The brother who knifed him. The wife who’s deserted him. And the hypocrisy and cowardice of the liberal establishment who fawned over Weinstein
‘There have been rumours circulating forever’ ‘Bring system into disrepute’
PRESSURE was growing to strip Harvey Weinstein of his CBE last night after Theresa May praised the courage of the movie mogul’s accusers.
She said she had been ‘deeply concerned’ by the claims against the Hollywood producer, who was handed an honour in 2004.
In the strongest hint yet that Weinstein will have his honorary title removed, Mrs May’s spokesman said: ‘Any unwanted sexual activity is completely unacceptable.
‘Any allegations should be fully investigated. Anyone who comes forward should be praised for their courage.’
He said the Honours Forfeiture Committee, which investigates allegations that the system has been brought into disrepute, was independent and ‘should be left to [its] work’.
Last night police in New York said they were considering a criminal investigation into the allegations and wanted to interview aspiring actress Lucia Evans – one of more than a dozen women to make accusations against Weinstein – over claims she was raped at a casting meeting in 2004.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which hosts the Oscars, said that the alle- gations were ‘repugnant’ and ‘abhorrent’. It will hold a meeting on Saturday to discuss any action to be taken.
Bafta yesterday suspended Weinstein’s membership of the academy, describing his ‘alleged behaviour’ as ‘completely unacceptable’.
For years, the 65-year- old has hosted glitzy Bafta parties attended by some of the biggest names in showbiz. Ahead of February’s Baftas, Weinstein was pictured cosying up to Gary Barlow and Elton John’s husband David Furnish at his party in a Mayfair private members’ club.
Then, after watching his film Lion – starring Nicole Kidman – pick up two awards, Weinstein toasted his success with friend Stephen Fry and other A-listers at central London’s five- star Rosewood Hotel.
Over the years, he has been pictured at his Bafta parties with British stars including Graham Norton, Naomi Campbell, Ronnie Wood, Jemima Khan and Geri Halliwell. There is no suggestion any friends or acquaintances knew about his alleged abuse.
Bafta said that, while it had ‘been a beneficiary’ of Weinstein’s support, his alleged behaviour was ‘completely unacceptable and incompatible with Bafta’s values’. The academy said it hoped the move would send the message that such behaviour ‘ has absolutely no place in our industry’. Weinstein received an honorary CBE from the British consul general in New York in recognition of his contribution to the British film industry in 2004.
At that point, Miramax Films, the company he founded with his brother Bob, had invested more than £600million in the UK films.
By 2004, Weinstein and Miramax had won more than 250 Bafta nominations, bringing more than 60 awards.
One of his first British hits was The Crying Game in 1992, produced by Channel 4 Films. It bombed at the box office but won an Oscar for best original screenplay, and a best British film Bafta.
In the 1990s, Weinstein worked with late British director Anthony Minghella, a former chairman of the British Film Institute, on The English Patient, which won nine Oscars. And in 1998, Miramax distributed Shakespeare in Love, which was written by British playwright Sir Tom Stoppard and won Gwyneth Paltrow an Oscar for best actress.
Weinstein worked extensively with BBC Films, run then by producer David M Thompson. And he worked alongside former Corporation executive Alan Yentob – they were both executive direc- tors on 2015’s Woman in Gold, starring Dame Helen Mirren.
On leaving Miramax in 2005, he and brother Bob set up The Weinstein Company, from which he was fired this week.
Yesterday British actress Rebecca Hall, daughter of Royal Shakespeare Company founder Sir Peter Hall, said colleagues and representatives had deliberately kept her away from Weinstein.
The 35-year-old, who has starred in Frost/Nixon and Iron Man 3, told US website IndieWire: ‘The truth is, there have been rumours circulating forever. I’ve known about them, I’ve certainly been quietly protected, without really ever being told why.
‘I certainly was never allowed near a meeting with him on my own, and anything like that.’
It came as a number of Labour MPs wrote an open letter to the PM urging her to remove Weinstein’s CBE to avoid bringing the honours system into disrepute.
They said his alleged behaviour is ‘unacceptable and intolerable’.
High-profile figures stripped of honours include ex-RBS chief Fred Goodwin, Rolf Harris and Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe. Decisions have to be approved by the Queen.