On October 5, a New York Times exposé revealed that Hollywood film producer Harvey Weinstein has been accused of countless instances of sexual harassment over the last three decades. All accounts follow a similar, chilling pattern: Weinstein invited young, impressionable women who were trying to get their start in the industry to his hotel room and asked for various things including massages, watching him shower and undressing in front of him. According to the Times, over the course of three decades, Weinstein has reached at least eight settlements with women accusing him of sexual harassment, the most recent in 2015.
It was previously announced that Weinstein would be taking an indefinite leave of absence from The Weinstein Company. The company's board of directors supported this decision, announcing that an investigation into the allegations against Weinstein would be held.
In a statement released on Sunday, The Weinstein Company's board announced his termination. "In light of new information about misconduct by Harvey Weinstein that has emerged in the past few days, the directors of The Weinstein Company—Robert Weinstein, Lance Maerov, Richard Koenigsberg and Tarak Ben Ammar—have determined, and have informed Harvey Weinstein, that his employment with The Weinstein Company is terminated, effective immediately."
Weinstein founded The Weinstein Company in 2005 with his brother after the two left their previous film company, Miramax Films. Weinstein has always been the public face of the company. Allegedly, there have been talks of renaming the company in the face of the scandal as the board realizes it will be hard to distance themselves from someone whose name appears at the beginning of every film. But the downward spiral has already begun. Several members of the all-male board of The Weinstein Company have stepped down since Thursday, and attorney Lisa Bloom withdrew from representing Weinstein on Saturday.
The Weinstein Company is the driving force behind Oscar winners such as The King’s Speech, Silver Linings Playbook and Lion. In 2010 and 2011, the company won back-to-back Best Picture awards for The King's Speech and The Artist—a rare occurrence in Hollywood.
With Harvey Weinstein out, I'm curious to see where The Weinstein Company goes from here.
