Rose McGowan, of Harvey Weinstein outing fame, up on coke charges

OPINION:

This isn’t going to sit well with the whole sexual harassment debacle that’s been shaking and roiling media coverage of late.

Rose McGowan, the Hollywood actress who kind of got the whole sexual harassment ball rolling — when she outed Tinsel Town’s bigwig, Harvey Weinstein, for inappropriate behaviors with women — is now facing felony cocaine charges.

She just turned herself into authorities and was booked on the drug charge, released on a $5,000 bond.

Here’s the backstory: An airport official at Washington Dulles International apparently discovered a wallet allegedly belonging to the actress that contained two bags of white power. That discovery took place on Jan. 20.

According to People magazine, police tested the substance and found it was indeed cocaine. A warrant was issued for her arrest.

So why has McGowan been out and about, walking around freely, in the months since?

Apparently, the warrant was from Loudoun County, Virginia, officials. And McGowan resides in California. And as she said in an interview with the New Yorker’s Ronan Farrow, a detective contacted her to come get her wallet, but she was afraid. She feared at that time she was being followed because of her tweet about being raped by a “studio head” — whom she later identified as Weinstein. And that’s why she also didn’t hand herself in after the warrant was issued, she said.

“I was going to ASAP but then things started to get really weird,” she said, People reported, citing the New Yorker. “I knew I was being followed and that I wasn’t safe.”

McGowan also said that during the course of her flight, she had left her wallet on the airplane seat unattended, as she went to the bathroom. Her attorney now suggests the drugs may have been planted.

“I will clearly plead not guilty,” McGowan said.

Her arraignment is Thursday.

Drug use being what it is, it probably wouldn’t even be a blink on the media radar — outside of small mentions in celebrity news — except McGowan has now become the face of the sexual harassment fight. She’s the one who brought the discussion to a national platform, and now every day is a new revelation about a new allegation, a new suspect, a new victim — a new corporate body, or congressional office, or star-powered organization that’s been outed for sexually harassing its subordinates.