Academy Gives Weinstein the Boot

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences wants 'to send a message'

By Michael Harthorne, Newser Staff

Posted Oct 14, 2017 3:59 PM CDT

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Academy Boots Weinstein in Nearly Unprecedented Move — In this Feb. 22, 2015 photo, Harvey Weinstein arrives at the Oscars at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. On Saturday, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences revoked Weinstein's membership. (Photo by Vince Bucci/Invision/AP, File)

Harvey Weinstein—whose movies have been nominated for 300 Academy Awards and who has been thanked in more Oscar speeches than anyone not named Steven Spielberg—has been booted from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Los Angeles Times reports. The Academy called an emergency meeting of its 54-member board of governors, which includes Spielberg, Tom Hanks, Whoopi Goldberg, and others, on Saturday. According to the New York Times, the Academy says the vote to "immediately expel" Weinstein was "well in excess of the required two-thirds majority."

In a statement, the Academy says it ousted Weinstein "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." Meanwhile, Eva Green became the latest actor to accuse Weinstein of sexual misconduct, saying she had to "push him off" during a business meeting in Paris, Variety reports. "The experience left me shocked and disgusted," Green says. Only one person is thought to have been previously expelled from the academy; more on that here.

(More Harvey Weinstein stories.)

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