Company Scrambles as Weinstein Takes Leave and a Third of the Board Resigns

[oberliner]

Source: NY Times

The Weinstein Company struggled to perform damage control on Friday amid allegations of rampant sexual harassment by its co-chairman Harvey Weinstein and turmoil among its ranks. One-third of the company’s all-male board resigned, while board members who remained hired an outside law firm to investigate the allegations and announced that Mr. Weinstein would take an indefinite leave of absence immediately.

Mr. Weinstein had said on Thursday that he would take a leave of absence, but it was unclear when he would leave, how long he would be gone, or what it meant for his relationship with the company he co-founded.

“As Harvey has said, it is important for him to get professional help for the problems he has acknowledged,” said a statement signed by four board members, Bob Weinstein, Tarak Ben Ammar, Lance Maerov and Richard Koenigsberg. “Next steps will depend on Harvey’s therapeutic progress, the outcome of the Board’s independent investigation, and Harvey’s own personal decisions.”

The moves came as employees and business partners of the company voiced concern about the allegations, revealed in a New York Times investigation on Thursday, and board members and executives jostled for control.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/06/us/harvey-weinstein-sexual-harassment.html

[PoliticAverse]

1. "TV Journalist Says Harvey Weinstein Masturbated In Front Of Her"

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/weinstein-sexual-harassment-allegation_us_59d7ea3de4b046f5ad984211

[Ken Burch]

2. I so wish we had a ""Brechtian silent scream" smilie.

Good.....gawwwwwwwdddddddddddddd.

[ansible]

3. Surprised it even took this long

Weinstein's been known to be a horrible person for years

[bdtrppr6]

4. so how many

will begin to reject love of weinstein films? there is a fucking boatload of different styles that appeal across the board that his hand has also "touched". check IMDB and tell me there aren't a few flix you enjoyed/really enjoyed on that list. so are we tainted as well?

[oberliner]

5. He didn't really have much to do with the filmmaking

I think one can still admire Weinstein Company films without feeling tainted.

[spiderpig]

8. Wasn't Weinstein Co spun off from Miramax after the sale to Disney?

Miramax release some great movies in its complicated history. I just Googled and saw the Weinsteins left Miramax in 2005. Disney sold off Miramax in 2010.

Regardless, Harvey has long been known to be a slimeball by many.

[NNadir]

6. I checked Wikipedia. Most of the movies suggest trash. I've seen exactly one, and thought...

...of seeing another.

The one I saw on the Wikipedia list was "The King's Speech." (I own the DVD.)

One of the movies has the title "Alone with Her." Um...um...um...

I think I'll continue to skip his movies. Almost all of them seem like pop culture fluff.

[PoliticAverse]

7. "I've seen exactly one" - What, you missed seeing "Piranha 3DD"!? n/t

[csziggy]

11. From that list I've seen two - Outlander and The Matador

The only reasoned I watched The Matador on cable was that I like Pierce Brosnan. The movie was "Meh."

Outlander is sort of a guilty pleasure - I liked James Caviezel in Person of Interest and enjoyed the premise of the science fiction plot.

Nothing else on that list appeals to me at all.

[potone]

9. "Get professional help."

I am tired of the medicalization of misogynistic behavior by wealthy and powerful men. He did what he did because he knew he could get away with it, and he lived in a subculture which places an inordinate importance on women's appearance. The film industry is notoriously sexist and retrograde in its attitude towards women.

[oberliner]

10. Well said

Let's hope it finally starts to change.

[muriel_volestrangler]

12. Harvey Weinstein sacked in wake of sexual harassment scandal

Harvey Weinstein has been fired from The Weinstein Company after new information emerged regarding his conduct, the company’s board of directors announced on Sunday.

Weinstein had previously voluntarily taken a leave of absence following decades of sexual harassment allegations detailed on Thursday in a New York Times expose. The board on Friday endorsed that decision. But it went further Sunday, removing Weinstein from the company he co-founded.

In a statement, the board cited “new information” about Weinstein’s conduct that has emerged in the past few days. An attorney for Weinstein didn’t immediately comment.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/oct/09/harvey-weinstein-sacked-in-wake-of-sexual-harassment-scandal

[oberliner]

13. Wow

Thanks for the update. Must be rough to be fired from your own company.

I wonder what the "new information" is.