Harvey Weinstein: GUILTY!
A century ago, there have been few movie executives as dominant and powerful as Harvey Weinstein. He co-founded the production-and-distribution companies Miramax and the Weinstein Company, helping to find room for independent films and help them grow.
His movies have earned more than three hundred Oscar nominations, and at the awards ceremonies he has been thanked more than almost anyone else in movie history, even more than God!
However, the darkside is that for more than twenty years, Weinstein has also been accused of sexual harassment and assault. His behavior is an ‘open secret’ to many in Hollywood. At first, very few people were willing to speak, much less allow a reporter to use their names, and Weinstein and his associates used nondisclosure agreements, payoffs, and legal threats to suppress their accounts. Asia Argento, an Italian film actress and director, said that she did not speak out until now— She did say that Weinstein would forcibly perform oral sex on her. “I know he has crushed a lot of people before,” Argento said. “That’s why this story—in my case, it’s twenty years old, some of them are older—has never come out.”
In an audio recording captured during a New York Police Department sting operation in 2015, Weinstein admits to groping a Filipina-Italian model named Ambra Battilana Gutierrez, describing it as a behavior he is ‘used to’.
Sixteen former and current executives and assistants at Weinstein’s companies admitted that they witnessed or had knowledge of unwanted sexual advances and touching at events associated with Weinstein’s films and at the workplace.
Weinstein issued an apology acknowledging he had "caused a lot of pain", but disputed the allegations. However, as dozens more accusations emerged, Weinstein was sacked by the board of his company and all but banished from Hollywood. A criminal investigation was launched in New York in late 2017, but Weinstein was not charged until May 2018, when he turned himself in to police.
Donna Rotunno, the controversial lead lawyer representing Harvey Weinstein has given remarks to the media, implying that the only thing the fallen movie mogul is guilty of is cheating on his wife.
In an interview recently aired on 60 Minutes Australia, Rotunno repeated a point that she has made in court, that the Pulp Fiction producer is a sinner but not a criminal.
“Is Harvey guilty of committing sins? Sure, but that doesn’t make you a criminal,” she said in early clips of the interview. “A sin is cheating on your wife.”
Many instances and stories of sexual assault from several women mounted up, leading upto when Weinstein was found guilty of rape and a felony sex crime Monday, marking a climactic end to a high-profile case in the #MeToo movement.
Those two counts were connected to individual allegations made by Mimi Haley, a former Weinstein Co. production assistant, and Jessica Mann, a once-aspiring actress. Weinstein was acquitted on the two most serious charges of predatory sexual assault, which each carried a potential life sentence.
Prosecutors did not have forensic evidence or witnesses to any of the assaults, and Weinstein’s defense attorney had insisted each alleged encounter was ‘consensual’. But , the jurors ultimately chose to believe the women’s accusations over the denials of their alleged rapist.
Women who came out with their stories of allegations against Harvey (namely Silence breakers): all felt a sigh of relief upon hearing the decision.
Weinstein, 69, appeared to be staring ahead while a half-dozen court officers surrounded him just after the verdict was delivered. The movie producer struggled to get up from his seat as he was handcuffed and escorted out of the courtroom.
Judge James Burke ordered Weinstein to be held in custody until his sentencing March 11.
