Harvey Weinstein

Harvey Weinstein is an American former film producer, having cofounded with his brother in 1979 and later founding the now-defunct which was known for its attempts at Oscar bait, in 2005. Today, however, he is much more famous for being a convicted sex offender, with over eighty women accusing him of sexual assault,Harvey Weinstein Accusers: Over 80 Women Now Claim Producer Sexually Assaulted or Harassed Them, Janice Williams, Newsweek 30 October 2017 with either him or being considered the first domino to fall in the MeToo movement while the outrage over the disturbing nature of the accusations (as well as the enabling of his depraved crimes by those in power) lead to growing recognition among the broader public to the previously hidden epidemic of rape and pedophilia not only in Hollywood, but in wider society as a whole. As a result of the scandal, he was forced out of his company and he was sentenced to 16 years of prison in California on top of 23 more years in New York.Harvey Weinstein sentenced in Los Angeles to 16 years in prison for sexual assault charges, Eric Levenson and Cheri Mossburg, CNN 24 February 2023 He was also known to have donated to liberal causes, causing no end of embarrassment to certain Democrats.
==Abuse of power and sex crimes==
===American Psycho===
Weinstein is notorious for how he used his power and influence to sexually abuse and rape dozens of women, totaling up to over 80 victims. In 2017, journalist wrote a Pulitzer Prize-winningAlum Ronan Farrow’s Reporting for The New Yorker Wins Pulitzer, Bard College at Simon Rock article for The New Yorker that detailed some of Weinstein's abuse, with accusations ranging from unwanted groping to forced oral sex.From Aggressive Overtures to Sexual Assault: Harvey Weinstein’s Accusers Tell Their Stories, Ronan Farrow, The New Yorker 10 October 2017 Many of these incidents took place in hotel rooms, where Weinstein would lure young actresses and models under the pretext of discussing their resumes with him, only for Weinstein to offer vulgar deals of advancing their careers in exchange for sex and massages. Weinstein was also known to have used his power to blacklist actresses who had rejected his advances as well as to keep them quiet.Peter Jackson seems to confirm Weinstein blacklisted Mira Sorvino, Ashley Judd, Daniel Arkin, NBC News 15 December 2017 Weinstein also paid off his accusers for decades in order to cover up the allegations.Harvey Weinstein Paid Off Sexual Harassment Accusers for Decades, Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, The New York Times 5 October 2017
===Raging Bull===
His behavior towards men is little better, as he has publicly physically assaulted several of them.Harvey Weinstein is also a jerk. That alone should have gotten him fired., Emily Yoffe, The Washington Post 20 October 2017 It can be surprising that Weinstein was able to last so long, especially as according to multiple of his victims his behavior was an "open secret", however it shows how powerful people can use their influence to get away with massive amounts of abuse.
===Harvey Scissorhands===
Along with his abuse towards aspiring starlets and his own underlings, Weinstein's cruelty and arrogance also extended to the various filmmakers whose movies he helped produced and distributed. This usually came in the form of drastic cuts to movies against the directors' permission as Weinstein saw fit(in the hopes of making them more "commercially viable"); often completely altering the content of films from their makers original intentions. Ten Examples of Films That Were Drastically Affected by "Harvey Scissorhands", Bill Gibron, Pop Matters 24 June 2014 Weinstein had become so obsessed with cutting out entire scenes from that he eventually earned the nickname "Harvey Scissorhands".https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/kevin-smith-harvey-weinstein-cut-up-my-movies-1234765810/ 
However, there were a few directors who managed to push back against Weinstein ruining their movies. In 1997, when Miramax offer to distribute the English dub version of Princess Mononoke after Studio Ghibli stroke a deal with Disney (which Miramax happened to be a subsidiary at the time), Weinstein demanded that the film's run time to be cut down under the belief that American audiences prefer watching a shorter and simpler animated movie. Director Hayao Miyazacki outright refused and is famously rumored to have sent Weinstein a katana attached with a note that simply read "no cuts". Although Miyazacki has since clarified that his producer that sent the katana instead of himself personally, he did at least confronted Weinstein in New York and proudly declare he "defeated" him.https://www.polygon.com/animation-cartoons/2020/5/26/21270413/princess-mononoke-hayao-miyazaki-movies-harvey-weinstein-katana-story-studio-ghibli This stunt only seemed to enrage Weinstein more, now demanding the film be cut down from 135 minutes to a mere 90 running time and aggressively threatened American Ghibli executive Steve Alpert that he would never work in the industry if Miyazacki did not do the cuts he requested.https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/harvey-weinstein-threatened-studio-ghibli-mononoke-runtime-1202236275/
==Liberal donations==
For a while, Weinstein was one of the most prolific donors to liberal causes, donating over two million dollars to Democrats.Harvey Weinstein has donated over $1 million to Democrats since 2000 – here are some of the biggest names, Allan Smith and Skye Gould, Business Insider 10 October 2017 Notoriously, Weinstein was also close friends with Bill and Hillary Clinton.We Need to Talk About Hillary Clinton’s Disturbing Harvey Weinstein Ties, Cassie Da Costa, The Daily Beast 29 February 2020 As the Weinstein scandal broke at around the same time as the origin of QAnon, suffice to say that it was not a good look for the Democratic Party. One of Weinstein's victims, announced she was no longer a Democrat while campaigning for Larry Elder as a result of the abuse from liberals like Harvey,Rose McGowan calls the Democrats a ‘cult,’ says people should evaluate their beliefs, Christie D’zurilla, Los Angeles Times 27 April 2021 after all, it's not as if Republicans have ever protected sexual predators. Some Democrats like Chuck Schumer and Elizabeth Warren have given away their donations from Harvey Weinstein to charity, but unfortunately by then the damage was done. Democrats give political donations from Harvey Weinstein away to charities, PBS 6 October 2017
==See also==
*Hollywood values
*Jeffrey Epstein, another large-scale sexual predator known for his connections to Bill Clinton. Released court documents have shown that Weinstein and Epstein were, at the very least, acquainted.Epstein’s Creepy Phone Logs Show Calls From Harvey Weinstein, Schoolgirls, Kate Briquelet and Noah Kirsch, The Daily Beast 5 January 2024
*Melvil Dewey, the Harvey Weinstein before Harvey Weinstein
==References==
Category:California
Category:Convicted felons
Category:Epsteinsphere
Category:Film-makers
Category:Jews
Category:Liberals
Category:Living people
Category:New York
Category:Rape