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Motion Picture Academy Votes Out Westport Filmmaker Harvey Weinstein

WESTPORT, Conn. — Disgraced movie-maker Harvey Weinstein, who owns a home in Westport, was voted out of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Saturday.

Harvey Weinstein was ousted from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Harvey Weinstein was ousted from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons

The board of governors of the Academy, which awards the Oscars every year, made the decision after shocking stories emerged about Weinstein. The New York Times reported Weinstein's decades of sexual misbehavior toward actresses, employees and others, and the New Yorker story included allegations of sexual assault from three actresses against him. 

Here is the Academy’s full statement:

“The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Board of Governors met today to discuss the allegations against Harvey Weinstein, and has voted well in excess of the required two-thirds majority to immediately expel him from the Academy," the statement said. 

"We do so not simply to separate ourselves from someone who does not merit the respect of his colleagues but also to send a message that the era of willful ignorance and shameful complicity in sexually predatory behavior and workplace harassment in our industry is over. What’s at issue here is a deeply troubling problem that has no place in our society. The Board continues to work to establish ethical standards of conduct that all Academy members will be expected to exemplify.”

Weinstein won an Academy Award for producing "Shakespeare in Love" and earned hundreds of nominations for films produced by his company.

In the scathing article in the New Yorker, which was written by Ronan Farrow, three actresses said Weinstein sexually assaulted them.  

"In a 10-month investigation, 13 women told me Harvey Weinstein sexually harassed or assaulted them. 3 allege rape," Farrow, the son of actress Mia Farrow, said via Twitter to summarize the article. 

The article also includes an audio recording from 2015 during a New York Police Department operation in which Weinstein admits to groping a model.

Those accusations came just days after a blistering story from the New York Times described decades of sexual harassment by Weinstein, waged against actresses, employees and others.

In another story from the New York Times, Academy Award winners Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie said Weinstein also harassed them.

The New York Times story includes interviews with many current and former employees from Miramax and the Weinstein Co. Weinstein is accused of sexual harassment, inappropriate behavior and unwanted physical contact with employees and actresses, including Ashley Judd and Rose McGowan. The story says he has paid money to settle cases with at least eight women over the years.

Weinstein was fired by the Weinstein Co.'s board of directors last weekend, leaving control to his brother, Bob Weinstein, and chief operating officer David Glasser.

Weinstein has offices in Tribeca and lives mostly in Manhattan, but he is known to conduct business from hotels around the world, where many of the incidents occurred the New York Times story says. 

In 2012, Weinstein hosted a glitzy $35,800 per person fundraiser at his home on Beachside Avenue in Westport for then-President Barack Obama's re-election campaign.

Click here for the story at the New Yorker. Click here and click here for stories from the New York Times. 

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