard and she is hopeful that in the Court of Public Opinion it will ultimately be determined that Asia never initiated an inappropriate sexual contact with a minor, but rather she was attacked by Bennett and might even be suffering the fallback of a smear campaign by those already accused who may have a vested interest in their accusers being denied credibility.”

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When Penthouse columnist Leah McSweeney lambasted Asia Argento last month in a column called “Can We Talk About Toxic Femininity?,” she was hit with an angry legal letter from Argento’s team, she said.

McSweeney posted the letter on Instagram after she wrote in the opinion column that Argento, who has accused Harvey Weinstein of rape, instead “had a sexual relationship with Weinstein, which resulted in a transactional, consensual union, because — let’s be honest — that’s how Hollywood works.”

Argento shot back by posting a link to a column on the Root called “Why Thirsty White Women Like Leah McSweeney Are a Menace to Society” (about an allegedly awkward text exchange McSweeney had with Michael Che).

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Nearly one month after Rose McGowan claimed that Asia Argento admitted to having a sexual relationship with her accuser, Argento has demanded that McGowan retract her statement – and apologize — or else face legal repercussions.

Argento took to Twitter on Monday to issue an ultimatum and accuse McGowan, her former ally within the #MeToo movement, of sharing “horrendous lies.”

“Dear @RoseMcGowan. It is with genuine regret that I am giving you 24 hours to retract and apologise for the horrendous lies made against me in your statement of August 27th,” her tweet reads. “If you fail to address this libel I will have no option other than to take immediate legal action.”

Argento has been at the center of controversy since the publication of a New York Times report alleging that she reached a financial agreement with 22-year-old actor and musician Jimmy Bennett after he accused her of sexually assaulting him in a hotel room when he was 17 years old. Argento has denied the accusations on numerous occasions, and suggested that it was partly her late boyfriend Anthony Bourdain’s decision to agree to pay Bennett rather than risk controversy.

The accusations against Argento sparked furious debate regarding the #MeToo movement and accountability among its most vocal supporters — including Argento and McGowan, both of whom became prominent figures within the movement after coming forward with sexual misconduct allegations against former film exec Harvey Weinstein. McGowan faced backlash after initially calling for others to “be gentle” with Argento before later changing her tune.

In a lengthy statement published on Aug. 27, McGowan claimed that her partner, Rain Dove, had text message conversations with Argento, during which she allegedly admitted not only to sleeping with Bennett, but also stated that Bennett had been sending her unsolicited nude photos of himself from the age of 12. McGowan’s statement also claimed that Argento did not tell Bennett to stop sending the photos, and did not report what was happening to the authorities or even his parents.

“It’s sad to lose a friend connection, but what’s even more sad is what happened to Jimmy Bennett,” McGowan’s statement reads. “Whether or not the extortion case is true — it wasn’t fair and it wasn’t right. It is the type of thing I fight against alongside so many.”

Rain Dove later confirmed the authenticity of text messages published by TMZ that show Argento discussing the situation. One text purportedly sent by Argento read, “I had sex with him it felt weird.”

Alongside the texts, TMZ also published a photo of Argento and Bennett lying shirtless in bed together, and claimed that the photo was taken the day of the alleged assault.

In a new statement published earlier this month, Argento claimed that she was the one who was sexually assaulted during her 2013 encounter with Bennett, rather than the other way around, but opted not to prosecute him.

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orget This is Us. The emotional roller-coaster of the TV season may have been tonight’s world premiere of the Season 12 premiere of Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown at the Tribeca TV Festival.

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The crowd at Spring Studios laughed, cried, oohed and ahhed as the episode set in Kenya unfolded. CNN has announced five episodes and two specials will comprise the farewell season, which kicks off Sunday night.

As Bourdain shared the screen with fellow CNN host and comedian W. Kamau Bell, the dialogue and voiceover tapped the depths of Nairobi and the surrounding savanna. Each finely honed line brought a familiar thrill, a ruminative resonance, but also a stab of recognition. In June, Bourdain committed suicide at age 61 during production in France.



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After the screening, a reflective and candid conversation with five of his collaborators, moderated by CNN anchor John Berman, explored his work and legacy. While there were plenty of light moments — and humor, thanks in large part to Bell — the night proved to be one of the rare times an audience Q&A prompted tears both onstage and in the crowd.

“It was an evolution of the experience for him,” said executive producer Chris Collins. “It began 18-19 years ago as a ruse — ‘They’re going to pay me to go do this stuff?!’ And then over time it turned into a job. Then it turned into a profession. And then it turned into a life’s work.”

The interplay with Bell throughout the Kenya episode displayed Bourdain’s compassion but also the toll of the nearly two decades of intense work and travel. “He had been on the road at this point for almost 20 years,” said executive producer Lydia Tenaglia. “So he had traveled everywhere and had seen everything, really. Traveling with someone else gave him the opportunity to almost see that place again through someone else’s perspective. … After traveling for so long, he was always craving that experience.”

A sequence already revealed by CNN in a promotional clip shows Bell and Bourdain looking out at the landscape during a break in a safari. “I pinch myself,” Bourdain says. “I’m so f–king lucky I get to do this.”

Bell said Bourdain “had already changed my life” before Bell joined CNN and had Bourdain as a lead-in. As a longtime admirer of Bourdain’s work, he said, “Just by watching the show and seeing how to be in the world. … I am just one of the people on the couch who got to be in the show.”

The ending minute of the show, a solo meditation on the essence of travel, comes after the final credits (and won’t be spoiled here). Conceptually, it threw the producers and crew when Bourdain showed them the script for that segment. “When he wrote it, we all thought, it was so out of the context,” said director Morgan Fallon. “We were kinda thinking of a big ending for Kamau. … But what he wrote was uncanny after everything that’s happened. This realization that, ‘Oh my God, there’s this incredibly impactful line that we’ve been cutting out of the show.'”

Added showrunner Sandy Zweig, “He gave all of us and the audience a way to see the world in a very intimate way. it wasn’t just a travel show.”

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