<P> Stone is mentioned in Pulitzer Prize - winning American author Lawrence Wright's book Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief as having been a member of Scientology for about a month, saying "It was like going to college and reading Dale Carnegie, something you do to find yourself ." In 1997, Stone was one of 34 celebrities to sign an open letter to then - German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, published as a newspaper advertisement in the International Herald Tribune, which protested against the treatment of Scientologists in Germany and compared it to the Nazis' oppression of Jews in the 1930s . In 2003, Stone was a signatory of the third Humanist Manifesto . </P> <P> In 1999, Stone was arrested and pleaded guilty to alcohol and drug charges . He was ordered into a rehabilitation program . He was arrested again on the night of May 27, 2005 in Los Angeles for possession of an undisclosed illegal drug . He was released the next day on a $15,000 bond . In August 2005, Stone pleaded no contest and was fined $100 . </P> <P> In 2017, former Playboy model Carrie Stevens alleged that in 1991, Stone had "walked past me and grabbed my boob as he waltzed out the front door of a party ." </P> <P> The allegation Stevens made surfaced after Stone announced he would no longer direct The Weinstein Company's television series Guantanamo following the revelation of the Harvey Weinstein sexual misconduct allegations . Stone also drew criticism for defending Weinstein, saying "I'm a believer that you wait until this thing gets to trial . I believe a man shouldn't be condemned by a vigilante system . It's not easy what he's going through, either . During that period he was a rival . I never did business with him and didn't really know him . I've heard horror stories on everyone in the business, so I'm not going to comment on gossip . I'll wait and see, which is the right thing to do ." </P>

The first director to serve in the modern capacity of the position