Harvey Weinstein

And here is the man by whom the scandal broke out, I named Harvey Weinstein.

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Harvey Weinstein was born on March 19, 1952 in New York, Queens. It is a producer of American cinema.

History

Harvey Weinstein was born in a district of Queens, Flushing, New York, of a Jewish family. His father, Max Weinstein, was a diamond cutter.
He studied at John Bowne High School and then at the University of Buffalo. In 2000, he received from this university the honorary title of doctorate of Humane Letters.

He works first as promoter of concerts. With his brother Robert, he founded in 1979 the company Miramax Films, famous in the 1980s and 1990s for their independent films, like those of Steven Soderbergh or Quentin Tarantino. In 1990, they won their first Palme d'Or for Sex, Lies and Video, in 1997 their first Oscar for The English Patient, chaining production successes, even though Robert Weinstein is more discreet than his brother, Harvey with a great notoriety.

In 2005 he created, again with his brother, The Weinstein Company, after disagreements with The Walt Disney Company which had bought Miramax in 1993. Dimension Films becomes a subsidiary of The Weinstein Company. The Weinstein Company has been struggling financially since 2016. It even has failures, like Stephen Gaghan's Gold, and is less able to place his films in competition at the Oscars. Before that, he and his brother have produced films that have won 81 Oscars. His company also blames him for funding the 2015 Cannes Film Festival Gala or for having donated $ 600,000 to the American Repertory Theater at Harvard University.

Before the scandal of 2017 broke out, Harvey Weinstein was considered a must-have producer and distributor. Respected and very influential, he was rain and shine in Hollywood, his intuition and networks often to bring a film to success, including through expensive promotional campaigns. He also gave sumptuous dinners where many celebrities crowded. Nicknamed Harvey Scissorhands, he often had the final cut, which allowed him to have the last choice of editing the film, in front of the director.

In 2005, the Academy of Oscars decided to reduce the time between his ceremony of the Golden Globes, to fight against the power of the producer.

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Policy and charity

Between 1990 and 2016, Harvey Weinstein finances several election campaigns, among the largest donors of the Democratic Party. Supporting Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, he continues this activity for Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential campaign, raising funds and connecting the candidate with American celebrities.

He donated to AIDS and Poverty Associations for gun control. He also donated $ 5 million to the University of South Carolina to help women directors. After the attacks of September 11, 2001, he convinces Paul McCartney and the Who to participate in charity concerts for the victims, who bring in $ 30 million in recipes.

Distinctions

On April 19, 2004, Harvey Weinstein was made Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II, for her contribution to the British film industry.

On March 7, 2012, President Nicolas Sarkozy awarded him the Legion of Honor for distributing the film The Artist. On October 15, 2017, President Emmanuel Macron announced that he had launched a procedure to deprive Weinstein of his decoration.

In March 2015, he received a distinction from the Simon-Wiesenthal Center for his humanitarian actions. This distinction rewards in particular the financial donations, amounting to nearly $ 100,000, that Weinstein made at the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

The scandal

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On October 5, 2017, a New York Times article accused him of numerous acts of sexual harassment. The producer, who was previously considered the most powerful Hollywood at all, is accused by several women, including star actresses Ashley Judd and Rose McGowan, sexually harassing them by trying to get them massages forcing them to watch him naked or having promised to promote their careers for sexual favors. To buy the silence of some, he would have given them between 80,000 and 150,000 dollars, while members of his staff had to sign confidentiality clauses forbidding them to damage his reputation.

Harvey Weinstein then apologizes and declares to go on leave. His lawyers, however, announce their intention to sue the New York Times because they believe the article in question contains many unsubstantiated accusations.

On October 8, 2017, The Weinstein Company returns Harvey Weinstein, who co-founded the company, for violating his code of conduct.
Following a New Yorker article on October 10, he is charged with rape by Lucia Evans, Asia Argento, Rose McGowan, Lysette Anthony and a fifth woman who wishes to remain anonymous. The actresses Natassia Malthe and Annabella Sciorra accuse him of rapes.

At the beginning of November 2017, the Spanish actress Paz de la Huerta announces that Harvey Weinstein raped her twice. Actresses Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie, Rosanna Arquette, Emma de Caunes, Judith Godreche and Léa Seydoux and Cara Delevingne then gave their testimonies confirming the assault or attempted sexual assault of Weinstein of which they were victims, especially in a second New York Times article.

Soon, more than seventy women accuse her of harassment, sexual assault or, sometimes, rape. Most of them are actresses but also employees, journalists, producers, assistants or models.
This case is perceived as all the more shocking because of the silence of the entourage of Weinstein on his actions.

Indeed, several celebrities would have known of his behavior, without denouncing it and would have even made sure to stifle the case. The late reaction of Hillary Clinton, of which Weinstein funded the party, has also been controversial, even though the former Democratic candidate has finally declared herself shocked and disgusted. Several senators who have received financial donations from Harvey Weinstein have donated money to women's associations that are victims of domestic violence.

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According to CNN, Harvey Weinstein believes that his brother Robert has betrayed him by encouraging the actresses previously cited to testify against him.

The Academy of Oscars said in a statement that it considers the conduct described in the accusations against Harvey Weinstein repugnant, odious and unethical high standards of the Academy. On October 14, 2017, the board of directors of the Academy decides to exclude it.

In France, on October 16, 2017, the municipality of Deauville erases its name from the promenade des planks, where it was painted following the tribute that had been given to it by the American Film Festival in 1998.

On October 23, 2017, The New York Times reports that Eric Schneiderman, the New York State Attorney, is investigating whether the Weinstein Company could be prosecuted for sex discrimination or other violations of the law.
On October 31, 2017, the Producers Guild of America released its verdict. Weinstein is excluded from the producers' union and will no longer be able to work in the film industry for life.

According to a New Yorker article dated November 6, 2017, Weinstein had, from the fall of 2016, resorted to an army of spies to try to silence the witnesses. Proceeding through lawyers, who have the right to refuse to inform police and justice about the agreements they make with their clients, Weinstein hired the services of former Mossad agents to approach his victims.

An article in Libération on December 6, 2017 contains New York Times news about Harvey Weinstein's machine for conspiracy to avoid revealing his actions. It is reported that the producer used various means to scare his victims into silence such as blackmail or intimidation.
He used to say "I have ears and eyes everywhere," "A phone call and you're done," "I'm Harvey Weinstein, you know what I can do." Weinstein has a large network, including the media, to avoid leakage of compromising information. When the scandal began in October 2017, he reportedly sent a message to A. J. Benza, a former New York Dailey News, in which "Help Me" was written.

#MeToo

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As a result of these accusations, the hashtag #balancetonporc or MeToo is launched by the journalist Sandra Muller on October 13, 2017 on the social network Twitter and causes the release of the speech of many women evoking their assault and harassment perpetrated by men in all backgrounds. The English version #MeToo is popularized by the actress Alyssa Milano to categorize testimonies evoking assaults and harassment perpetrated by men at the international level.

Private life

From 1986 to 2004, Harvey Weinstein is married to Eve Chilton, his assistant. Together, they have three daughters. As part of the divorce transaction, she gets the Central Park couple's apartment, which she sells for $ 23 million.

In 2007, Harvey Weinstein married British fashion designer Georgina Chapman. They have a daughter born in 2010 and a boy born in 2013. As a result of the sexual assault charges against him, Georgina Chapman leaves Weinstein on October 10, 2017, stating, "My heart is broken when I think to all women who have suffered terribly from these unforgivable actions".

Filmography

Producer

• 1998: Shakespeare in Love by John Madden
• 2002: Gangs of New York by Martin Scorsese
• 2009: Rob Marshall's Nine
• 2011: My Week with Marilyn by Simon Curtis
• 2013: One Chance by David Frankel
• 2015 - present: Scream
• 2016: Tiger and Dragon 2

Executive Producer

• 1993: True Romance by Tony Scott
• 1994: Pulp Fiction by Quentin Tarantino
• 1996: Anthony Minghella's English Patient
• 1996: Scream by Wes Craven
• 1997: Will Hunting by Gus Van Sant
• 1997: Scream 2 by Wes Craven
• 2000: Scary Movie by Keenen Ivory Wayans
• 2001: The Lord of the Rings: The Peter Jackson Ring Community
• 2002: The Lord of the Rings: Peter Jackson's Two Towers
• 2003: Kill Bill: Volume 1 by Quentin Tarantino
• 2003: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of Peter Jackson's King
• 2004: Aviator by Martin Scorsese
• 2004: Fahrenheit 9/11 by Michael Moore
• 2004: Kill Bill: Volume 2 by Quentin Tarantino
• 2005: Sin City by Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez
• 2007: Rob Zombie's Halloween
• 2009: Inglourious Basterds by Quentin Tarantino
• 2009: Halloween 2 by Rob Zombie
• 2010: The King's Speech by Tom Hooper
• 2011: Scream 4 by Wes Craven
• 2012: Happiness Therapy by David O. Russell
• 2013: Django Unchained by Quentin Tarantino
• 2018: The Neil Burger Upside

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After theses shocking revelations and all these accusations, we can say that his career and his reputation are over forever...