Harvey Weinstein Has Been Expelled From The Academy

An emergency meeting was held Saturday to determine Weinstein's removal.

Harvey
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Image via Getty/Alexander Koerner

Harvey

Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein's lifetime membership to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was revoked by the Academy's 54-member board of governors. The board includes Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, Whoopi Goldberg, Michael Mann​, and Kathleen Kennedy. The vote was "well in excess of the required two-thirds majority."

An emergency meeting was held earlier today at the organization’s Beverly Hills headquarters to discuss the fate of Weinstein's membership following a long list of accusers stepping forward with their disturbing stories of suffering abuse at the hands of the former film studio director. 

A statement released reads: "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 member will be expected to exemplify."

The fallout from Weinstein's decades of sexual harassment has been explosive in terms of his personal career and has helped raise awareness to the rampant sexual abuse that occurs at the hands of powerful men throughout multiple industries who use their clout to prey on women. Weinstein has been fired from his company, has been ousted from his BAFTA membership, his wife has left him, and his brother. There also have been a long list of others who publicly condemned him.

People on social media have pointed out that the Academy still has much work to do in weeding out and condemning rapists and sexual predators that still remain within the organization. 

Weinstein is only the second person to be stripped of his lifetime membership. The first was Godfather actor Carmine Caridi, who was booted from the Academy for sharing screeners.

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