October 9, 2017
Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein was fired from the film
company he co-founded after a New York Times investigation detailed numerous
incidents of alleged sexual harassment by the media mogul, the media reported.
The remaining board of directors at The Weinstein Company said on Sunday
night that the decision was made "in light of new information about misconduct
by Harvey Weinstein that has emerged in the past few days", reports CNN.
Weinstein's brother Robert was one of the board members who made the decision.
"The directors of The Weinstein Company -- Robert Weinstein, Lance Maerov,
Richard Koenigsberg and Tarak Ben Ammar -- have determined, and have informed
Harvey Weinstein, that his employment with The Weinstein Company is terminated,
effective immediately," a statement from the company said.
The board used
to have more than four members. According to the New York Times, three other
board directors resigned on Friday as the Weinstein scandal became international
news.
Over the weekend, the scandal deepened and became an even more
serious threat to the future of the company, CNN reported.
Some clients
of the Weinstein Co. said they might stop working with the company if Harvey
Weinstein was still associated with it.
According to the Times expose,
the powerful film producer had faced many accusations of sexual harassment
spanning decades. He reached at least eight settlements with women between 1990
and 2015.
Actress Ashley Judd was among the accusers who spoke to the
Times for the story.
When the story came out on September 5, Weinstein
denied some of the allegations, but also admitted that he had behaved improperly
at times during his career. He apologised for causing pain.
Weinstein's
first major success came at Miramax Films, where he and his brother Bob
championed prestige films and set a new bar while running awards campaigns by
throwing expensive events in an attempt to lure voters.
Weinstein's
approach helped "Shakespeare in Love" unexpectedly earn best picture honours
over Steven Spielberg's "Saving Private Ryan".
The Weinsteins sold
Miramax to Disney in 1993, and they left the company in 2005 to start The
Weinstein Company.
There, they saw success with films like "Silver
Linings Playbook," "The King's Speech" and "Django Unchained".
The
company's recent films include "Lion", "Gold" and "Wind River".