According to the board, famed Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein has been fired from the company that bears his name following an explosive series of allegations published in the New York Times last week. The Times reported that Weinstein had decades of sexual harassment claims from actresses, female employees and reporters, leading to Weinstein’s announcement that he was taking a leave from the company and releasing an erratic, bizarre statement to the press in which he tried to defend himself by saying it was a “different time” and attacking the NRA for some reason.
The leave now appears to be permanent, as the board has announced that “new information” has led them to terminate Weinstein’s position. They did not clarify whether that new information was the Times’ report itself or they had learned even more, although Weinstein’s alleged behavior has reportedly been one of Tinsel Town’s worst kept secrets for years now.
Weinstein was famous in Hollywood for being the producer behind big movies like Chicago, The English Patient and Shakespeare In Love. He was also well known for his big Oscar campaigns, in which he would tirelessly push to get his films to be recognized by the Academy. He was also, according to numerous reports, a gross manipulator of women, who would leverage his assistance in their desires to break into acting against their willingness to perform sexual acts.
It’s not exactly news that women are subjected to terrible treatment in Hollywood by corrupt, powerful men, but it is news that, at last, one of the most infamous perpetrators of such treatment is finally seeing some measure of consequences for his alleged actions. Weinstein’s days as a cinematic kingmaker are coming to close but hopefully, this is just the beginning of a long overdue conversation about the treatment of women in the entertainment industry.
