During his career as a film producer, Harvey Weinstein, formerly of Miramax Films and The Weinstein Company (TWC), exploited his influential position to commit numerous criminal acts including sexual abuse, sexual assault and rape.
In October 2017, The New York Times and The New Yorker reported that dozens of women accused Weinstein of sexual misconduct over a period of at least thirty years. Over eighty women in the film industry have since accused Weinstein of such acts. Weinstein denied "any non-consensual sex." Shortly after, he was dismissed from TWC, was expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and other professional associations, and retired from public view.
Criminal investigations into complaints from at least six women are ongoing in Los Angeles, New York City, and London. In May 2018, Weinstein was arrested in New York and charged with rape and other offenses. In February 2020, he was found guilty of rape in the third degree and a criminal sexual act. In March 2020, he was sentenced to 23 years of imprisonment.
The New York Times and The New Yorker were awarded the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for their coverage of Weinstein. The scandal triggered many similar allegations against powerful men in the entertainment industry, and led to the ousting of many of them from their positions. It also led a great number of women to share their own experiences of sexual assault, harassment, or rape on social media under the hashtag #MeToo. The scandal's impact on powerful men in various industries came to be called the Weinstein effect.
Harvey Weinstein and his brother, Bob Weinstein, formed the independent film production company Miramax and led the company from 1979 until September 2005, after the Weinsteins founded The Weinstein Company (TWC) in March of that year.
Rumors of Weinstein's "casting couch" practices circulated in Hollywood for years before the scandal broke, and entertainment figures at times alluded to them. As early as 1998, Gwyneth Paltrow stated on Late Show with David Letterman that Weinstein would "coerce you to do a thing or two." In 2005, Courtney Love advised young actresses in an interview, "If Harvey Weinstein invites you to a private party in the Four Seasons, don't go." In 2010, a Pajiba article titled "Harvey's Girls" alluded to his "casting couch" reputation: "Every few years, Harvey picks a new girl as his pet." In 2012, a character on the TV series 30 Rock said: "I'm not afraid of anyone in show business, I turned down intercourse with Harvey Weinstein on no less than three occasions, out of five." While announcing the 2013 nominees for the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award, Seth MacFarlane joked: "Congratulations, you five ladies no longer have to pretend to be attracted to Harvey Weinstein."
After the allegations were published, director Quentin Tarantino stated that he had known about Weinstein harassing actresses for decades, and had confronted him about it. Ivana Lowell wrote in her book Why Not Say What Happened?, published in 2010, about misbehavior by Weinstein when she worked for the books division of Miramax. The incidents described were in her office when she was alone with Weinstein, and in her home when a female friend of hers was present. She wrote that she "knew about Harvey's reputation as a womanizer; tales of his trying to seduce every young actress in town were infamous."
Journalists wrote or attempted to write about Weinstein's alleged behavior. David Carr found that no one allegedly assaulted by Weinstein would speak on the record; Ken Auletta and his editors decided he could not mention an assault allegation without cooperation from the victim. In 2015, Jordan Sargent wrote in his Gawker article "Tell Us What You Know About Harvey Weinstein's 'Open Secret'" that "rumors of the powerful producer leveraging his industry power for sexual satisfaction—consensual or otherwise—have tended to remain unaired, confined to hushed conversation and seedier gossip-blog comment threads." The New York Times later wrote that Weinstein had built a "wall of invulnerability", in part through his support of leading Democratic politicians. He boasted being friends with Bill and Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama. The Clintons continued longstanding relationships with Weinstein despite alleged warnings to Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign from Lena Dunham and Tina Brown.
In 2015, the Times reported that Weinstein was questioned by police "after a 22-year-old woman accused him of touching her inappropriately." The woman, Italian model Ambra Gutierrez, cooperated with the New York City Police Department (NYPD) to obtain an audio recording where Weinstein admitted to having inappropriately touched her. As the police investigation progressed and became public, tabloids published negative stories about Gutierrez that portrayed her as an opportunist. American Media, publisher of the National Enquirer, allegedly agreed to help suppress the allegations by Gutierrez and actress Rose McGowan. Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. decided not to file charges against Weinstein, citing insufficient evidence of criminal intent against the advice of investigators who considered the evidence sufficient. Vance's office and the NYPD blamed each other for failing to bring charges.
In July 2018, after many allegations and criminal charges of sexual misconduct, Greek journalist Taki Theodoracopulos said to The Spectator that his friend Weinstein told him in an interview, "Yes, I did offer them acting jobs in exchange for sex, but so did and still does everyone." Weinstein's lawyer later said he had been present, and Weinstein did not make that statement. Theodoracopulos stated he "may have misrepresented" Weinstein. Weinstein's quotes and some of the author's observations were later removed from the article which only appeared on the magazine's website
