Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Harvey Weinstein produced a string of films that starred Meryl Streep 
 
 Harvey Weinstein has apologised to Meryl Streep and Jennifer Lawrence after his lawyers used their names in his defence against a legal action. 
 
 His lawyers want a class action lawsuit dismissed for being too broad and used favourable quotes from the two stars. 
 
 But Streep described the way they used the fact he did not abuse her as "pathetic", while Lawrence said he had taken things "out of context". 
 
 Weinstein has been accused of sexual misconduct by dozens of women. 
 
 He denies all allegations of non-consensual sex. 
 
 Six women are suing Mr Weinstein and what they dub the "Weinstein Sexual Enterprise", which they say includes his brother Bob and their film studio The Weinstein Company. The plaintiffs argue the "enterprise" conspired to conceal Harvey Weinstein's alleged sexual misconduct. 
 
 Many Weinstein Company board members, including Bob Weinstein, have said they did not previously know about allegations of sexual misconduct and assault against Harvey Weinstein. 
 
 In seeking to have the lawsuit dismissed, his lawyers argued in a motion that it was far too broad and "would include all women who ever met with Weinstein, regardless of whether they claimed to have suffered any identifiable harm as a result of that meeting." 
 
 They quoted Lawrence as saying in a media interview that the Hollywood mogul had "only ever been nice to me". 
 
 However, they did not mention her adding, "except for the moments that he wasn't" - times when she said she would confront him verbally. 
 
 In a statement, Lawrence said: "Harvey Weinstein and his company are continuing to do what they have always done which is to take things out of context and use them for their own benefit. This is what predators do, and it must stop." 
 
 Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Jennifer Lawrence and Gwyneth Paltrow were named in the Weinstein legal team's defence 
 
 A spokeswoman for Weinstein said he "acknowledges the valuable input both Meryl Streep and Jennifer Lawrence have contributed to this conversation and apologises". 
 
 Weinstein had directed that in the future no specific names of "former associates" be used by his lawyers, the spokeswoman said. 
 
 Weinstein's legal team also used the name of Gwyneth Paltrow in papers filed in New York in an attempt to get the case dismissed. 
 
 Paltrow has previously said she feared she would be fired after her then-boyfriend Brad Pitt confronted Weinstein in the 1990s. 
 
 But the film producer's lawyers, Phyllis Kupferstein and Mary E Flynn, wrote: "Paltrow was not so offended that she refused to work with Weinstein again, nor did her career suffer as a result of her rebuffing his alleged advances." 
 
 'He will pay' 
 
 Weinstein's lawyers cited quotes Streep gave when the Hollywood sexual harassment scandal unfolded, saying he was "respectful with me in our working relationship, and with many others with whom he worked professionally". 
 
 The lawyers did not mention that the actress also said the women who had spoken out against him were "heroes" and his alleged behaviour was "inexcusable" and an "abuse of power". 
 
 In a new statement, Streep said: "Harvey Weinstein's attorneys use of my (true) statement - that he was not sexually transgressive or physically abusive in our business relationship - as evidence that he was not abusive with many other women is pathetic and exploitative. 
 
 "The criminal actions he is accused of conducting on the bodies of these women are his responsibility, and if there is any justice left in the system he will pay for them - regardless of how many good movies, made by many good people, Harvey was lucky enough to have acquired or financed." 
 
 Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk. ||||| After being soundly slammed by both Meryl Streep and Jennifer Lawrence for citing the actors in an attempt to get a sexual misconduct class action suit dismissed earlier this week, Harvey Weinstein is today saying sorry and never again. 
 
 “Mr. Weinstein acknowledges the valuable input both Meryl Streep and Jennifer Lawrence have contributed to this conversation and apologizes,” said reps for the much accused and disgraced producer today after the Oscar winners both ripped him a new one. “Moving forward, Mr. Weinstein has advised his counsel to not include specific names of former associates; and to avoid whenever possible, even if they are in the public record.” 
 
 The use of both positive statements about Weinstein came along with a motion filed on Tuesday to dismiss the RICO Act-citing federal suit of late last year from Louisette Geiss, Katherine Kendall, Zoe Brock, Sarah Ann Masse, Melissa Sagemiller and Nannette Klatt. Both Streep and Lawrence quickly responded in a scathing fashion to the use of their names in an ill-conceived and clumsy attempt at making them a shield for the also much sued ex-The Weinstein Company boss. 
 
 The blowback clearly rankled the always media sensitive Weinstein, who is distinctly persona non grata in Hollywood and political circles ever since the New York Times printed its October 5 investigation of his decades of alleged sexual harassment and sexual assault behavior. 
 
 “Mr. Weinstein has been informed that his civil counsel responded in court to a class action lawsuit which improperly sought to include all actresses who had previously worked with Mr. Weinstein, even where those actresses have made no claim of wrongdoing,” the statement he put out on Thursday continued with cutting reference to his Kupferstein Manuel LLP and Morrison Cohen LLP lawyers. “Even though Mr. Weinstein has worked with hundreds of actresses and actors who had only professional and mutually respectful experiences with him, Mr. Weinstein has directed in the future that no specific names be used by his counsel, even where those actors have made previous public statements about him.” 
 
 As usual, there is no mention of the dozens and dozens of actresses and others who say that had very unprofessional and demeaning experiences with an apparently abusive Weinstein. 
 
 This particular class action suit that Weinstein is desperate to see tossed out is one of many that the producer and TWC face over the former’s seemingly vile acts and the role the company he co-founded may have played in covering up for him. With the L.A. County District Attorney’s office looking at multiple cases of assault right now, Weinstein is also currently under investigation by the LAPD, the NYPD, the Beverley Hills police, the New York Attorney General and UK police. 
 
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– Harvey Weinstein is apologizing—not for his alleged abuse of scores of actresses, but for a recent legal gambit. In seeking to have a class-action suit dismissed, his lawyers cited positive comments made by Meryl Streep and Jennifer Lawrence about him, a move that prompted angry responses from the actresses. Weinstein apparently got the message. “Mr. Weinstein acknowledges the valuable input both Meryl Streep and Jennifer Lawrence have contributed to this conversation and apologizes,” says a statement from his reps, per Deadline. Weinstein has asked his lawyers not to mention the names of any former associates in the future. Lawrence said her comments were taken out of context, adding, "This is what predators do, and it must stop," per the BBC. Streep called the move "pathetic."