Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators

by Ronan Farrow

“He worked with Woody Allen when he was a pariah!” He was raising his voice now. “A lot of distributors worked with him.” “It doesn’t matter. It’s not just about that, it’s—your sister was sexually assaulted. You wrote that Hollywood Reporter piece last year about sexual assault in Hollywood, it caused this splash.” “What are you arguing?” I asked. “That no one with a family member who’s been sexually assaulted can report on sexual assault issues?” He shook his head. “No,” he said. “This goes directly to the heart of your—your agenda!” “Do you think I have an agenda, Noah?” I had the same feeling I’d had in the conversation with Greenberg—that I had to ask direct questions, because it was the only way to expose the space between what he was willing to imply and what he was willing to say. “Of course not!” Oppenheim said. “But I know you. That’s not what this is about, this is about public narrative, and the public narrative is gonna be ‘I let Ronan Farrow, who just came out as this—this—sexual assault crusader, hating his father—’” “This wasn’t a crusade, it was an assignment. An assignment you gave me!” “I don’t remember that,” he said. “I don’t think I would have done that.” “Well, it’s true. I didn’t pitch this of my own initiative, and I didn’t report it alone, either. This is something your whole news organization worked on.” I slid the printout back across the desk to him. “We knew he was gonna try to smear me in some way,” I said. “If this is the best he’s got, hone...