Harvey Weinstein is a former American film producer and executive who achieved international fame as an independent film producer and co-founder of Miramax Films and The Weinstein Company. In October 2017, The New York Times and The New Yorker reported that dozens of women accused Weinstein of sexual abuse over a period of at least 30 years. More than 80 women in the film industry have subsequently accused Weinstein of such acts. Weinstein denied "any non-consensual sex".
Shortly after these reports, Weinstein was dismissed by The Weinstein Company, expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and other professional associations, and disappeared from public view. Criminal investigations into complaints from at least six women are ongoing in Los Angeles, New York City, and London. The Times and the New Yorker jointly won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for their reporting on Weinstein.
The scandal triggered many similar allegations against powerful men around the world, and led to the ousting of many of them from their positions. It also led a great number of women to share their own experiences of sexual assault, harassment, or rape on social media under the hashtag #MeToo. The scandal's impact on powerful men in various industries came to be called the "Weinstein effect".
Video Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse allegations
Background
Harvey Weinstein and his brother, Bob Weinstein, formed the film production company Miramax and led the company from 1979 to 2005. In March 2005, the Weinsteins founded The Weinstein Company (TWC) and departed from Miramax that September.
Rumors of Harvey Weinstein's "casting couch" practices circulated in Hollywood for years, and entertainment figures at times alluded to them. As early as 1998, Gwyneth Paltrow said on Late Show with David Letterman that Weinstein "will coerce you to do a thing or two". In 2005, Courtney Love advised young actresses in an interview, "If Harvey Weinstein invites you to a private party in the Four Seasons, don't go." In 2010, an article titled "Harvey's Girls" for Pajiba alluded to Weinstein's "casting couch" reputation: "Every few years, Harvey picks a new girl as his pet". In 2012, a character on the TV series 30 Rock said: "I'm not afraid of anyone in show business, I turned down intercourse with Harvey Weinstein on no less than three occasions, out of five." At the 85th Academy Awards ceremony in 2013, host Seth MacFarlane joked when announcing the Best Supporting Actress nominees: "Congratulations, you five ladies no longer have to pretend to be attracted to Harvey Weinstein." After the allegations were published, director Quentin Tarantino said that he had known about Weinstein harassing actresses for decades, and had confronted him about it.
Ivana Lowell wrote in her book Why Not Say What Happened?, published in 2010, about misbehavior by Weinstein when she worked for the books division of Miramax. The incidents described were in her office when she was alone with Harvey Weinstein, and in her home when a female friend of hers was present. She wrote that she "knew about Harvey's reputation as a womanizer; tales of his trying to seduce every young actress in town were infamous."
Journalists wrote or attempted to write about Weinstein's alleged behavior. David Carr found that no one allegedly assaulted by Weinstein would speak on the record; Ken Auletta and his editors decided that he could not mention an assault allegation without cooperation from the victim. In 2015, Jordan Sargent wrote in his Gawker article "Tell Us What You Know About Harvey Weinstein's 'Open Secret'" that "rumors of the powerful producer leveraging his industry power for sexual satisfaction--consensual or otherwise--have tended to remain unaired, confined to hushed conversation and seedier gossip-blog comment threads." The New York Times later wrote that Weinstein had built a "wall of invulnerability", in part through his support of leading Democratic politicians. He boasted of being friends with Bill and Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama. The Clintons continued longstanding close relationships with him despite alleged warnings about Weinstein to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign from Lena Dunham and Tina Brown.
In 2015 The New York Times reported that Weinstein was questioned by police "after a 22-year-old woman accused him of touching her inappropriately". The woman, Italian model Ambra Gutierrez, cooperated with the New York City Police Department (NYPD) to obtain an audio recording where Weinstein admitted to having inappropriately touched her. As the police investigation progressed and became public, tabloids published negative stories about Gutierrez that portrayed her as an opportunist. American Media, publisher of the National Enquirer, allegedly agreed to help suppress the allegations by Gutierrez and Rose McGowan. Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. decided not to file charges against Weinstein, citing insufficient evidence of criminal intent, against the advice of local police who considered the evidence sufficient. The New York district attorney's office and the NYPD blamed each other for failing to bring charges.
Maps Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse allegations
2017 reporting
Substantial allegations of sexual misconduct by Weinstein were first reported by The New York Times journalists Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey on October 5, 2017. The story accused Weinstein of three decades of sexually harassing and paying eight settlements to actresses and female Miramax and Weinstein Company production assistants, temps, and other employees.
Five days later, on October 10, NBC News correspondent Ronan Farrow reported in The New Yorker further allegations that Weinstein had sexually assaulted or harassed 13 women, and raped three. Farrow said he had wanted to break the story months earlier with NBC but implied the network was under pressure not to publish, which NBC denied. According to Farrow, 16 former or current executives and assistants connected with Weinstein said that they had witnessed or had been informed of Weinstein's non-consensual sexual advances to women. Four actresses relayed their suspicion that, after rejecting Weinstein's advances and complaining about him, he had them removed from projects or persuaded others to remove them. A number of Farrow's sources said Weinstein had referred to his success in planting stories in the media about individuals who had crossed him. The New Yorker also published the 2015 audio recording in which Weinstein admits to groping Gutierrez.
That November, Farrow reported that Weinstein had, through the lawyer David Boies, employed the private intelligence agencies Kroll, Black Cube and private investigator Jack Palladino. They were charged with spying on and influencing Weinstein's alleged victims as well as Kantor, Twohey, Farrow and other reporters who were investigating Weinstein, so as to prevent his conduct from becoming public.
Accusers
Including the initial reporting in 2017, more than 80 women have accused Weinstein of sexual harassment, assault or rape. A group of them, led by Asia Argento, released a list of over 100 alleged instances of sexual abuse by Weinstein in November 2017. The incidents alleged in the list date from 1980 to 2015, and include 18 allegations of rape.
According to the women's reports, Weinstein would invite young actresses or models into a hotel room or office on the pretext of discussing their career, and then demand massages or sex. He told them that complying with his demands would help their careers, repeatedly mentioning Paltrow (without the actress's knowledge) as someone he claimed to have had sex with.
Former colleagues and collaborators of Weinstein told reporters that these activities were enabled by employees, associates, and agents who set up these meetings, and lawyers and publicists who suppressed complaints with payments and threats; Bob Weinstein, for example, was allegedly involved in three settlements with accusers, the first in 1990. One Miramax executive reported being harassed by Weinstein after being promoted and praised by him; she and other employees allegedly found that the HR department protected Weinstein more than his employees.
Sexual harassment or assault
Women who said they had been sexually harassed or assaulted by Weinstein include:
Rape
The women who have accused Weinstein of rape include:
- Lysette Anthony told British police that Weinstein raped her in the late 1980s at her home in London.
- Asia Argento told The New Yorker that in 1997, Weinstein invited her into a hotel room, "pulled her skirt up, forced her legs apart, and performed oral sex on her as she repeatedly told him to stop".
- Paz de la Huerta said that Weinstein had raped her on two separate occasions in November and December 2010.
- Lucia Evans said that after a business meeting in 2004, Weinstein forced her to perform oral sex on him.
- Hope Exiner d'Amore, a former employee of Weinstein, said that he raped her during a business trip to New York in the late 1970s.
- According to Mimi Haleyi, Weinstein forcibly performed oral sex on her in his New York City apartment in 2006 when she was in her twenties.
- Dominique Huett also said that Weinstein forcibly performed oral sex on her and then carried out another sexual act in front of her.
- Natassia Malthe said that in 2008, Weinstein barged into her London hotel room at night and raped her.
- Rose McGowan wrote on Twitter that she told the Amazon Studios head Roy Price that Weinstein had raped her, but that Price ignored this and continued collaborating with Weinstein. Price later resigned from his post following sexual harassment allegations against him.
- Annabella Sciorra said that in the early 1990s, Weinstein forced himself into her apartment, shoved her onto her bed and raped her.
- An unnamed woman told The New Yorker that Weinstein invited her into a hotel room on a pretext, and "forced himself on [her] sexually" despite her protests.
- An unnamed actress told the Los Angeles Times that in 2013, Weinstein "bullied his way" into her hotel room, grabbed her by the hair, dragged her into the bathroom and raped her.
- An unnamed actress sued Weinstein for sexual battery and assault, alleging that in 2016 he forced her into sex.
Weinstein's responses
In response to the New York Times report, Weinstein said: "I appreciate the way I've behaved with colleagues in the past has caused a lot of pain, and I sincerely apologize for it." He said he was due to take a sabbatical and was working with therapists to "deal with this issue head on." His consulting lawyer, Lisa Bloom, described him as "an old dinosaur learning new ways." Bloom was criticized for her handling of Weinstein's defense and ended her involvement for Weinstein on October 7. Two days later, Weinstein hired public relations company Sitrick and Company, which specializes in crisis PR. Weinstein's attorney Charles Harder said his client would be suing the Times, but as of October 15, Harder was no longer working for Weinstein.
In response to the report in The New Yorker, a spokesperson for Weinstein stated:
Any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr. Weinstein. Mr. Weinstein has further confirmed that there were never any acts of retaliation against any women for refusing his advances ... Mr. Weinstein has begun counseling, has listened to the community and is pursuing a better path. Mr. Weinstein is hoping that if he makes enough progress, he will be given a second chance.
Subsequent reports and accusations of rape were likewise met with the response that "any allegations of nonconsensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr. Weinstein".
On January 30, 2018, Weinstein's attorney released private emails from Ben Affleck and Jill Messick, Rose McGowan's former manager, that both contradicted McGowan's version of the incident. On February 7, 2018 Messick committed suicide. Both the released email and McGowan's own accusations against Messick led to increased negative public and media attention towards Messick, including cyberbullying. Messick's family blamed Weinstein, McGowan, the media and the public for her death.
In March 2018, Weinstein's lawyer and spokesperson Benjamin Brafman said in an interview with The Times of London, "The casting couch in Hollywood was not invented by Harvey Weinstein." ... "If a woman decides that she needs to have sex with a Hollywood producer to advance her career and actually does it and finds the whole thing offensive, that's not rape." Rhetorically addressing such a woman, Brafman said, "You made a conscious decision that you're willing to do something that is personally offensive in order to advance your career."
On April 3, 2018, Sitrick and Company dropped Weinstein as a client.
Reactions
Weinstein's alleged actions were widely criticized by prominent persons in entertainment and politics. They triggered a public discussion about, as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) put it, "willful ignorance and shameful complicity in sexually predatory behavior and workplace harassment" in the film industry.
Business and professional associations
On October 8, 2017, The Weinstein Company's (TWC) board of directors dismissed Weinstein, and he resigned from the company's board nine days later.
After Weinstein's ouster was announced, several companies ended their collaborations with TWC, including Apple (October 9), Hachette (October 12), Amazon (October 13), Lexus and Ovation (October 25). The AMPAS, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), the Producers Guild of America (PGA), and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS) also stripped Weinstein of their memberships.
Investigations and lawsuits
In October 2017, the New York City Police Department (NYPD), London's Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) and the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) were reviewing allegations against Weinstein following the reporting about his conduct.
United States
The LAPD investigation concerns an allegation of rape by an unnamed actress. In New York, the NYPD said on November 3 that they were preparing a warrant to arrest Weinstein for his alleged rape of Paz de la Huerta.
On October 23, 2017, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman opened a civil rights investigation into TWC, issuing a subpoena for records related to sexual harassment and discrimination complaints at the company. In January 2018, Weinstein's former personal assistant Sandeep Rehal sued both Weinstein brothers and TWC for discrimination and harassment, alleging that much of her work involved "catering to Harvey Weinstein's sexual appetites and activities", including working while he was naked. Weinstein denied these allegations.
United Kingdom
As of February 2018, the MPS were investigating 15 alleged sexual assaults by Weinstein, dating back to the 1990s. The investigation is dubbed "Operation Kaguyak".
Politics
Prominent politicians condemned Weinstein's actions. Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and Michelle Obama denounced Weinstein's reported behavior on October 10. French President Emmanuel Macron initiated the revocation of Weinstein's Legion of Honor title. In the UK, Labour members of parliament requested the revocation of Weinstein's Commander of the British Empire honorary title.
Several politicians Weinstein had supported gave his donations to charities, including Democratic Senators Al Franken, Patrick Leahy, and Martin Heinrich.
Other reactions
Weinstein's wife Georgina Chapman announced her divorce on October 10, 2017. That month, the University at Buffalo, Weinstein's alma mater, revoked his honorary degree, and Harvard University rescinded Weinstein's 2014 W. E. B. Du Bois medal.
On New Year 2018, more than 300 Hollywood actresses and other women published an open letter in the daily newspapers The New York Times and La Opinión appealing to support the initiative Time's Up.
Impact
In the United States
The October 2017 allegations against Weinstein precipitated an immediate "national reckoning" against sexual harassment and assault in the United States, known as the "Weinstein effect". Compounded by other sexual harassment cases earlier in the year, the Weinstein reports and the subsequent "#MeToo" hashtag campaign, which encouraged individuals to share their suppressed stories of sexual misconduct, created a cavalcade of allegations across multiple industries that brought about the swift ouster of many men in positions of power both in the United States and, as it spread, around the world. In the entertainment industry, allegations led to the ousters of actors and directors alike. Most prominently, actor Kevin Spacey, comedian Louis C.K., and filmmaker Brett Ratner had projects canceled following at least six allegations apiece. Over 200 women accused filmmaker James Toback of sexual harassment. In journalism, allegations led to the ousters of editors, publishers, executives, and hosts. In other industries, the celebrity chef John Besh and other executives in finance and public relations were removed. As of November 25, 2017, the Los Angeles Police Department was investigating 28 sex crime cases involving media figures.
Time magazine dubbed the "Silence Breakers" behind the #MeToo movement Time Person of the Year in 2017. American journalists in conversation at NPR wrote of the series of allegations feeling like a tipping point for societal treatment of sexual misconduct, distinguished from prior sexual misconduct public debates by the public trust put in the celebrity accusers, as opposed to prior cases of publicly unknown accusers. Other journalists doubted that the trend would hold.
The New York Times and The New Yorker jointly won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service "for their coverage of the sexual abuse of women in Hollywood and other industries around the world".
Internationally
The "Me Too" campaign spread to other countries and languages over social media in Asia, Europe, Latin and North America.
In North America, Canadian comedy festival founder Gilbert Rozon resigned and over a dozen individuals accused Quebec television host and producer Éric Salvail of sexual misconduct.
In Europe, allegations against multiple British politicians created a public scandal and led to the suspension and resignations of three officials. In France, political organizations close to the Socialist Party, in particular the Union Nationale des Étudiants de France (UNEF), were accused of systemic sexual harassment. The French daily newspaper Le Monde published in November 2017 two articles on alleged sexual harassment and predation supported by former UNEF presidents, Jean-Baptiste Prévost and Emmanuel Zemmour. In an editorial, more than 80 UNEF female members and militants came forward to accuse the Union of "sexual violence".
References
Source of article : Wikipedia
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