Harvey Weinstein Is Despicable. What About Bob?

Harvey Weinstein Is Despicable. What About Bob?
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Parody of the What About Bob? movie poster, feat. the Weinstein brothers and four of Harvey’s alleged victims: actresses Ashley Judd, Gwyneth Paltrow, Rose McGowan, and Asia Argento (clockwise from left).

Parody of the What About Bob? movie poster, feat. the Weinstein brothers and four of Harvey’s alleged victims: actresses Ashley Judd, Gwyneth Paltrow, Rose McGowan, and Asia Argento (clockwise from left).

Lady Libertine

After nearly three decades of successfully squashing sexual abuse allegations, Hollywood titan Harvey Weinstein is finally facing the music. When actress Ashley Judd came forward in the New York Times last week along with several former Weinstein staffers, the cone of silence surrounding the movie mogul broke. An explosive report by Ronan Farrow at The New Yorker followed days later with multiple allegations of rape and an audio recording of Weinstein admitting to sexual assault. Actresses including Asia Argento, Rosanna Arquette, Angelina Jolie, Rose McGowan, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Mira Sorvino joined the chorus of accusers speaking out publicly.

Weinstein’s fall from grace has been swift in the aftermath: he was fired from the company he founded and left by his wife, and is now under police investigation in London and New York.

But absent amidst the fury engulfing Weinstein is condemnation of his brother, Bob, who is also a co-founder of The Weinstein Company.

According to Harvey Weinstein’s former attorney, David Boies, the board of The Weinstein Company knew of at least three or four settlements with victims back when Harvey’s contract was up for renewal in 2015. Two company officials told the Times that there were eight settlements with victims over the years. And many within the company and across the entertainment industry have admitted that Weinstein’s behavior was an open secret. Kathy DeClesis, a former assistant to Bob Weinstein in the early 1990s, told the Times, “It wasn’t a secret to the inner circle.”

DeClesis was Bob’s assistant NEARLY 30 YEARS AGO. So if Harvey Weinstein is despicable and worthy of condemnation, what about Bob? What about the board of The Weinstein Company? What about all the other folks who were complicit in Harvey’s alleged crimes?

Harvey Weinstein did not act alone.

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