With harassment allegations mounting, TV Academy mulls ousting Weinstein
LOS ANGELES — Another influential entertainment organization said Friday it would consider booting disgraced film mogul Harvey Weinstein as another woman accused the Oscar winner of sexual abuse.
The Television Academy, which bestows Emmy awards, said a disciplinary hearing set for November could lead to termination of his membership.
Weinstein, accused of sexually harassing and abusing numerous women over decades, has been fired from The Weinstein Co., a TV and movie film production company he cofounded with his brother Bob. He has been expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Producers Guild and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.
He now faces criminal inquiries in three cities after an Italian actress told Los Angeles detectives that Weinstein raped her in a hotel room in 2013.
Arrived uninvited
Attorney David Ring, who represents the 38-year-old actress, said Friday that she provided graphic details to police about the incident that occurred while she was in the city for the Los Angeles, Italia Film, Fashion and Art Fest.
The actress, who has not been named, met Weinstein in Rome previously and spoke with him briefly at the film festival before he arrived uninvited at her hotel room.
Weinstein bullied his way in and raped her, Ring said.
Police confirmed Thursday they are looking into the woman’s allegations.
Ring said the rape has had a “humongous impact on her life.” While she’s relieved to have reported it to police, she is also “extremely scared,” he said.
Sallie Hofmeister, a representative for Weinstein, said in a statement that Weinstein “unequivocally denies allegations of nonconsensual sex.”
The Los Angeles investigation comes after announcements last week by police in New York and London that they are taking a new look at allegations involving the Oscarwinner.
‘I felt so powerless’
On Friday, a former actress said Weinstein ruined her career ambition after he exposed himself to her during a 1989 business meeting in his office. Heather Kerr said he told her to sit on the couch and repeated saying she needed to be “good” if she wanted to succeed.
He then pulled down his zipper, exposed himself and forced her to touch his genitals, she said.
Kerr said she backed away, left the room and hurried out of the building. After some theater work, she quit acting.
“I felt so powerless,” she tearfully recalled. “I didn’t think anyone would believe me. I was nobody. Why would they?”
Kerr, whose acting credits in the 1980s include the TV shows “The Facts of Life” and “Mama’s Family,” spoke at a news conference with attorney Gloria Allred.
More than 40 women have accused Weinstein, 65, of harassment or abuse. Actresses Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie and Lupita Nyong’o have all accused Weinstein of harassment, while actresses Asia Argento and Rose McGowan said he raped them.