Weinstein out at Motion Picture Academy: The 'era of willful ignorance and shameful complicity' is over

Harvey Weinstein
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Movie producer Harvey Weinstein was expelled Saturday from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the premier film industry professional organization and host of the Oscars, amid mounting sexual harassment and rape allegations against the mogul. A special meeting of the 54-member board voted overwhelmingly to remove Weinstein, a decision with the sole precedent of the 2004 expulsion of an actor named Carmine Caridi for alleged copyright infringement.

"We do so not simply to separate ourselves from someone who does not merit the respect of his colleagues," the Academy said in a statement, "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."

Weinstein has denied the accusations against him, which snowballed after investigations by The New Yorker and The New York Times.

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Bonnie Kristian

Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.