Harvey Weinstein, the fallen 'God' of Hollywood who gave rise to #MeToo

During years Harvey Weinstein He was one of the most visionary and powerful independent producers in Hollywood, feared and revered, whom Meryl Streep once called “God.”

When Harvey Weinstein fell in 2017, felled by rape allegations that exposed widespread sexual abuse in Hollywood and beyond, the impact was felt around the world.

The #MeToo movement was born, and with it an avalanche of stories about the type of sexual abuse and daily harassment that women suffer. Not only on film sets, but also on the street, in the office or on public transport.

Actresses including Ashley Judd, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Beckinsale, Uma Thurman and Salma Hayek have accused Weinstein of sexual harassment or assault. Asia Argento, Rose McGowan and Paz de la Huerta, of rape. Mira Sorvino and Ashley Judd claim he ended his career because they didn't give in to his harassment.

Harvey Weinstein who never apologized or showed remorse, felt like a victim of a witch hunt of the #MeToo movement, which he compared to the persecution of communists promoted by US Senator Joseph McCarthy in the Cold War.

“I was the first example and now there are thousands of men being accused. I am worried about this country,” he added.

His sentence by a Manhattan court to 23 years in prison, which sealed the fall of the once all-powerful producer, was annulled this Thursday due to formal errors by an appeals court, which ordered a new trial.

“With today's decision, this (appeals) court continues to thwart the consistent progress that survivors of sexual violence have fought for in our criminal justice system,” lamented Justice Madeline Singas, who voted against the decision. to annul his conviction, approved by 4 votes to 3.

“Monster”

Many women said that Weinstein met them in hotel rooms, where he received them in a bathrobe and invited them to give or receive massages and to watch him masturbate.

The burly former producer was criminally tried only for the two accusations that did not prescribe: oral sex against his will to former production assistant Mimi Haleyi in 2006, and the rape in 2013 of former actress Jessica Mann.

In December 2022, another California court found him guilty of raping a woman in a Beverly Hills hotel. Two months later a judge sentenced him to spend 16 years in prison.

“For years he was my monster,” wrote the Mexican actress Salma Hayek, in reference to what she experienced during the filming of “Frida” in 2002. She told him no, but Weinstein responded with “Machiavellian anger” and threatened to kill her.

From the ashes of the empire he built, movements such as #MeToo and Time's Up were born, encouraging tens of thousands of women around the world to denounce powerful men who have abused or harassed them on social media and unleashing a cultural change of zero tolerance for this type of behavior.

The scandal

It was a major investigation into sexual misconduct published by The New York Times on October 5, 2017 – which inspired the film “She Said” -, added to another report in The New Yorker magazine, that unleashed the scandal that It ended his career, his marriage and his reputation.

Weinstein was expelled from the United States Film Academy and his own company, The Weinstein Company (TWC).

In November 2017, a month after the scandal broke, he checked into a rehab center to treat his sex addiction.

His second wife, the British fashion designer Georgina Chapman, with whom he had two of his five children, divorced him.

The king of the Oscars

Born in Queens on March 19, 1952, the son of a diamond cutter, Weinstein studied at the University at Buffalo and initially produced rock concerts with his brother Bob.

The two co-founded their first film studio, Miramax, in 1979. Their hits included Steven Soderbergh's “Sex, Lies and Video” (1989) and “Shakespeare in Love” (1998), winner of seven statuettes and for which Weinstein shared a Oscar for best film.

Miramax also produced Quentin Tarantino's first hit, “Pulp Fiction” (1994), and “The English Patient” (1997, nine Oscars).

Miramax was sold to Disney in 1993 and the brothers left the company in 2005 to found The Weinstein Company.

The movies of Harvey Weinstein They received more than 300 Oscar nominations and 81 statuettes.

Weinstein reached a $25 million settlement with more than 30 actresses and former employees who sued him. The bill will be paid by his former company and insurance companies.