One day after Harvey Weinstein lost his lead attorney, Lisa Bloom, who quit just two days after she said “I will continue to work with him personally for as long as it takes” (apparently all of 48 hours), moments ago news hit that the scandalous media mogul has been fired from the Hollywood company he created. In a late Sunday statement, the company’s directors announced that Weinstein’s employment with the Weinstein Company has been terminated, effective immediately as a result of the mushrooming sexual harassment scandal that has hobbled his status as a media mogul and left his future in Hollywood in jeopardy.
According to Variety, The Weinstein Company’s board of directors has voted to remove Weinstein from the studio, leaving control of the company in the hands of Weinstein’s brother, Bob Weinstein, and chief operating officer David Glasser, it was announced in a statement from the company Sunday.
“In light of new information about misconduct by Harvey Weinstein that has emerged in the past few days, 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.”
Weinstein has been rocked by a devastating New York Times report documenting decades of legal settlements stemming from sexual harassment allegations leveled by former employees and associates, as well as accusations of improper sexual advances from actress Ashley Judd. The allegations extend back to Weinstein’s days running Miramax, an independent film studio that was then owned by the Walt Disney Co.
In addition to losing his attorney Bloom, and key advisor, Lanny Davis on Saturday, on Friday one third of the all-male board quit on Friday, including billionaire investors Marc Lasry and Dirk Ziff, and Technicolor executive Tim Sarnoff.
Weinstein was said to be furiously resisting efforts to force him out permanently, according to Variety. He has also struggled with forming a coherent response, veering from contrition to combativeness. An initial statement to the Times acknowledged past mistakes, while pledging to reform himself. Shortly after, Weinstein’s attorney Charles Harder said he was preparing to sue the paper, accusing it of making “false and defamatory statements.” Weinstein also said he was taking a leave of absence, only to continue appearing at work. The board later forced him to take an indefinite leave on Friday.
As Variety previously reported, Bob Weinstein and Glasser have been pushing for Weinstein to leave the company, believing he threatened the studio’s ability to continue to attract top talent and to release film and television shows. Weinstein has maintained that he can weather the crisis and re-emerge.
The good news for Weinstein, is that as some more humorous twitter elements have pointed out, his departure will mean he gets to spend much more time with this lawyers.
Weinstein to spend more time with his lawyers.
— Timothy Connolly CFA (@SconsetCapital) October 8, 2017
via http://ift.tt/2z8X1wa Tyler Durden