The Chicks reveal ‘one of the scariest meetings’ they ever had was with Harvey Weinstein

Disgraced media mogul produced their 2006 band documentary ‘Shut Up and Sing’

The Chicks and Harvey Weinstein (Getty)

The Chicks, formerly known as The Dixie Chicks, have revealed Harvey Weinstein was verbally abusive to the directors of their band documentary.

Shut Up and Sing, which was released in 2006 and produced by Weinstein, followed the backlash against the band after they criticised George W Bush’s Iraq war.

The Chicks’ conservative fans denounced the band and dubbed them traitors and “Saddam’s angels”.

According to The Chicks musician Martie Maguire, Weinstein tried to bully the film’s female directors into a happy ending, which felt false. “He was standing, screaming at them,” she told The Guardian. “We were all dumbfounded.”

Lead singer Natalie Maines described the encounter as “one of the scariest meetings we’ve ever had” and the source of her one regret in life.

She said: “I really wish I could be back in that room and go: ‘Listen, mother***er, don’t you talk to our directors like that.’ I know first-hand how scary that man can be. He was definitely getting off on belittling them, because it was completely unnecessary and abusive.”

Referencing testimony from Weinstein’s trial, Maines added: “Can you imagine if we had known back then that he didn’t have testicles? To have had that information!”

In June, the band dropped the word “Dixie” – a former shorthand for the Confederate states – from their name in the wake of the renewed fight against racism.

Weinstein is currently serving a 23-year prison sentence for sexual assault and third-degree rape.