Oscars academy boots out disgraced Weinstein
MERYL Streep famously called him “God”, but Harvey Weinstein fell emphatically to Earth as he was booted out of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences amid a torrent of accusations of harassment, sexual assault and rape.
The Oscar-winning movie mogul, 65, one of Hollywood’s most influential powerbrokers who was able to make or break careers, was expelled by an overwhelming majority in an emergency vote of the Oscar-awarding organisation’s 54-member board of governors.
An avalanche of claims have surfaced since the publication last week of an explosive New York Times report alleging a history of abusive behaviour by Weinstein dating back decades.
As Weinstein’s expulsion was announced, the London-based Sunday Times reported on a fifth alleged rape victim, British actress Lysette Anthony, who was said to have reported him to the Metropolitan Police last week.
Anthony, 54, who appeared in Woody Allen’s 1992 film Husbands and Wives, told the Times that Weinstein had attacked her at his rented home in London in the 1980s.
Weinstein, who has also been sacked from his own company, issued a bizarre statement as the scandal originally broke, apologising for his actions without addressing any specific allegations, misquoting the rapper Jay Z, and appearing in part to justify his behaviour.
“I came of age in the ‘60s and ‘70s, when all the rules about behaviour and workplaces were different. That was the culture then,” Weinstein, a prominent Democratic Party donor whose personal wealth is estimated at around $150-million (almost R2billion), said.
But the tycoon has won little sympathy from even his closest circle of confidants, with the Weinstein name now toxic in Hollywood.
English fashion designer Georgina Chapman, the mother of two of his five children, has announced she intends to seek a divorce.
Meanwhile, Weinstein’s brother and business partner Bob, 62, told The Hollywood Reporter in an emotional interview published on Saturday that he was unaware of the extent of his brother’s “sick and depraved” behaviour.
“For me, I thought he was literally just going out there cheating in a pervasive way,” the younger Weinstein is quoted as saying.
“It wasn’t like he even had a mistress. It was one after another that I was aware of. But as far as being in a room and hearing the description in the New York Times? No way.”
According to the Times, Weinstein’s allegedly inappropriate behaviour goes back nearly three decades and he has reached private settlements with at least eight women.
Since the outbreak of the scandal, 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.
His alleged victims have reported a range of misconduct, including that he forced them to massage him or watch him naked and promised to help advance their careers in exchange for sexual favours. – AFP