Regrets are too little too late from those who knew
victims have made their experiences public, legal settlements previously reached with the multi-millionaire have prevented others from speaking out.
Meanwhile, his former employees – including one living in London whom he reportedly assaulted – are like all his employees, bound by nondisclosure agreements.
But such contracts were not the only tools Weinstein used to ensure their silence.
Aspiring actresses and rising stars feared that the powerful producer could end their careers if they spoke out against him.
Weinstein also turned the media into a weapon – in at least one case, he fed negative information to reporters about an accuser who had gone to the police.
This kind of complicity by people in power shields many Harvey Weinsteins in many industries and is the same kind of protection that was afforded to vile Jimmy Savile.
America’s TV and film industry has, in recent years, been dogged by characters like the movie mogul.
Fox News chief executive Roger Ailes left the network in 2016 after revelations surfaced of his tenacious sexual harassment of female employees, while star anchor Bill O’Reilly departed the following year.
Both were protected by the channel which paid out multimil- lion-dollar settlements to their accusers.
But what should be most disturbing to us all is the lack of denunciations from those who failed to speak out knowing what they knew about Weinstein.
Going public about the abuse of power is always difficult and often diminishing.
And that, of course, is what abusers count on and love about it.
That women as successful as Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie stayed quiet for decades before finally daring to accuse him of sexually harassing them underlines why so few, with no Oscars and far less power and prestige, ever come forward.
But when those who knew of his offending, including bigname male stars and politicians, keep silent, it is easy to see why men such as Weinstein feel untouchable.
Only now are we slowly seeing many of those who knew of his depravity expressing huge regrets about not speaking out sooner.
But in truth none of these people are turning on Weinstein because they suddenly found out what he was like. They always knew. They’re turning on Weinstein because America and the rest of the world found out what he was like and they are doing what damage limitation they can for their own careers.
As more stars come forward with allegations of rape, sexual assault and harassment, it’s adding up to more women being assaulted by him than not.
Going public about the abuse of power is always difficult and often diminishing