Motion Picture Academy Expels Harvey Weinstein
The decision by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, made in an emergency session, is virtually unprecedented.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences headquarters in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Wikimedia Commons)
LOS ANGELES — Disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein’s membership in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has been revoked by its board.
The decision was reached Saturday in an emergency session. It comes after recent reports by The New York Times and The New Yorker that revealed sexual harassment and rape allegations against Weinstein going back decades. The move by the Academy is virtually unprecedented.
[Truthdig editor’s note: According to The Star website, only one person is known to have been permanently stripped of membership in the academy—character actor Carmine Caridi, who was punished in 2004 for lending out academy DVDs of movies contending for Oscars. The Star also says, “In the 1990s, a couple of people were temporarily suspended for selling their allotted tickets to the Oscar ceremony.”]
The Academy is the world’s top movie organization and is home to the Oscars.
In a brief statement, the Academy said it sends a message that “sexually predatory behavior” in the film industry is over.
Weinstein was ousted a week ago from The Weinstein Co., the movie and TV production company he co-founded and which now is struggling to survive this scandal.
He has denied the accusations.
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