Weinstein expelled from Academy
LOS ANGELES: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences expelled Harvey Weinstein on Saturday, vowing that the era of “shameful complicity in sexually predatory behaviour” in the movie industry was over.
An emergency meeting of its 54-member board of governors, which includes stars such as Tom Hanks, Whoopi Goldberg and Laura Dern, voted “well in excess of the required two-thirds majority,” it said in a statement.
“We do so not to separate ourselves from someone who does not merit the respect of his colleagues, but to send a message that the era of ignorance and shameful complicity in sexually predatory behaviour and workplace harassment in our industry is over,” the statement read.
An avalanche of sexual harassment, assault and rape accusations against Weinstein have surfaced since the publication last week of a New York Times report.
As Weinstein’s expulsion was announced, the Londonbased Sunday Times reported on a fifth alleged rape victim, British actress Lysette Anthony, who was said to have reported the 65-year-old to police last week.
Anthony, 54, who appeared in Woody Allen’s 1992 film Husbands and Wives, told The Times that Weinstein attacked her in the 1980s.
More than two dozen actresses, including Mira Sorvino, Rosanna Arquette, Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie and Lea Seydoux have come forward saying they were sexually harassed by the producer.
Some of the most recent allegations involved former Bond Girl Eva Green, whose mother told French radio Weinstein had harassed her daughter for months, and British actress Alice Evans, who penned an essay for The Telegraph claiming she had rejected his advances, and believed it might have harmed her career. AFP