May 25, 2018
by Colleen McGregor
On May 25, 2018, disgraced entertainment mogul Harvey Weinstein turned himself into the New York Police Department, where he was arrested and charged with rape and forced oral sex. According to the Associated Press, the rape charge is for an unidentified woman who claims that Weinstein raped her at a New York hotel room in 2013. The oral sex charge is for a 2004 incident in which former aspiring actress Lucia Evans claims that Weinstein forced her to perform oral sex on him at his New York office. During his arraignment, he pled not guilty and was released on $1 million bail, with constant electronic monitoring and a ban on traveling beyond New York and Connecticut. Weinstein’s attorney Benjamin Brafman says that Weinstein will seek to have the charges dismissed.
In October 2017, the New York Times and the New Yorker reported that Weinstein has a long history of sexual misconduct allegations (going back as far as the 1980s), and that he silenced many of his alleged victims with financial settlements and non-disclosure agreements. In the months since those reports were published, more than 80 women have come forward to claim that Weinstein sexually harassed or sexually assaulted them. Weinstein has denied all the allegations, and says any sex acts he committed were consensual.
After the reports were published, Weinstein was fired by The Weinstein Company (the entertainment firm that Harvey co-founded with his brother Bob); Harvey’s second wife, Georgina Chapman, divorced him; and the company filed for bankruptcy. The Weinstein Company has since been purchased by an investment group and is expected to change its name. Several industry organizations (including the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) have expelled Harvey Weinstein from their membership, and he has been sued by several women for sexual harassment/sexual misconduct. Ashley Judd, one of his accusers, is also suing him for defamation because she claims Harvey Weinstein damaged her reputation and career after she rejected his sexual advances.
Harvey Weinstein’s downfall is widely considered to be the turning point of the #MeToo cultural movement, which has survivors of sexual harassment and sexual assault publicly telling their stories and seeking justice. The #MeToo movement has also led to sexual misconduct allegations against many other famous and powerful men, often resulting in the accused losing their jobs and/or being sued.
October 11, 2018 UPDATE: The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office has dismissed the sexual assault charge against Weinstein in the Evans case. According to CNN, Evans’ attorney Carrie Goldberg implied that the charge was dropped for political reasons because of a “feud between the NYPD and the DA’s office.” Goldberg added that the dropped charge “does speak to a system desperate in need of reform.” Weinstein still faces five charges for sex-related crimes.