Anthony Rapp on Weinstein conviction: “Maybe it’ll encourage more people to consider going through the ordeal of being a witness”

Harvey Weinstein has been found guilty of rape in the third degree and criminal sexual acts in the first degree.

Broadway star Anthony Rapp, who alleged that Kevin Spacey had made a sexual advance toward him when Rapp was 14, told Variety today that while “it’s hard to tell” if Weinstein’s conviction will increase the number of criminal prosecutions of sexual misconduct crimes, he hopes the conviction will help other victims feel emboldened to come forward.

“Maybe it’ll encourage more people to consider going through the ordeal of being a witness,” he says. “Maybe it will give people a little more sense of their own power in these situations; they won’t feel so overwhelmed that it’s a hopeless cause. If I were somebody who was on the fence, trying to figure out whether to go forward with something — yes, they see the hardship, but they also see that maybe it can make a difference.”