Weinstein is stripped of his CBE
SHAMED movie mogul Harvey Weinstein has been stripped of his CBE after pressure by women’s groups and victims of his serial sex attacks.
The Queen ordered that his honour for services to the British film industry be cancelled and annulled after a review by the Government’s honours forfeiture committee.
Weinstein, 68, was jailed for 23 years in March after being convicted of sordid attacks on a young actress and a production assistant.
But the producer behind blockbuster films including Pulp Fiction and Shakespeare In Love also faces harassment claims from up to 100 women, including top stars Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow and Lea Seydoux.
Labour MP Chi Onwurah said: “I am really pleased, but I think it has taken too long.
“It has been three years since the allegations first surfaced. In that time he has been stripped of many other honours including France’s Legion d’Honneur. This wasn’t about stars or glamour, it was about safety at work.
“It was a stain on our honours system that this man who abused so many women was still being recognised.”
Jill Greenfield, a lawyer who is representing one alleged victim, said his continued recognition was “an insult”.
She said: “Considering the terrible pain and distress Weinstein inflicted for years during his career, it is absolutely fitting that he does not receive any civil recognition for his work.
“To do so would be an insult to all the women he assaulted and all the lives and careers he ruined.”
Weinstein, who ran production company Miramax, was granted an honorary CBE for his contribution to UK movies 16 years ago. But a notice in the public record The Gazette said that Her Majesty had ordered it be “cancelled and annulled and that his name shall be erased from the Register”.
He was jailed after being found guilty of the rape of actress Jessica Mann, 34, and sexually assaulting production assistant Miriam Haley, 42.
Weinstein consistently denied any wrongdoing but a total of six women testified against him. Ms Haley said he “scarred me deeply, mentally and emotionally,” adding: “What he did not only stripped me of my dignity as a human being and a woman, but it crushed my confidence.”
The Me Too movement was launched after up to 100 other alleged victims came forward, claiming they had lost movie work for refusing his advances.
Weinstein received more than 300 Oscar nominations. Meryl Streep jokingly referred to him as “God” at the 2012 Golden Globes. Russian spy Anthony Blunt and RBS boss Fred Goodwin are among other infamous names to have honours removed.