Harvey Weinstein Takes Leave of Absence, Files Lawsuit in Response to NYT Sexual Harassment Allegations

The New York Times published an article today detailing decades of sexual harassment allegations from female employees against Harvey Weinstein. Weinstein is the co-founder of The Weinstein Company and a celebrated producer of many acclaimed movies.

The article details many different accounts from many different women over the years, all with similar stories: Weinstein would pressure young women into meeting him privately in hotel rooms under the guise of helping their careers. Multiple different women said that he would then ask them repeatedly to give him a massage or watch him shower, despite the fact that he was told “no” each time. Famed actress Ashley Judd recalls an encounter with Weinstein in a hotel room in 2015 that followed along those exact lines—it took nearly an hour of her refusing for him to get the message. Even worse, Weinstein would reportedly have his young female employees make these suspicious appointments.

According to The NYT’s report, repeated payouts to multiple different women in the range of $80,000 to $150,000 were made over the years in exchange for their silence. This included $100,000 dollars in a settlement with Rose McGowan in 1997 after, you guessed it, “an episode in a hotel room.” Weinstein also settled with Italian model Ambra Battlilana, whom he groped in a hotel room in 2015. On top of that, part of the employees’ contracts stated they could not speak out in a way that might damage the reputation of the company. Thus, Weinstein’s harassment became an open secret to people at the company, but unknown to the general public.