OSCARS BODY EXPELS WEINSTEIN
LOS ANGELES: In a move virtually unprecedented, disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein’s membership in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was revoked on Saturday by its board.
The decision was reached in an emergency session by the academy, the world’s top movie organization and home to the Oscars. The expulsion was effective immediately. It comes after recent reports by The New York Times and The New Yorker about sexual harassment and rape allegations against Weinstein going back decades. He has denied the accusations against him.
In issuing its decision, the academy stated “We do so not simply to separate ourselves from someone who does not merit the respect of his colleagues but also to send a message that the era of willful ignorance and shameful complicity in sexually predatory behavior and workplace harassment in our industry is over.”
The statement said the decision was reached by “well in excess of the required two-thirds majority” of the 54-member academy board. Only one person is thought to have been previously expelled from the academy: Carmine Caridi, a character actor who had his membership revoked in 2004 for lending DVD screeners of films in contention for Oscars that ended up online.
The academy’s ruling against Weinstein may raise questions about other members who remain in good standing, such as Roman Polanski and Bill Cosby.
Weinstein, himself an Oscar winner as a producer of the 1998 Best Picture “Shakespeare in Love,” was ousted a week ago from The Weinstein Co.
What’s at issue here is a deeply troubling problem that has no place in our society. ACADEMY OF MOTION PICTURE ARTS AND SCIENCES, in a statement explaining ouster of Weinstein