Harvey Weinstein fired over sexual harassment claims

Los Angeles, Oct 9 (IANS) Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein was fired from the film company he co-founded after a New York Times investigation detailed numerous incidents of alleged sexual harassment by the media mogul, the media reported.

The remaining board of directors at The Weinstein Company said on Sunday night that the decision was made "in light of new information about misconduct by Harvey Weinstein that has emerged in the past few days", reports CNN.

Weinstein's brother Robert was one of the board members who made the decision.

"The directors of The Weinstein Company -- Robert Weinstein, Lance Maerov, Richard Koenigsberg and Tarak Ben Ammar -- have determined, and have informed Harvey Weinstein, that his employment with The Weinstein Company is terminated, effective immediately," a statement from the company said.

The board used to have more than four members. According to the New York Times, three other board directors resigned on Friday as the Weinstein scandal became international news.

Over the weekend, the scandal deepened and became an even more serious threat to the future of the company, CNN reported.

Some clients of the Weinstein Co. said they might stop working with the company if Harvey Weinstein was still associated with it.

According to the Times expose, the powerful film producer had faced many accusations of sexual harassment spanning decades. He reached at least eight settlements with women between 1990 and 2015.

Actress Ashley Judd was among the accusers who spoke to the Times for the story.

When the story came out on September 5, Weinstein denied some of the allegations, but also admitted that he had behaved improperly at times during his career. He apologised for causing pain.

Weinstein's first major success came at Miramax Films, where he and his brother Bob championed prestige films and set a new bar while running awards campaigns by throwing expensive events in an attempt to lure voters.

Weinstein's approach helped "Shakespeare in Love" unexpectedly earn best picture honours over Steven Spielberg's "Saving Private Ryan".

The Weinsteins sold Miramax to Disney in 1993, and they left the company in 2005 to start The Weinstein Company.

There, they saw success with films like "Silver Linings Playbook," "The King's Speech" and "Django Unchained".

The company's recent films include "Lion", "Gold" and "Wind River".