The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences expelled Harvey Weinstein after holding an emergency meeting on Saturday to discuss the onslaught of sexual harassment and assault allegations directed at the Hollywood mogul.
The Academy’s Board of Governors voted “well in excess of the required two-thirds majority to immediately expel” Weinstein from the prestigious organization, the academy said in a statement to HuffPost.
The board said it dismissed Weinstein, once a powerful film executive, in order to send a message to the rest of the industry. It also accused those within the Hollywood community of “willful ignorance and complicity.”
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.
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.
Earlier this week, the group described the accusations against Weinstein as “repugnant, abhorrent, and antithetical to the high standards of the Academy and the creative community it represents.”
Saturday’s meeting was unusual, since the Board of Governors, which controls the academy’s membership process, typically reviews its current member list once a year in the spring. The group presents the Academy Awards, known as the Oscars, every year.
More than a dozen women have come forward with similar accounts of Weinstein’s unwanted sexual advances. Three women have accused him of rape. Several male actors have also gone public with descriptions of Hollywood executives’ sexual misconduct.
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts suspended Weinstein’s membership Wednesday, saying his behavior was “completely unacceptable and incompatible with BAFTA’s values.”
“We hope this announcement sends a clear message that such behaviour has absolutely no place in our industry,” the BAFTA statement said.
“Shakespeare in Love,” a film Weinstein produced, won an Oscar for best picture in 1999. Gwyneth Paltrow won an Oscar for lead actress in the film; she shared how Weinstein had harassed her in a New York Times piece published Tuesday.
The Weinstein Co. owns the distribution rights to countless other Oscar-winning films, not to mention the more than 300 Oscar nominations Weinstein amassed during his time at the helm of Miramax and then his own company.
Hollywood is also moving to dissociate itself with projects tied to Weinstein that are currently in the works. Disney announced Wednesday that it removed him as a producer on the upcoming “Artemis Fowl” film.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article said that “Shakespeare in Love” won the Oscar in 1990. It won in 1999.