Disgraced film mogul Harvey Weinstein must have known better than to mess with Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh.

After The New York Times and The New Yorker published explosive reports detailing several allegations of sexual harassment and abuse against Weinstein, some of Hollywood’s leading ladies came forward with their own accounts.

Amongst those who came forward recently were Yeoh, who made it clear in a statement to The Associated Press (AP) on Oct 18 that she would have “unleased years of martial arts training” on him.

The action star said she “knew he was a bully and not always honourable”.

She added: “I wasn’t exposed to this side of him, otherwise he would have experienced the full effect of years of martial arts training.”

Yeoh had crossed paths with Weinstein over the past few years as the filmmaker was an executive producer of two of her most recent works, the Netflix series Marco Polo and the 2016 sequel to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Weinstein has also been a big donor to the American Foundation for Aids Research (amfAR), for which Yeoh is an ambassador. His previous company, Miramax, was also a distributor of Yeoh’s earlier films, said the AP report.

The sexual harassment scandal surrounding Weinstein cost him his job at his own movie company as well as his reputation, with A-listers slamming him for his misdeeds.

Over 40 women, including Angelina Jolie and Gwyneth Paltrow, have accused Weinstein of rape, assault and sexual harassment.

Game of Thrones star Lena Headey is the latest to accuse Weinstein of sexual harassment, claiming the Hollywood mogul was “furious” when she rejected him, BBC reported.

Despite all the allegations, Weinstein has “unequivocally denied” through his spokesperson any accusations of non-consensual relationships.

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As part of the “Me Too” social media movement, which began in response to the Harvey Weinstein scandal and sees women sharing their sexual harassment experiences via social media, America Ferrera posted on Instagram stating she was sexually assaulted when she was nine years old.

“First time I can remember being sexually assaulted I was nine years old,” the actress wrote. “I told no one and lived with the shame and guilt thinking all along that I, a nine year old child, was somehow responsible for the actions of a grown man.”

Ferrera continued: “I had to see this man on a daily basis for years to come. He would smile at me and wave, and I would hurry past him, my blood running cold, my guts carrying the burden of what only he & I knew – that he expected me to shut my mouth and smile back.”

She ended the post with a call to action.

“Ladies, let’s end this silence so the next generation of girls won’t have to live with this bulls-.”

Alyssa Milano sparked the movement after tweeting a note that read: “Suggested by a friend: ‘If all the women who have been sexually harassed or assaulted wrote “me too” as a status, we might give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem’.”

Numerous women have come out in recent weeks with allegations of sexual harassment by Harvey Weinstein, although claims have not been limited to the mogul.

CANNES, FRANCE – Cliffhanger endings where television audiences are left holding their breath for the next episode may never be the same again.

A new generation of social media-driven dramas are giving viewers the power to decide whether their favourite characters live or die as well as a big say on plots.

In “If I Were You”, a huge new hit show in Spain, viewers vote on Facebook at the end of each open-ended 10-minute episode on the next turn in the teen story.

They are given the choice of two scenarios for the following week, with scriptwriters taking the one with the most likes.

Producers cast an Instagram star as the lead character of the series, which “massively advances a concept of audience interaction first pioneered by the New Zealand show ‘Reservoir Hill’,” said analyst Virginia Mouseler of research group The Wit.

That ground-breaking show won a Digital Emmy in 2010 by driving the plot of its “Twilight” meets “Twin Peaks” storyline with suggestions sent in by text.

The Norwegian TV show “Where is Thea?”, where a young woman desperate searches for her missing friend, has become a smash in Scandinavia by crossing dramas’ usual boundaries.

FACEBOOK GETS INTO TV

It teases episodes online with five-minute videos of Thea’s friend directly appealing for help to find her, and in-character posts updating fans on her search.

“They have gone viral, and it’s really quite impressive,” Mouseler told some the world’s top TV executives at the MIPCOM gathering in Cannes on the French Riviera.

The trend comes as Facebook announced that it would be showing an English version of another social network-savy Nordic hit, “Skam” (Shame), on its new video platform, Watch.

Simon Fuller, the man who brought the Spice Girls and the “Pop Idol” franchise to the world, is working on an international version of the show where the lives of a group of teenagers is continually updated on their Twitter and Instagram accounts.

The series has already become a social media phenomenon, blurring the lines between fiction and reality, with fans far beyond Norway interacting with the stars online.

Facebook’s creative strategy chief Ricky Van Veen told reporters at MIPCOM that “Shame” was “the perfect show for Facebook and for Watch”, which launched in the US six weeks ago.

He said they want to expand “Shame” into other languages as the Silicon Valley giant starts making its own shows in a bid to rival Amazon and Apple.

It has already put its toe in the water with “Make or Break Up”, where couples in crisis ask Facebook users whether they should stay together.

KIDS TEMPTED OFF MOBILES

But for the moment it is traditional broadcasters who are leading the line.

In the new Portugese series “Amnesia” – one of a wave of high-end dramas that turn on the condition – a young blogger called Joana is accused of murdering her boyfriend while he slept. But she cannot remember what she did.

Viewers can investigate the murder themselves, or speculate on her innocence or guilt, through her social media threads and those of her dead lover.

South Korea, whose dramas top the ratings well beyond Asia, has not been slow to tap the social media trend. It has teased elements of its latest K-TV blockbuster, “While You Were Sleeping”, to fans of its fantasy-tinged fare worldwide.

American audiences are the latest to fall for Korean series’ soft-edged appeal, with a remake of “The Good Doctor” about an awkward young surgeon with autism and almost perfect recall becoming the number one show in the US for ABC.

And the biggest hit this year in Turkey, whose homegrown dramas also have a vast global fan base, was another South Korean remake, “Tales of Innocence”, Mouseler said.

Snapchat versions of big US shows like “The Voice” and “The Bachelor” are also drawing teenagers back to their sofas to watch the original TV ones, according to Sean Mills of mobile content specialists Snap Inc.

Former NBC veteran Lauren Anderson, who now also works for the firm, told delegates in Cannes that the smartphone social media trend is a boon for showrunners and writers trying to reach “kids who live through their mobile”.