Finally, someone believed the women.
6
This man will never change. The chutzpah of comparing himself to the blacklisted Hollywood writers is all you need to know about the kind of devious sociopath he is. He has not apologized. He will never stop trying to abuse the system. Pay no heed to the wheelchairs and the chest pains.
6
FINALLY!
I am glad Judge took in to account the pattern established over the years and his modus operandi which he honed over decades.
He is a SERIAL rapist.
That means, considering the circles he moved in, he had ample access to young, beautiful girls from not just the USA but 3 continents (at least). And he developed a way, a specific way of overcoming and remolding any resistance these women may have had-- psychological manipulation, fear of career being killed, word of this stuff getting out to others, taking pity over the ugly man, his apologies later and appeasement to keep women quiet, etc.
Awful behavior and just comeuppance.
No wonder he is confused, he has been hit broadside by history's march to right the sexually distasteful and violent attitude men have had towards women from the earliest days.
Though a different animal, I wish, we had seen Epstein get his dues as well. But I am very sure due to his connections to a multitude of well-known ultra-rich men, his suicide (whether allowed by maleficent negligence or accidental) has kept a lid on that sewage gutter.
I was already having a hard time reading the details.
Now, time to see a real change in men's attitude and behavior in real life, at work, in community and at large. Sometimes, I think this would never happen... and then I (pray) wish, God, let me see this new human-horizon before I leave this earth.
3
Isn't Donald Trump accused by multiple women of the same kind of crimes? Why isn't he already in prison?
5
Not such a good result for Ms. Rotunno and company.
4
Just keep in mind that the "young struggling dreamers" knew exactly what they got himself into when they accepted private meetings in hotel rooms. Knowing a little bit the sometimes almost sickening ambition of aspiring creatives in Hollywood and riehst lengths they would go to get access to the castle I'm kind of not so sympathetic with all those young struggling dreamers.
2
I wish we could learn to impose sentences, for whatever crime, with sadness and humility rather then glee and bloodlust.
7
Thank you NYT for helping this man receive the sentence he deserves. The fact he was 'confused' by the decision reveals he does not understand what he did was wrong. He's still a predator.
2
An added obscenity is the fact that his lawyers are even appealing such a justly-deserved sentence!
5
I'm amazed at the number of commentators who don't seem to think that Weinstein is dangerous. He needs to be imprisoned not for vengeance, but because he's a menace. He's dangerous. He's physically dangerous, having assaulted a large number of people. He also uses his money to hire people to stalk, attack and terrorize people. Those who testified against him were, justifiably, afraid for their lives. He's basically a one-man mob. And yet people are on here saying he needs to be running around New York York 5 years? Hello!? He's a danger to the public. At least the guy who sticks a gun in your face for your wallet ONLY wants your money. I promise you, the prisons are full of people less dangerous than Harvey Weinstein.
4
I'm 75-years old. Experience has taught me that when an otherwise shrewd and intelligent person suddenly becomes "confused," especially over a self-evident issue, then we are all being taken for fools. I think Weinstein is just such a person.
What exactly did he THINK he was doing when he greeted first-time visitors at his door in an open robe with his junk visible? Consensual? Hardly.
6
Given one crucial assumption, the long sentence of Harvey Weinstein is a great victory for victims of the culture of rape and other harassments, in which persons in positions of power are able to take advantage of others subject to it. This seems a constitutive part of societies like ours defined by a broad class division between managing elites and persons who are excluded from or, often worse, anxiously marginalized within, them.
This is true only because, and if, the media event of a famous person convicted of monstrous forms of such all too common wrongdoings, and the symbolic meaning of large punishments, communicates the right message --- warning people who are in a position to take advantage of and abuse people subject to their power, not to, and promising those who could be victimized that our society is getting its act together about not allowing that to happen. (Are we? How?)
To be sure, Mr. Weinstein's own fate is now to be subjected to a system of brutal domination, the American prison, in a sentence longer than that given in Norway to the mass murderer Andres Brevik. It is if anything the most extreme and visible manifestation of the horrors of systems of power and violence that our society's competitive hierarchical institutions must somehow require.
For institutions of inequality and domination, we have games of cruelty and violence, evils even beyond the sex abuses that mark the male gender's traditional schooling in domination.
1
23 years sounds a bit too excessive. And in this case what use is it to incarcerate a fragile senile man who may need medical care? If a person was already socially accomplished and committed crimes in the process or after, it seems more sensible to deprive him/her of all the economic benefits accumulated first and keep the prison term a minimum.
2
@Aki
He's not senile.
He committed violent crimes. Incarceration is appropriate. Long incarceration, in this case, serves the legitimate purpose of sending a strong message.
To say "too excessive" is redundant.
2
@Aki
Doesn’t seem at all too excessive to me. He is neither fragile or senile. What on earth does it matter to his sentencing that you view him as “socially accomplished”.
1
It couldn’t have happened to a nicer or more deserving guy.
2
I totally disagreed with the awarded sentence;
1-As all these women get benefits from Mr. Harvey at that time.
2-Why this act remain hidden for such a long period.
3-Court give one sided verdict by ignoring the age of Mr.Harvey
4-These women are part of this act in order to achieve their goal.
5- In present scenario, awarded sentence is equal to death sentence.
6- These women unfairly used Mr. Harvey to get fame and wealth.
7- A women can judge the mentality of a man even in a single meeting, why these victims scheduled private meetings with the accused.
8- This is not a simple case of rape, assault or sexual harassment, in this case secret hands of opponents or competitors of Mr. Harvey are involved.
9- Court announced this judgement under pressure.
10- Human Rights of Mr. Harvey are ignored by all means,
5
@Muhammad Tahir Bashir
I agree with a lot of what you write, and I also think he got a raw deal on a PURELY LEGAL basis. IMO the case for rape has not been made.
That said, he deserved punishment. Severe punishment, but I would have sentenced him to life-long community service, cleaning up the highways from NY to LA.
Purely based on his total lack of ethics and the absence of even a shred of morality.
I also indulge in fantasies where I see the current occupant of the White House work side by side with Weinstein for eternity, picking up society's litter on the shoulders of our interstates....
Oh, yay yay yay!
Bravo to these women who had the courage to speak out. It is very hard. My love to your bravery!
People might denigrate you, but if you have the sheer force of belief, and truth behind you, you have taught us all that truth can prevail.
I think Mr. Weinstein's story would make a great movie.
3
will trump pardon him as one of his own? or will prison protect him from Covid? while the rest suffer the plague? Kavanaugh will hear his appeal and grant him a place on the court is my guess.
1
And let there be none of this, "Well, we made a good example of him, back to business as usual!"
No, keep hunting these bullies. Hunt them down and tear their lives and minds apart. Make them suffer as much pain and fear as they have caused.
It's unfortunately that this is the least we can do to them but it's something.
Blaming parents for their children's emotional distress ("mental illness") remains one of the great taboos in our society. School shooters' and racist shooters' parents are never blamed and are rarely even cited as factors in their child's waywardness. They are the clueless. So it is interesting to see the one exception -- only implied -- named in several comments below: Fathers need to teach their sons to love and respect women. Even that's a bit annoying, isn't it? How about families raising children as equals, so boys don't have to be reeducated to look at girls in a more enlightened way?
2
@The Pessimistic Shrink
Freud blamed the mother, as you will recall. Then we found out that was baloney -- his patients' reports of sexual abuse by males mostly turned out to be true or at least believable after all. So we learned to stop automatically blaming mothers. Nature and/or nurture provide many routes leading to "emotional distress" and "waywardness" that can't be "blamed" on parents, as well as many that do.
In general "blame" is irrelevant to the work of shrinks and other health care professionals. One would expect you to know that.
1
He must have paid a fortune to his high end legal team--only to end with 23 years in prison, i.e. for the rest of his life given the shape he seems to be in. Bad investment.
MEMO TO: HARVEY WEINSTEIN
From: Bruce Weinstein (no relation)
Re: Ethics and Your Felony Conviction
Actions have consequences. Even the things you admitted to doing, let alone the ones you’ve been convicted for but still don’t accept as reality, violate the basic principles of ethics. Your beloved parents, Miriam and Max, for whom you named the film company you and your brother founded, surely taught you these principles, just as mine did.
You learned them in Hebrew school, just as I did.
Your great movies were steeped in them.
So what happened?
One of your defenders recently talked about your planning a "comeback." But now that you have been found guilty of two felony sex crimes and sentenced to 23 years in prison, it is time to accept the consequences of your actions.
For the remainder of your life, you can speak to your fellow prisoners and help them avoid making the mistakes you did when they're released. Be a force for good, Harvey. Do what you can to turn your abominable actions into something positive for the world. That's the only comeback worth pursuing.
1
In the small liberal arts college that I attended in the sixties a forcible sexual advances would pretty much get the perpetrator black balled by both men and women. It was not considered normal "sixties" behavior.
3
Women must take responsibility before themselves as well. You only have to walk down a fancy shopping street like Worth Avenue in Palm Beach , Florida or visit one of the local watering holes to see a huge percentage of the young women and embarrassingly some of the old ones in varying states of undress doing everything possible to get the attention of one of the many, many ultra wealthy men in enclaves of the wealthy such as this. There’s an old saying from my fathers generation “ don’t advertise what you won’t sell”, never more applicable than in today’s hyper promiscuous society, where anything, or nothing, clothing wise, goes. BTW letting everything hang out it’s really not that attractive on most women, an making a spectacle of oneself too get a mans attention is not attractive either. We are supposed to be powerful and independent, don’t flaunt yourself for financial gain, get an education and accomplish something instead.
5
@Katherine
There is no valid reason not to expect men and women to control their sexual impulses and not to violate the rights of others. Ever. No matter what the supposed provocation may be.
2
Lock him up and throw away the key.
1
Mr. Weinstien has become the poster child and sacrificial lamb of the #MeToo era. Can he expiate all the sins of sexual abuse and assault - male and female? - going back to the cavemen?
I'm Latino. Macho. A cultural thing. That makes me biased - culturally, psychologically - but I think there is revisionist-history dimension to the Weinstien case. And even in that distant past, artists, actors, Hollywood stars have been pilloried unjustly for alleged sexual assault.
William Randolph Hearst wrecked the career of Fatty Arbuckle back in the silent era with alleged sexual assault charges which ultimately were proved false. (Yellow journalism - to sell newspapers).
This whole thing - which also sold a lot of papers and TV ads - has a whiff of (North) American Puritanism to me. And I think America is the land of the Philistines. Is isn't just that Americans don't appreciate art, understand art and artists - which like it or not are a breed apart - but they are openly hostile to art and artists. They love to tear their artists down. And Harvey Weinstein is - was - an artist in his way. He made some great movies.
And then there's hypocrisy: your president is a documented sexual abuser and assaulter who sits unrepentant, defiant - with impunity - as the leader of your country.
1
@Vidal Delgado
You're changing the subject, actually.
Two wrongs don't make a right.
We learned as children, or were supposed to, that somebody else getting away with something doesn't make it OK for us to do it.
1
All those Hollywood movie stars and Politicians are People like Weinstein to me. I will see what is waiting for them.
Harvey Weinstein is a victim at least as much as a perpetrator. This was a homely, overweight, unpopular boy with serious issues about both his physical appearance and his unsightly genitalia. He escaped by living in a fantasy world of movies and dreaming of becoming a Hollywood mogul because that is where dreams come true, and because that was where gross, overweight powerful producers could – by way of the casting couch – bed the ladies who, otherwise wouldn't give them the time of day. He followed his fantasies and acted as traditional moguls had acted before him, trading his favor for the favors of willing women who were ready to do whatever it takes to achieve stardom. This is not conjecture. This is everything we learned from the trial proceedings. There are no innocent parties here. The witnesses for the prosecution seemed more than merely quiescent in their intimacies with Mr. Weinstein, while he clearly took greedy advantage of the sexual smorgasbord that was constantly there for the tempting, if not the taking. It is a travesty to sentence this self-loathing sad sack to 23 years in prison for being an anachronism who spent his life living the stereotype of a 1930s producer and being unable to resist the endless bait dangllng before his eyes.
6
@JJ Gross
Baloney. There are absolutely innocent parties here. And nothing -- nothing -- can excuse violent assault. Plausibly, some of the women Harvey "bedded" were knowing participants exploiting an opportunity. Some were unquestionably young and naive with fantasies of their own and no way to have any expectation they would be abused in these ways. Legally and morally, it's 100% on Weinstein to be able to figure out which was which or face the consequences. Your comment is like saying Stalin got away with it so Putin, or Trump, should be able to get away with it too.
"Unable to resist"? That's the Flip Wilson defense, beyond absurd, and beneath contempt.
2
Harvey Weinstein should be given a compassionate pardon.
His service to humankind may be witnessed through the power of the movies that he, his brother, and his partners created for the world to see and experience.
The world is improvished from the loss of the vision.
Unfortunately, he was flawed.
Of evidence of how deeply he was flawed and how deeply human he is, I suggest that people who HATE him and gloat, listen to the recording of him BEGGING for sex as recorded State of NY.
The top Times Pick in this Comments section claims "rape can be part of a consensual relationship"....
Are you out of your minds?
2
Dirty old man goes to prison for very long time. Good news!
A nice example. Now, how about the banksters, and the politicians bombing other nations under false pretences? I'm sure they caused more human carnage than the despicable Weinstein.
2
I'm glad his "walker" didn't work, or trump would buy a boxcar full.
1
90 women testified - he should get 90 years.
Where were all the victimized actresses 20 years ago? Why did they not come forward then? If even two of them banded together they could have stopped Weinstein from abusing so many others. They stayed silent becausue they were all competing with each other to be in his Oscar bait films. Until women learn how to stand up for themselves and each other in a timely manner rather than playing victim decades later, not much will change. Yes, Weinstein is a pig. But he is not a danger to society or a rapist. The women who testified against him continued to communicate and flirt with him after the alleged rapes in the hopes of career help. He deserves prison time but not twenty years. That is the product of a warped witch hunt, not justice.
21
precisely
4
@Laura Philips Basically, men are physically stronger than women. Physical overpowering is detrimental to the person being overpowered. There are many ways a man can overpower a woman.
Here is another example of a person who screams he didn't do anything wrong. Here is the bottom line. The evidence was presented and a jury, selected by both the prosecution and defense , found him guilty. He was afforded the same consideration, the same justice system, and the same laws as every one else. And he had a very expensive defense team, not a luxury afforded to everyone. AND HE WAS CONVICTED. Time to pound the gavel and say ' Next Case."
4
Justice delayed is not always justice denied. The victims in this case paid the price of trauma and suffering while the convicted, instead of offering an apology, insultingly and incorrectly compared himself to a martyr for his sins. Crime still may pay, but those who brought this 'monster' to bay have earned the right to call themselves true heroes.
5
If any case involving the Statute of Limitations in Sexual Assault cases ever gets to the Supreme Court there may be a recusal or two.
8
@Jan One would hope. But that would require some insight and circumspection on the part of said judges, which I don't believe they have.
5
Agreed, many times over that this man abused his power in an age-old story that needs to end--but I still can't sanction women who went back over and over in order to further their careers. There's a name for that, and it gives women a bad name.
10
Well said.
What kind of woman has a sexual relationship with a man over a period of several years then says that on one occasion, he raped me?
And not just "he raped me" but "he raped me and I went back to him again and again for years"?
Believe the women? No. These women have set back the cause of women to the time when women had chaperones - or to the Muslim belief that no woman should leave her home without a male relative accompanying her.
2
Excessive sentence based on the entirety of evidence. This was a political sentence. 7 years plus financial restitution more appropriate.
10
A product of his generation? Hmmm. I know many a man Harvey’s age, decent men who genuinely love and respect women as their equals. I’ve been raised by such a man.
It’s unfair to say his behavior was common and acceptable to all men his generation. Harvey made his own choices. He had personal issues - an insecure, unpleasant, ugly man, he took his insecurities out on those physically and financially weaker.
Harvey is a product of his own insecurities. Let’s not blame an entire generation of men for his behavior.
44
Now that the wealthy and powerful are being rightly convicted of sex crimes, will they rightly be convicted of other crimes against humanity?
18
Hey Weinstein,
Loved The English Patient, hate the film’s producer.
One thing you never understood; chickens, they come home to roost.
13
Hard to feel bad for the guy. And yet it seems that he was really convicted for being criminally ugly. The cynic in me wonders if he would have ever seen the inside of a courtroom never mind a precinct station if only he had been a little better looking and a lot more charming.
8
That’s funny...what do you have to say for Jeffrey Epstein? Look at where charm and good looks got him.
276 months for Weinstein, but 40 months for Roger Stone (who SPENT at least 276 months lying and destroying peoples' lives and reputations? Aren't they even CLOSE in the eyes of justice? Nope.
Nero must be fiddling again. (Not that the fiddle existed then, but poetic license and all that...) Justice? People have gotten less time for first degree murder. As a friend told me his brother, the lawyer said: "In the next world you get Justice. In this one, you get The Law." He ain't lyin'.
9
@Brion I agree with you that Stone didn't get nearly enough time.
Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson Test positive for Coronavirus.
Weinstein was sentenced. Tedy is in the quarantine. WOWw!
I hope that Weinstein does spend the rest of his life in prison. Considering the lives he has ruined with his predatory attacks on woman, I almost regret my ethical stand against the death penalty.
12
@Jeff With your statement, you do not actually have an ethical stand against the death penalty
Don't think the judge should consider other assaults not proven to have occurred when he sentenced him.
Mike Tyson got 3 years for rape. Weinstein gets 23. Is there a double standard given Me Too?
Careful, careful.
That said, he's a predator and living in jail for the rest of his life isn't the worst thing to happen. He seems to have no moral concept of what he did.
10
Some murderers have received less time? People who are murdered are dead. People who have been raped get to be alive while being dead.
12
Well-deserved sentence
8
How sweet it is. Not really. He is disgusting. The pain he caused is beyond description.
6
So, so glad!!!!
4
Does he get an orange walker now?
7
I'm pretty sure Weinstein was a creep who deserves his sentence.
But I'm also sure that a lot of the #MeToo backlash is hugely exaggerated, and it hurts a lot of men caught in more nuanced situations.
There will be a counter-backlash against #MeToo, in the form of men in leadership positions (and they are the majority in leadership positions) avoiding and sidelining female colleagues. Women will get the "Mike Pence treatment" from now on: interactions will be cold, formal, in hyper controlled and supervised situations only.
Be careful what you wish for; you might get your "equality", and you will really dislike it.
15
@Gabe We have always been equal or even superior, Gabe. Girls are healthier right from the start, and quicker to develop; women are longer-lived and able to create life. Brute force is mens' only advantage, and only when we are unarmed.
3
Perhaps now we can drop the lame walker / wheelchair shtick.
6
"His lead counsel, Donna Rotunno, noted that some murderers had received less time than Mr. Weinstein."
I am a man who has always accepted no for an answer, always.
Mr. Weinstein was and is a cad, a despicable cad. Yet, beyond doubt, he has been subjected to ex post facto justice. The casting couch has been part of Hollywood since I was a young boy, many many years ago. Were the encounters consensual, quasi-consensual, transactions, grabbing a woman's breasts, or exactly what? These instances were not rape as I understand the meaning of the word. I don't blame some of the women for being upset; but jeez, 23 years in prison? And perhaps the women should have been more cautious, especially given his widely known reputation.
Does a man dare invite a woman he doesn't know well to his apartment or hotel room? Suppose she accuses him of this new definition of rape, her word versus his?
Are we going to lock up college students for misbehavior at frat parties? And lock up men who have jilted women who later accuse them of newly defined rape?
Maybe internet porn will become the only safe sexual outlet for men? Where does this all end? Maybe the pendulum has swung way too far.
6
Male students have routinely been arrested for 'rape' that never occurred. Look at the infamous Rolling Stone article that was shown to have zero factual basis. Look at the more recent case where a woman, literally, dragged a male student from a bar and into her dorm room, then accused him if rape. Video cameras at multiple locations showed her to be a liar, and the judge rightfully threw it out.
How many of Weinstein's accusers only got upset when they didn't get the part they expected?
Jail, yes, 20-plus years, ridiculous.
3
@Stew R "Where does it end?" If justice prevails ... doing "time".
The case about Weinstein is not only about female, it’s about certain people can actually have dominant power in Hollywood. If Weinstein wants one certain film win Oscar, it will. It’s basically monopoly. He has so much power he can do whatever he can. We can’t allow anyone, male or female, having this much power in the future.
Jennifer Lawrence, we all know how bad she is as an actress, she got 3 Oscar nomination during the first 6 years in 2010s, 0 after Weinstein fall. Meryl Streep, so close to Weinstein, got nominations almost every single year, so tired of her. They took opportunities away from other talented actresses. If he’s not being taken down this year, Parasite will win best international film only, best director would be Tarantino and best film would be 1917.
We focused a lot on Mee too and feminism, of course it’s important, but that’s not the only crime he committed.
@GoldenCommon WOW, this really took my breath away. We live in two different universes. How you conflate your personal opinion with universally accepted opinion is startling.
Very excessive--and but for the me-too environment he might not have been convicted. Some lesser charge would be appropriate, maybe. If these victims had not kept coming back for more.
Isn't that the key? These--like others--gave in to get some career or financial advantage.
8
@Mike...
There is no environment more misogynistic... homophobic... and genderhobic than an adolescent male locker-room.
If you want to try to mitigate such forms of bigotry... that is where you need to start.
5
Well, he's in a nice private room in Bellevue now still getting VIP treatment. If he were any other person, like us, the prison guards would tell him to "deal" with his anxiety attack. There is a divide and it's discouraging.
15
@John Hay Yes, and a hefty medical bill. $50k plus.
After likening his situation to Hollywood blacklisting during the McCarthy era, the judge should have said, "For insulting our intelligence, I'm tacking on five more years."
29
@mercedes
American Judges don't do the royal we.
1
Who could blame you for liking beautiful woman? Who could blame you for being attracted by beautiful woman? We all are! I am not blaming you for this. Long story short: A friend of mine who was much older told me the story of his old father (in his late 70's) going at the store and buying all those things he did not need just because the lady helping the customers was very pretty and so friendly. We all laughed about the situation and we were telling jokes about the attraction beautiful ladies have on men regardless their age.
That said, the old man at all time was polite and in any manner made some unappropriate comments. This is how birds in the nature try to attract their female peers, they show their best plumage and try to divert their attention. And there is nothing wrong with it. Sometimes it works but very often it does not work) and life goes on.
Harvey, you are a pig. Not a human not a bird just a pig, Justice has spoken and we all feel the same. You are a serial rapist and used your wealth to abuse woman.
I have a one year old daughter. As long as I can breath, I will do everything to protect her from abusers like you.
Thanks to the justice, you will be behind bars and no longer a treath
Martin
18
Why do people keep saying HW was "a product of his times," etc. Yes, many attitudes about gender and sexuality were different in the 1960s and 1970s, but rape was rape then and now. Harvey was a crude thug then and is now. Don't blame this on a generation.
38
If it's an option, Trump will pardon him.
3
@Camarda: No way. Harvey donated to Hillary big time. Trump and Harvey were not allies.
1
Win or lose in November, I expect Trump to pardon him the day after the election.
3
Trump has no power to pardon state charges.
1
@Always Larry
First, presidents can pardon people convicted of Federal crimes. Weinstein was convicted of state crimes.
Next, Weinstein has a long history of supporting Democrats, including Bill and Hillary Clinton.
BTW: The Clintons were very friendly with Jeffrey Epstein too.
1
I am glad this Judge and jury had more courage than Cyrus Vance Jr did.
Not with this case but with his refusal to indict and prosecute Ivanka Trump, Donald Trump Jr. and others for criminal fraud involving various real estate deals.
His father and Robert Morgenthau must have rolled over in their graves when he flubbed those cases.
13
I hope they keep Weinstein in jail while he's appealing... that's the next refuge of money and 'connected power' this rat will try. Let him appeal, but keep him locked up in the interim, and credit his time served if he wins the appeal. Anything else is corrupt.
11
Trump's next.
15
Yay. About time.
11
Harvey claims all sex was consensual ? Did that beast ever look into a mirror ? Consent is out of the question .
16
Yes! Just justice is served. Even Harvey’s brother Bob Weinstein thinks Harvey is the lowest of lows.
Thank you to the judge for the appropriate sentence.
12
Good.
8
An 8 to 10 year sentence would have been more appropriate but the people were howling for blood and the Judge gave it to them.
The prison system should not be an instrument of retribution. That is a medieval concept that has no place in a modern society. Its goal is public safety and prisoner rehabilitation.
A shorter sentence would achieve both.
5
Weinstein seemed to be trying to claim, not very convincingly, that he's really, really sorry and he'll change if he's given a second chance. But he's had 40+ years of second chances already (one of his 90 known victims reported he assaulted her in 1978). That's enough.
20
I’m looking forward to Trump losing the election in November and being hauled into court in New York to be held accountable for his lifetime of corrupt and criminal behavior- sexual assault included. Here’s to seeing Trump spending the remainder of his life behind bars.
38
Such an important outcome. I hope it puts all the other current and future perpetrators on notice: you *can* be prosecuted and you put your freedom at risk. Women are at last connecting with one another to gather strength, step out from the shadows, speak up and confront the intimidation and outright assaults that have been overlooked or minimized for time immemorial. It will never be easy, yet... Time. Is. Up.
14
Sadly it still seems to take multiple female accusers before they are taken seriously.
5
Odd logic. We have 50 plus GOP senators arguing daily for Trump's lies.
Does that make them true?
Cases need facts.
1
Ransom writes that Weinstein "likened his experience to that of Hollywood figures blacklisted during the scare over communism in the 1950s."
This should not surprise anyone. When I was a prosecutor, I regularly watched in disgust as defendants who had pled rather than face a jury choked at their allocutions, equivocating, back-pedaling, rationalizing--anything to avoid admitting aloud, on the record in open court what they had done.
One that I will never forget involved a man who was there to plead to raping his girlfriend's eight-year-old daughter while her mother slept in the next room. He didn't have the sophistication to come up with Weinstein's disgraceful attempt to invoke one of the most deplorable chapters of this nation's history (my father's friend, Frank Wilkinson, was perhaps the most famous defendant convicted of contempt of Congress, because he pled the First Amendment instead of the Fifth). But the man did spend several, agonizing minutes trying to take the court down the rabbit hole with him, suggesting, as did Weinstein, that somehow the whole thing was a misunderstanding.
I firmly believe everyone is entitled to a lawyer, but Weinstein's counsel argument that he was being unfairly and harshly judged is just too much. Her client's twenty-three year sentence, compared to the collective decades of anguish, self-loathing, and agony he inflicted on scores of women, is generous.
27
I’d like to see some responsibility from the enablers ... the directors and actors and producers who benefited and looked the other way for decades. This was indeed an open secret and the enablers never acted. All those film industry superstars could’ve done much more by saying something sooner and didn’t. How many people could’ve avoided these problems had some of these “superstars” done more and said more. So much neglect by famous actors, famous directors, and famous producers collecting Oscars, while Harvey and others committed crimes before and after the big ceremony.
Hollywood is the bigger picture, the real crime. All the studios, all the enablers, and all the politicians who took political contributions.
Absurd. Ship of fools.
20
Funny. In a NYT’s article about the last meal of death row inmates, it was (mostly) endless sympathy for those poor misguided souls. But here, Harvey is utterly crucified, and on very shaky grounds. And I couldn’t care less about HW.
8
This is insane. If you followed the trial, the accused really had a strong case. At least a-not-totally-100%-guilty case.
How can we not see this as sexual beings? Guys can. At least not the ones using 'feminist' as a ploy to get sex.
The pile-on is despicable now. The same people (most here, certainly) jumping on the bandwagon now are the same ones who would have watched the trains roll to the concentration camps. They are the same ones who would have watched the lynchings. And done nothing.
Even moreso now, any woman, at any time, can levy any complaint of sexual nature against a man AT ANY TIME IN THE PAST, and the crowd will burn him alive. Or lynch, if you prefer that view.
Odd how it appears women were on the opposite end of this not too long ago.
Why do we humans swing from one extreme to the other? Guys everywhere are one accusation away from destruction.
I have no dog in this fight, other than I'm a hetero guy, but not a Hollywood mogul. But I can imagine the position. I can imagine the girls doing anything to advance themselves. It destroys men to think they are criminal now, when women do all the using.
Any accusation, at any time, no matter the prior or post behavior. That is crazy.
Quick thought: since girls can go all the way back, can I sue those who sexually violated me at birth, against my consent. Last I checked, infants cannot consent to circumcision.
Now there is the ultimate crime.
Thanks for letting me speak.
3
Now please be quiet.
44
As putrid as Weinstein is, this whole affair has been more about politics than justice. Regardless, of the nature of the charge against you, as the 23 year sentence shows, a political show trial cannot produce justice.
Whose turn will it be next? It could be anything - maybe accidentally hitting someone with your car. The next example might be you, so don't standup and cheer.
6
I do not understand the connection between a car accident and the crimes the Weinstein was convicted of.
One was accidental and the other was for intentional acts.
6
@A reader
The fact that there is no connection, is exactly the point I was making.
The issue here isn't the nature of the crime, it's the nature of the trial.
Even if you aren't a criminal, a politicized justice system will endanger your liberty, and by extension, everybody else's.
Not lynching rapists is one of the fundamental precepts of liberalism - if Weinstein was a poor black kid, the same people who are cheering the outcome, would have been enraged by this very irregular trial, which totally stretched the normal view of what relevant evidence is.
One's zeal for handing out punishment to somebody we despise, should not be allowed to compromise our judicial system.
1
Trump, Bloomberg, Lauer, Rose, Woody Allen, Moonves, and many others like them are still free. And Bill Cosby is spinning tall tales about his innocence. A true moment of reckoning arrives not just when one face is put away but the whole gang.
13
If the government has the power to put a 67 yr old man in prison for 23 yrs., why not go hole hog & administer a lethal injection? Still better, do neither & divide up his fortune (he must be quite wealthy) among his accusers. Prison is such a waste, & killing is pointless. Prison cells are so Old Testament. I'll bet the ladies would welcome the money.
3
Compensation for the injured would be the result of a civil action not a criminal action.
7
#JGSD. Nope, no prisons in the Old Testament. Stoning to death, however........ (not that I'm advocating that).
2
Nah. He won't even have to launch an appeal. 45 will pardon him. There awaits a special place in hell for both of these men, too.
3
Weinstein faces charges in LA. This isn’t over yet.
3
Personally, I think he’s being scapegoated for all the powerful men that get away with it. I think it will appease people for awhile and then on appeal it will be lowered. The judge shouldn’t have said he was being sentenced for crimes he wasn’t convicted of. Why say such a thing? It makes him look heroic but actually he helped the defense on appeal. I’m not a lawyer and I can see that.
9
@Tim Phillips
Right, like me, you're not a lawyer. It is however well known that there are explicit rules that permit courts to consider crimes that weren't prosecuted in determining sentences. If the judge followed the rules, this won't help the defense on appeal. What you "see" isn't there.
1
Although this sentence doesn’t undo the pain, violation and shame Weinstein’s victims have suffered, I hope it helps them on the path to healing. I hope they also know that by coming forward they have helped change the culture in the US and protect other women.
14
@Michael
How about the women who claimed they were raped and then went back to Weinstein again and again over a period of several years?
Could we assume that they were healed and that's why they returned to him over the years afterward?
1
This story is a bright spot in our current sea of bad news. Thanks for the pick-me-up!
Have fun rotting in jail, Harvey.
21
But what about "us"? The unseen women who have endured years of such "behaviour".
We are not famous. We work in offices, hotels, restaurants, schools - basically, we are everywhere.
And we have all been degraded. Insulted, if not assaulted.
Does this sentence change anything?
14
I hope it at least confirms to these abusers that what they are doing is horrendous and that it also makes them think twice about the lesser but also painful consequences they may face.
7
Yes. It holds a monster accountable for his decades of raping women and ruining their careers and life.
5
Can Trump commute a state court conviction?
Birds of a feather and all that.
2
Yes, some murderers get more lenient sentences than Weinstein. But rape is, in many ways, worse than murder...ask the survivors who suffer day after day, year after year from a single attack. Some “murders” are justifiable manslaughter...rape is never justified in any context.
The fact that Weinstein is 67 and in ill health garners no sympathy from me. Do the crime, do the time. If he spends the rest of his life in jail, well he got away with these crimes for over 20 years...too bad he wasn’t convicted as a younger man.
12
Going against the flow here, I am very concerned that this sentence is influenced more by politics and political correctness than by provable facts.
It is totally clear that Weinstein was a creep who had his downfall coming. But was what he was doing good for a life sentence (because that's what it is)? I don't think the facts stand up to that.
We know very well how false memories are formed by now. In the 1990s lots of men were convicted as child molesters based only on implanted memories. Only to be found out later to be innocent and shrugged off by society. That not acceptable in my book.
You can bet your firstborn that the memories of rape became exaggerated by the amplification bias of the #MeToo movement. In the end, they were probably borderline events: Not punishable by the standards of the time, inflated by the standards of the present.
I see the same stampede happening now with the coronavirus panic. And no, I am NOT a Trump supporter. I want Trump to clean up every highway from NY to LA together with Harvey Weinstein for the rest of their lives.
But life in prison?
The case has not been made.
5
@Captain Nemo If 90 women over 40+ years coming forward isn't enough to say "superpredator" to you (and you can be sure there are many, many more women who did not find the courage to step into the fray), I don't know what would convince you that Harvey Weinstein needed to be put away for life. The damage done is incalculable.
19
@Prudence
That is what all the good people said about the witches of Salem...
2
@Captain Nemo Oh, you are not "going against the flow" at all. As soon as I saw the sentence, I came here to see how quickly there would be posts from the poor confused men who "can't even give a woman a compliment," who "can't hold a door open," who are "so CONFUSED" about what is "flirting" and what is rape.
Nope. You know. You know.
15
The doctor (Conrad Murray) who killed by his negligence MIchael Jackson got 4 years, just for a comparison. Sentencing in USA is just strange sometimes.
3
The casting couch has sexual abused men & women for as long as I have been aware of.
Tales of men who are currently in the movies were sexually abused in their young lives. Boys were passed around the Movie Industry for ages. I personally knew a 15 year old boy that this happened to.
A totally disgusting profession for the most part. Watch only animated movies.
3
@GARRY
Watch only animated movies?
Seriously, this is your take from ALL of this?
How then would you describe the [off-screen] death of Bambi's mother?
1
@Flower LOL!!
1
Good!!
3
Interesting the Weinstein graduated from a walker to a wheelchair, especially on sentencing day.
Such a bad actor. I would not be surprised if the Judge saw right through that shame.
He had previously requested and hoped "heavy therapy and counseling . . . to resurrect himself with a second chance" and yet, not once has he ever apologized to the many women he hurt and whose lives he has ruined and scarred for life.
I firmly believe the only thing he is "remorseful" about is being caught.
So very relieved Justice James Burke throw the book at him.
20
Were it not for the fact that Donald Trump is currently pretending to be a president, he’d be in the same predicament that poor Harvey is in.
You can’t put it off for ever Donald, at some point, you’re going down just like Harvey. Deal with it.
14
@Doremus Jessup
Meanwhile, 65 million people were more than willing in 2016 to put Hillary Clinton and her predator husband Bill back in the White House.
But... Trump.
3
Weinstein’s comment “We may have different truths,” speaks volumes to me. Powerful men, and women, who have gotten away with exerting their power, repeatedly, can’t admit when boundaries were overstepped. Weinstein justified his abuse in his own mind to survive, and is now having to face a new reality. And the only way he can admit what he did is paint himself as a victim. It’s really rich.
11
It is of course a bellwether case. And the discussion will lead to how many women's lives he took from them, regardless of their mortal survival. Sexual assault in any form is a deadening of the soul--the Court will not put it that way but that's what it is. Yes, there is recovery but it's not a two way street. It does not take two persons to do the damage. Only one.
9
Hate to say it but that sentence is obscene considering there are murderers who do less time. Plus the fact that there was clearly evidence that stated otherwise. And to say that there was not political and social pressure on this judge is an outright lie. To say nothing of the jury. They had to convict him on something - the social and peer pressure was unbelievable. Weinstein was the sacrificial lamb for the #MeToo movement and it ain’t over by any means. The witch hunt will continue and every spurned lover or angry divorcee can get their revenge under the #MeToo guise.
7
Rape is, in many ways, worse than murder...ask the survivors who suffer day after day, year after year from a single attack. Some “murders” are justifiable manslaughter...rape is never justified in any context.
The fact that Weinstein is 67 and in ill health garners no sympathy from me. Do the crime, do the time. If he spends the rest of his life in jail, well he got away with these crimes for over 20 years...too bad he wasn’t convicted as a younger man.
8
23 years should be enough for Harvey to recognize that he is not innocent.
4
I expect that is what Trump will do when he is convicted too.
4
1978 was his first rape? If my addition is correct, he's 67 which means he's been habitually raping women for 42 years? So he began raping at age 25?
So some justice will be served if this guy goes to jail for two decades. But is it enough? What a shame that the "people" who control Hollywood let him get away with this - and would STILL be letting him get away with this - if they could!
Methinks Los Angeles is due for a boatload more prosecutions.
11
Justice will really be served when tough guys who are convicted of rape must serve their sentences out in general prison population. Taxpayers can save money too.
4
And Donald Trump is intouchable as rapist , as well as his friend Allan Dershowitz who had sex with minors !!!
Justice for all, or anarchy.
6
Rose McGowan put it best “it’s as if raping women was his profession and making movies his hobby”. Thankful this serial rapist is off the streets. But by no means did he perpetrate these crimes alone. His enablers, supporters and beneficiaries of his largesse deserve punishment as well. This is just the beginning.
13
Ok Donald, you’re next. You can’t hide in the White House forever.
6
He's not hiding. Nobody has ever, ever, filed a criminal complaint against him for rape.
4
This might give the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave in DC pause............
3
Can anyone explain how it was lawful for the judge to consider prior alleged but unproved offenses in sentencing the defendant? Didn't the U.S. Supreme Court hold that it unconstitutional?
7
“There is evidence before me of other incidents of sexual assault involving a number of women, all of which are legitimate considerations for sentence.”
I'm shocked that this is true, which I have to assume it is. How can evidence, which never passed the scrutiny of a trial, be used to justify a longer prison sentence? Did Weinstein get the chance to rebut the evidence?
This is frightening.
7
These are your leftist courts !
3
@Chris D Evidence is evidence, and in light of the conviction by a jury of his peers, the evidence available to the sentencing judge gains more salience. Judges are supposed to consider all available evidence at sentencing, not just what was presented to jurors.
I am continually amazed at how ignorant Americans are of the legal and political system that has such a large impact on their lives
12
@Chris D
More than frightening!
Terrifying!
It seems like reliving the Salem witch trials.
This will enter the annals of the American Justice system as a dark chapter of political correctness lynching by the court system.
4
I work in a hospital. I have never encountered ANY patient who actually required a walker to be able to pick it up as he did when stepping up over the curb as the news outlets showed as he arrived for trial. The man got what her deserved from this trial and hopefully will be convicted in the west coast trial as well.
12
The case is not over, and he will likely prevail upon appeal because of the blatant appearance of prejudice. His lawyer nailed it-murderers get less. And no, women who exploited their relationship with Weinstein even after the acts for which he was sentenced, and then demanded money for their "suffering," are not more important than murder victims.
The NYT will dance around this fire for quite some time, but our legal system is based on more than feminists proclaiming that they are special victims more important than everyone else.
14
And thus you demonstrate the attitude towards victims of sexual assault that created the atmosphere in which such assaults occur, and have occurred for centuries, perpetrated by men in positions of great power. My feeling is that if you, or any females in your family, were the victim of monsters like Weinstein, you would agree that a 23 year sentence for the perpetrator is totally appropriate.
12
@Chris M The fact that there are murderers who get less has nothing to do with this. The maximum allowable sentence (which he did not get) is not determined by prejudice, it is determined by statute. This is what the state of New York considers just punishment for the crimes he has committed. There is no blatant prejudice or reversible error here; his sentence will stand.
12
He appears to be walking too briskly for one who uses a walker. I question if it's used to be housed in special prison unit.
9
Yes, he was a predator and a serial abuser. But I don’t get people asking what is he “confused” about. I didn’t follow the story but I read some. The victims would message him after he raped them how much they loved him, how much they appreciate him and thanked him for everything he did for them, and one even told him he was her soulmate. Over and over for years and years. What he did says a lot about toxic masculinity and power. But what does it say about the women, that they would repeatedly reach out to their rapist and fawn over him because they wanted help with their career. Not blaming the victims for his sickness, but I feel that is a big part of this story. Maybe that’s what “confused” him.
12
@simona With all due respect, as you said, you didn’t follow this story. Read a lot more; listen to Cy Vances press conference shortly after the verdict was handed down. After that, I am certain you’ll understand the outcome better...as well as why the women had ongoing relationships with HW.
2
People submit to those in power because they often have little choice. And the need to continue to pander to an abuser is part of what makes recovery from that abuse so difficult.
"Yes, you raped me, but you run the mill. Without you I have no where to grind my grain into flour for market. Without a product to sell me and my family will become destitute and lose our land." In such a case, are you really surprised by the victims response?
It amazes me that people do not understand power dynamics and how easily power becomes abuse, and how quickly the abused feel they have no choice but to submit. White males seem to have a harder time understanding this than other groups in the USA. That is not an excuse, I am white and I get it: It is an observation.
7
What a pathetic excuse for a man Harvey Weinstein is. Even in the moment of reckoning he's a cowardly dastard trying to play the victim card. He's beyond disgusting; and I find his defense team equally repulsive.
We will never know the true depths of despicable behavior this man engaged in; 23 years in prison sounds just about right in my opinion. There's no reason that he should ever experience another day of freedom in his life, regardless of his purported health issues.
13
A good many working for him were his enablers (well, that's one word for them. They seemed to have provided more than marketing services). I wonder if they they have since removed MiraMax, and the Weinstein Company from their resumes.
Likely , they have taken the Sgt. Schultz defense.
9
Hip Hip Hooray!
5
Harvey we hardly knew ya...we were blessed
3
Not a day too long.
6
Now it’s time for the impeached one to answer for his crimes against women.
11
Dershowitz is not liking this at all. Nor Prince Andrew and Bill Clinton.
The ramifications of ones past proclivities will catch up.
14
Women, does Harvey Weinstein in any way resemble the rapist of your teenage imaginations - the one who lurked in the dark as you walked home and who might slit your throat if you resisted? Does he really? 23 years seems harsh to me...
4
The rapist you describe has to do more with movies than real life. And because he did not jump on women in the dark and slit their throat he does not deserve 23 years? Are you serious or I’m missing the humour here?
7
@Xplz The rapist of your imagination has nothing to do with the reality. The rapist is that popular boy in school who thinks he can get away with anything, it is Uncle Charlie, it is your coach, it is your... The really big problem with almost all rape (and other sexual/physical/mental abuse) is that it is not a stranger, with whom there is no trust to break, but rather just the opposite.
13
@Xplz, rape is rape. It’s invasion of your body _without_ consent. And Weinstein did this to woman after woman after woman without consequences. Or do you think rapists have to all look alike?
7
Civilized way of handling the matter of Weinstein's guilt or lack thereof, since there was no one else present except himself and the "victim,"and one is presumed innocent until proven guilty according to our Bill of Rights, would have been to condemn him to community service, like cleaning out public latrines for the next 10 years or so.This was the price that John Profumo paid, willingly, for having molested Christine Keeler and Mandy Rice Davies when he was war minister under Macmillan in the early 1960's.All of Weinstein's female victims emerged from the courtroom smiling, no doubt thinking of the huge financial payoff awaiting them!"Elles y voyaient leur interet!"But apart from the rape, which was inexcusable, most women, my hunch, were thinking then of a "qui pro quo:"To allow Weinstein to fondle them, or ask them to watch him as he pleasured himself in the shower in return for a huge financial payoff and a chance at a movie career, seemed to me that "le jeu en valait la chandelle(the game was worth the candle)!"While teaching French at Ecole Nationale des Instituteurs"in Boke, Guinea a decade ago,had a colleague who had 4 wives, thus was a polygamist and his justification was that had he not married them, they would have become prostitutes, which was not false ,since unemployment rate was well over 50 60 percent. We Americans are a spoiled lot!
1
Maybe there is hope that Trump will be held accountable for all the women he has rape, assaulted, groped and harassed
7
Then how come nobody has ever filed a criminal complaint against him for any of those things?
2
I was shocked and pleased, then shocked at my pleasure in hearing HW's sentence. It was the least he deserved. Many years ago, as a young man, I served as the jury foreman in the case of a woman who had been raped by her boyfriend. Her testimony and terror haunt me to this day. It took great negotiation, but we did finally convict her attacker. I applaud all survivors of sexual assault and especially those who may gather the strength to pursue justice.
13
Glad to see him, Bill Cosby and all these other creeps having their wheelchairs, canes, walkers and other visual props to elicit sympathy utterly fail in court. These guys were determined predators and it too bad that our P___y-Grabber-in-Chief remains at the role model for millions of young Americans.
11
Harvey Weinstein,
You compare yourself to blacklisted writer Dalton Trumbo? You're no Dalton Trumbo. You should get another 10 years just for saying that.
15
It’s the final seconds of the game. The quarterback steps out of the pocket. He tosses a Hail Mary and the end steps behind the last defender. It falls right into his open arms...but he drops it.
Although he isn’t hurt...the disgraced end lImps heavily off the field. LOSER’S LIMP...have pity on me.
Harvey Weinstein and his walker, bent over with an ill fitting suit, a seven o’clock shadow... the pitted face.....the so-called cardiac procedure...
Harvey....you did it.....LOSER’S LIMP
4
Weinstein invokes the memory of Dalton Trumbo in his own defense? What a shameful farce. Better to sit in silence than to open your mouth and remove all doubt concerning your stupidity and lack of remorse.
5
Good.
4
Bye, Felicia.
6
This is the best news I've heard all day. Finally, justice for those he thought he could rape, molest and abuse with impunity. Sometimes, although rarely, the rich and powerful have to pay a price for their behavior.
9
I hope someday Trump will be held accountable for his crimes against women, his corruption, tax avoidance, the whole nine yards. It probably won't happen but I can hope.
16
Although Weinstein was to the end unrepentant for his actions, I hope these women take solace that this Judge acted on the sentence recommendations.
4
This rich, bold predator had been tolerated and protected for many years because of the power he wielded.
Now, when he gets driven to his new location, there will be no assistants to carry out his bidding, no lattes from Starbucks, no lavish dinners or posh hotel rooms and fluffy terrycloth robes.
Let's think about how different his life will be...until he gets out.
2
Mr. Weinstein got what he deserved. He was a predator and even to the bitter end, he didn't admit guilt.
The saddest part of it all were those who enabled Weinstein, who looked away, who turned a blind eye: Miramax employees, powerful agents, producers and fellow actors. They are as guilty as Weinstein, but they have skirted justice
7
Frankly, I’m astonished Donald Trump hasn’t come out in his defence.
2
Bravo! Justice was served. End the Patriarchy!
1
...an yet our POTUS that brags about groping women on camera stays in power...thanks Mitch & Co.
5
False Profession
Harvey Weinstein would have to be an internationally acclaimed tenor to get away with his abusive behavior towards women.
1
That’s one virus we have successfully banished!
Many thnx to the NYT and to Ronan Farrow for their relentless pursuit of this story. Weinstein used extreme intimidation, not just to the women but also to journalists, to suppress his behavior going public. He was very aware that his behavior at the very least was scandalous and would hurt his business and interests. He’s a pathological liar, psychopath and an ego maniac. He is always a threat to the public no matter his age or illness.
8
Please remember this was about power and control, not about sex. Weinstein was the gatekeeper for actresses and actors and enjoyed that power and abused that power. Rape and sexual assault are not about the sex, they are about difference, power, discrimination and control. I'm so glad to see that he got a long sentence. He knew what he was doing was wrong but thought no one was more powerful than him and that it would never catch up with him. Well, it did. Yeah!
10
A famous man got convicted, by fame seeking woman, well after the fact, of sex crimes. The main message this sends is that there are different standards of justice for different people, and if you are a marginally famous woman you can mount a prosecution that no average woman has access to, and no lawyer or court would have an interest in. It says to truly voiceless women, who have no privilege, who are the victims of sex crimes that they matter less---because they would never have the ability to get this result in court.
As deplorable as Mr. Weinstein is, and as disgusting and devoid of character as I think he is, this was a sad day for justice. The moralizing hysteria that surrounds this case and this trial by the media is not progress. It’s amazing liberals are so obsessed with Trump eroding our liberties, yet they are willing to put up with lynchings like this---you haven’t beaten him, you’ve joined him.
5
Atty. Rotunno is an embarrassment to her profession. Her despicable client is still fussing over how many aggressive sex-crazed men are being recognized as rapists. He is "remorseful" but "confused" about what he did that was wrong. She called the sentence "obscene."
"Obscene" is what her client has spent a lifetime doing to women in the workplace. "Obscene" is a lawyer whose vision of fairness includes a slap on the wrist for her client's years of abuse and mistreatment of colleagues.
The judge and jury got it right.
9
While the despicable predator deserved the sentence, the basis was a blow to democratic rights, which does not advance women's rights. It is unjust and dangerous to allow any judge to sentence anyone on allegations of crimes for which they have not been convicted. While I have no doubt Weinstein is guilty of the many more rapes and abuses he is accused of commiting, that cannot be the basis for any sentence, even for the ilk of Weinstein. Millions of poor working people are railroaded to jail and serve disproportionate and unfair sentences longer than any nation on Earth. No freedom struggle for rights and dignity has ever been advanced by demanding fewer democratic and civil rights. Women's rights will be defended and extended by confident women who will defend themselves and use these democratic rights. Even monsters must be accorded these same rights, or we all lose.
2
Ah, I know, Trump can pardon him.
no, he can't. Ask a fifth grader to explain why to you.
7
From Weistein’s statements, he still doesn’t get it.
2
How long before Trump pardons him?
Well-deserved justice. Now if they can get Maxwell, Prince Andrew, Kavanaugh, and Trump, among others, we could call it a sea change.
18
Hip, hip, hoorah! Finally, we see some semblance of justice which has seemed to elude women in case after case. Long overdue, and I hope it sends a stark message to those men who have been getting away scot free for so many years. Your time's UP!
7
Thank you, strong women, for bravely stepping forward.
23 years: tax money well spent.
6
Hoards of men went along with him, and encouraged his behavior. I would like to see some of them stand up, show remorse and provide other men with an educable moment. This needs to happen.
4
He said he was “totally confused,”
It's actually quite easy to understand Mr Weinstein. If a person is afraid to refuse you it's not consent.
5
Justice? Really? He got 23 years for what he did to a few adults. Good. But what about everything we now know about the catholic church as an institution? My god, that's about kids being raped by the TENS OF THOUSANDS that we know of for sure in courts all over the world, including an extensive cover-up operation that's still going on. The massive extent of it all is itself completely indefensible.
23 years for Harvey. What would comparable consequences be? At least we got a few good movies out of Weinstein.
4
Is one crime worse than the other?
I don't think so. Any adult who has been raped would agree.
Both crimes are tragic and the criminal is abhorrant.
Weinstein did not rape children. He raped women. Abused his power. And now he is paying for it. 23 Years for the State of New York.
Different crimes. Not to be compared. Both receiving their social justice.
Very well done. I devoutly hope Prince Andrew is next.
6
Mixed emotions on this sentencing. Sure Weinstein used the casting couch liberally but why didn't his defense counsel produce starlets that would couch for his support??
Instead, a long list of wannabes who represent a scant percentage of hopeful starlets that aspired to greatness at a known cost.
So here we have another case of seemingly extenuating sentencing terms that are clearly so politically skewed as to undermine the premise of Justice.
Weinstein is this decade's sacrificial offering. Not that he's not deserving but how he arrived to his end.
I would imagine that his attorneys will be taking a hard look at this judge's sentence renderings for more incisive looks into his previous decisions.
In time AI will replace the oft frivolous and unfounded decision making of judges and a system that is errational and ambiguous.
As for Weinstein, he has so many memories to keep him warm and smugly satisfied over his last years......Hooray for Hollywood...
2
100+ years of the casting couch, that grand American tradition, finally someone is going to jail.
3
He won't be using that walker in prison. He'll suddenly be quite mobile.
3
Harvey was enjoying himself at a nightclub just shortly before his trial started.
That's all you need to know.
19
@baba With or without the walker?
2
I don't consider this to be a fair sentence. It would seem that the judge has indeed given in to pressure, and if I read this correctly, increased the term due to accusations from other women, but those must be ones that were not proven against him so I'm sure his lawyers will use that.
If the justice system purports to be a fair one then these crimes must be treated fairly and appropriately.
8
A fair justice system would have imprisoned Harvey decades ago.
9
Sure. Because the hallmark of a fair justice system is imprisoning people before anybody has filed criminal charges against them, right?
1
Thank God, finally.
Weinstein's, "I'm confused," shows he does not understand what he did.
3
Please promote this story more. His actions and the dedicated reporting on them mean that we should be thrilled with this ruling.
3
How long will it take for prosecutors to take the next well connected predator to trial and how much damage will that creature will be allowed to do before that happens? Those are serious questions and the answer to them will determine whether this is a change in prosecutorial and law enforcement behavior or just a storm in the teacup.
4
This is a watershed moment which will be recognised for its full gravity in years to come.
The bravery of the women who spoke up (starting with Rose McGowan whom we just acknowledge) despite their trauma and the failings of the justice system; the sight of the brave women walking into court and sitting together in solidarity - sometimes holding each other, crying but resolute, is more powerful and will be more enduring than the legacy of the fallen mogul's Hollywood career.
A once powerful man has today been held to account for his crimes and the sentence he received is appropriate. All he had was a pathetic attempt at playing the "confused" victim which is the standard playbook of the abuser to elicit sympathy.
Now onto LA. With 23 years to serve, It is not the additional years he may be sentenced to which are the most important, but the process of justice, of being held to account, which, if he is found guilty again, will make today's moment resound even more powerfully into the future.
No-one is immune to justice! I hope that makes abusers and would be abusers think twice. Even more, I hope it gives strength, courage and solace to survivors and victims of sex crimes, wherever they may be.
In a strange way, the convicted rapist's fame may contribute to the process of collective and individual healing for abuse survivors all over the world. Even the producer "King" of Hollywood was not immune, he got caught. The harder they come, the harder they fall, one and all.
15
Harvey Weinstein , Bill Cosby and so many others got away with their crimes for decades because prosecutors didn't prosecute. New York's Cyrus Vance and many other prosecutors should be fired for their inaction. The cases for which Weinstein was prosecuted were not strong but many in the past were very strong but the prosecutors did nothing
15
This is a sign of Justice emerging, started by a rumour spreading where someone had the courage to put a career on the line and stand up with the accusations. The residual impact on the 100 or potentially exponentially pore victims will be enormous and life long. Not just for the physical trauma but the mental trauma of being avoided but such a powerful and physically abhorrent swamp monster.
Why doesn’t this plot translate when it comes to the Whitehouse? Plenty of rumours have been buried there.
8
The article doesn't mention his sentence[s] as being 'flat' or determinate. Since he is a first offender does that mean he will or will not be eligible for parole after 7 to 8 years. Could any reader clarify this?
5
Keep your eye on the ball.. he can avoid jail in an appeal as long as he appears to not be a threat and his lawyers think that he can overturn the conviction.
6
So he and his lawyers thought that a walker and a wheel chair produce a light sentence?
8
To many it may be a harsh sentence, to other not enough. It is what it is. The important thing here is that he did not get away with it as he was used to. Also it sends a powerful message to all the predators out there. Women are not going to be silenced any more. Beware college rapists who have been protected by their parents and college authorities because they are “so young and just starting their lives”. Beware powerful rapists in business and industries who have been protected by the authorities because they are rich and/or hold “important positions” in such fields. Beware clergy individuals who have been protected by ecclesiastic authorities and, horror of horrors, by the community because they are also “human beings and have been weak towards the flesh”. Beware all those fathers who think their daughters are “their property and can do whatever they want with them”.
It is sending also a powerful message to the women who have been victimized by these monsters: you need to speak up, you need to denounce, you need to get justice. No more silence.
And finally it sent a message to the authorities to treat a victim of sexual assault with respect and empathy, believe their stories, investigate, get to the bottom of it.
27
Poor Harvey's so "confused." (Isn't that a female complaint?) Just another guy high on power abusing his position. We're used to it.
6
@Sally how is ‘confused’ a female complaint. What a bizarre concept.
2
I'm confused how Weinstein is confused. Was he confused when he used his assistants to bait and switch the women who thought they would not be dining alone with him? Was he confused about all the NDAs he made his employees sign to keep him from getting sued or worse? Was he confused about the unprofessionalism of forced meetings in his hotel rooms?
Weinstein deserves every last second of that sentence. It should have been longer, but we'll take it as a win.
20
He won’t get a pardon, he is a Democrat
@Stephanie So is Governor Cuomo.
I’m sure this verdict is very triggering for all the people whose family members have been murdered and the perpetrator got off much easier than Harvey. My father was murdered in cold blood, and the woman only served six years.
13
I'm very sorry for your loss, and six years seems far too short a sentence for a crime of that magnitude. But Weinstein deserves every second of his sentence, and more.
3
@Simona
I'm sorry for the trauma that the death of your father has caused you. I hope you find a path towards inner peace. Blessings.
1
@Hools Thank you.
I wanted to extend my thanks to the New York Times for making a multi-year commitment to Jodi Kantor and Megan Twouhey and your staff who doggedly pursued this story to publication.
Their accurate research and careful documentation of the facts, along with the Times recognition of the importance of this story has changed the direction of our society.
35
A bit of welcome news among all the rest going on.
Not wanting to tempt fate, nor invoke negative karma ... but it seems a just outcome to a long list of terrible acts -- crimes -- against women.
Expect the appeals process to drag on forever, but for now, at least this much is recorded and in the books.
7
Of course men need to be taught from the earliest age to respect and befriend women and that effort should be global and ongoing.
Such teaching, while necessary, is unfortunately not sufficient. There must be very serious consequences when a man behaves as Weinstein did. Such behavior severely damages not just the immediate victims, but also rips across the social fabric damaging families, careers, and entire lifetimes.
A long prison term is currently the most society can threaten.
With repeat offenders we should go further with punishments which will truly deter most men.
In addition to imprisonment, castration and blinding are two ancient punishments which we would do well to consider in cases such as these.
Modern society is fragile and easily damaged.
Violent and destructive people need to be deterred. The societal cost of their behavior is too great to be treated like grand theft or embezzlement.
5
At the end of this... also extend a very hearty thanks to Tom Cruise. The depiction of that character played in 'Tropic Thunder' also began the seal of this deal years ago. Justifiably in the making!
As someone once told me, in not such deep confidence: "you know... that guy really is the big bug! Completely unfiltered."
Plenty of men do not suffer from Weinstein's "confusion". They do not force or even suggest sexual relations/favours to women who are dependent on them for a job, period.
23
Thanks for this. My now longtime boyfriend was once my boss - and I didn’t have a clue for years that he was interested because he was consummately professional and we got together 10 years after the fact. I’ve asked him many times how he approached his feelings knowing that they couldn’t be reciprocated equally and his answer was “I would never put you in that position”.
There are good and decent men everywhere. Harvey ain’t one.
44
@S North
But it can be noted, that most rapists don’t receive messages from their victims telling him they love him and he is their soulmate and thank you so much for everything you’ve done for me, for years and years.
2
Justice - to the extent possible - has been served. Weinstein will never be able to hurt another woman.
7
Ms. Rotunno’s excuse: “Mr. Weinstein came with the forces of the media and the forces of the world pushing against the chance to have a real impartial jury in this case”.
Ms. Rotunno’s denial: “The victims of Weinstein’s crimes came with the forces of the media, forces of the world and forces of power pushing against their chances for justice.”
2
Magnificent. Just waiting for prince Andrew next.
21
@Claudia
Donald Trump should be next. There's a long line of sexually abused women ready to tell their Trumpian experience.
3
if they're ready to tell it, why haven't they done it already? what are they waiting for? why haven't they filed criminal charges? Think, then type; that's how it works.
Abuse of power is rarely exercised but primitively, brutally, callously. Weinstein is getting what he deserves, and will likely never be free to transgress again. That is simply justice.
12
I feel bad for Mr Weinstein. He is going to suffer way more than his alleged victims, hows that fair?
5
@Anirudh Sharma If you have some idea of working in the US at any time, you will need to change your thinking. And when a jury has heard the evidence and given a verdict, Weinstein’s victims are no longer “alleged”. They have been heard. They were found to be victims by a jury that deliberated carefully and took the time they needed to make their decision.
25
But, Will Trump pardon him?
5
@RLW Nope. It is a New York STATE case. Trump has ZERO standing to pardon him.
2
@RLW There goes the women's vote.
@RLW Rape is a State offence so Trump cannot pardon him. Besides, Weinstein was not one of his donors and Trump would not want to sully his reputation...LOL
1
Weinstein’s fate is a warning to all of us — ordinary people, people in position of authority and influence — to treat others with respect and not take advantage of others. Society has evolved. We can no longer get away with disrespecting and mistreating others. This culture of taking advantage of others has to stop so that we can positively move forward.
15
You’re right. It’s sad these stories are the “wake up call” and not simply that women and children are humans and humans despite gender should be respected. Many of these Weinstein types—the rich and the average joes—are now either practicing or threatening to only be with non western women, aka “man hating feminists”, because of the #Metoo movement. What they really want to do is shift their predatory behaviour to countries where women/children/youth have less rights or opportunities for justice. #Metoo will need to expand past Hollywood throughout the world so the Nygards and Weinstein’s and average joe predators are stopped wherever they go, even if it takes years.
9
@NessaVa
You bring up an overlooked problem--shifting despicable behavior towards women who happen to have more options to those who don't have many.
I had the unfortunate experience of listening to one of my customers talking to an employee about his shift from "demanding" American women to his current "squeeze," an Asian woman he "imported," precisely because she was desperate and therefore malleable. He was absolutely disgusting in every way, and I had to bite my tongue to not rebuke him on the spot.
4
@NessaVa Wow! Thank you, for that information.
And after all this he is still "confused"??
He is, by all accounts, a smart guy. How difficult is it to understand the social dynamics that enabled his predation?
Perhaps he'll figure it out eventually - hopefully before his 23yr sentence is up.
8
Trump is the President of the U.S. and admitted on a videotape to grabbing women by their privates. Why no mention of that?
2
@iain
Because it has absolutely nothing to do with him being a sexual predator. That’s why not.
1
because talking isn't a crime, nobody has charged him with a crime, and he hasn't been convicted of anything. Understand yet?
Trump has nearly as many complaints against him for similar activity. One would hope that once he is out of office the NYC DA broaches that smarmy situation.
32
Certain elements of Hollywood,"Thirty Rock". "Parks and Recreation". have made references to Weinsteins behavior. They though it was funny! Yes, they knew of his behavior and they though it was funny!!! I hope his cell mate finds him very attractive.
12
I would love if NYT did a piece chronicling these references in Hollywood films and tv.
8
@NessaVa, the Law and Order franchise has been taking shots at Weinstein for years.
1
Weinstein got about 3 times the average rape sentence in this case. It seams pretty clear to me that the media attention to Weinstein's crimes has a lot to do with his sentence. Typical rapes cases can cause great physical injury, which should play the biggest big part in the sentence imposed. When a powerful man takes advantage of vulnerable women that's a serious crime for sure, causing great psychological harm. But physical harm is the greater offense and warrants the greater sentence.
13
@michjas. The physical harm is not the worst of it. The physical harm heals. The mental harm and collateral consequences go on for decades, even one’s entire life. Rape is no less harmful if no bruises show — the harm is to one’s core integrity and sense of safety, both of which suffer deep and often irreversible damage.
37
Psychological harm can be more difficult to endure than physical harm!
21
This case is notorious. A lengthy sentence sends a message far and wide, which furthers the goal of general deterrence. A great many people in positions of power will see what has transpired here and think more carefully through their decisions and actions.
12
Wow - stunning. The judge is a very enlightened man regarding sexual assault and adult male/female relationships. That in fact a man can commit a sexual crime against a woman and that same woman continues a consensual relationship with the man and ultimately that man can be held accountable. Amazing.
Such a result was impossible even ten years ago. Remember how gently Jeffrey Epstein was treated in Florida when convicted of crimes against young girls. Though I feel there were secret deals made to minimize his wrongdoings because so many powerful men (British royal, American politicians and lawyers) potentially were involved. We may never know the extend of their wrong doing.
Even in the last few years judges have kept young men with alleged promising futures out of jail after being convicted of raping drunk and unconscious women - talk about lack of consent.
15
Judge Burke,
Thank you for taking a firm, objective judicial stance that other courts and prosecutors have failed to do. You have sent a clear and way-past-due message: This type of conduct should not, and will not be tolerated in our society.
And I would also add that such conduct should not, and hopefully not, be tolerated from either male or female sexual predators.
12
My God, there actually seems to really be some justice alive in the country after all.
21
Harvey will die in prison. It's a screenplay that even he couldn't have imagined. 80 Oscars...Just think of all the people who "knew" and said nothing.
11
@Harley Leiber I'm betting that once he's safely in jail, more people will come forward. Or write a book.
1
He had ample time over the course of his lengthy career to own up, apologize, strive for amends, change his ways, likely do some time in prison/rehab as a younger man and live out his days in comfort. He could have used his substantial clout to publicly get himself straight and use that as an example of positive change for the world. The fact that he thought he was above the law as well as the people he abused just locked the door shut on any chance he'll enjoy the last of his time in this world. Then there is Trump...
7
Ouch. Harvey never saw this coming. He still has a trial in L.A. that will add more time behind bars. One way or another, Harvey will not be eating out for a long time. And, for others, this is definitely a deterrent. Even Trump will shake in his boots from this sentence.
27
I'm confident that this sentence will empower women to accuse men of slights that only they see, only they imagine. I've already been accused of "hurting" someone's feelings because I said, "No, I don't really want to do that." Men, stand up for yourselves.
20
You do not get to define what standards any woman must allow. Chris Matthews is a case in point. Kathleen Parker saw his comments as flirting, setting the bar for herself. Laura Bassett applied the standard she set, as is her right. Thus, Matthews is cancelled. Which is also as it should be.
19
@Arch66
Maybe. But this is not that - we are talking about crimes here. Real brutal crimes.
27
Harvey could not have said it better himself.
35
I hope the world just got safer for women - both because Weinstein is no longer on the loose, but because the case itself was considered a gamble - hard to win because it had a “messy” presentation. The victims stories did not fit the preferred model of rape cases.
I hope this will usher in a new approach to prosecuting rape cases. It’s not just the man lurking in the shadows of an alley - rape can be part of a consensual relationship, it can be coercive, it doesn’t always cause bruising, it doesn’t always draw blood. It is always brutal.
And finally, I hope it truly does spawn a reckoning among men (and some women) about their own behaviors. This would be the most impactful outcome.
Bravo to Leticia James and the SDNY prosecutors. I’m feeling very proud to be a New Yorker today.
668
@Amelia
SDNY are the federal prosecutors; they had nothing to do with this. It was state charges, and the prosecutors were from the NY County District Attorney's office, not from the federal U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York (SDNY).
46
@Amelia I was going to point out same as Steve-O about who prosecuted this case and point out, again, that the Manhattan District Attorney, Cyrus R. Vance had the opportunity to accomplish this five years ago, and passed. The fact that he has been so front and center at this trial has nauseated me. I am glad that New York did get it done and he is going to prison.
30
What behavior by women should those women face a reckoning for?
4
Now behold trump, the self-professed exemplar of morality in contrast! Yes sir, there by the grace of god goes our dear leader with numerous, serious crimes on full display which will almost certainly go unpunished: his rape and sexual abuse of dozens of women, his withdrawal from the Paris climate accord and dismantling of our environmental protections, his complicity in the murder of innocents with his continuing military aid to Saudi Arabia in its war on Yemen, his illegal imprisonment and torture of untold thousands of asylum seekers (including children!) at the southern border, and on and on and on it goes.
10
I wonder how the inmates will receive him?
5
@Broz
They’ll shake him down for money.
@New World
You mean like several of his "victims" did?
@Chris M Wow, you are a class act.
3
May this verdict and sentence serve as a warning to all sexual predators, regardless of race or class. As it has been said, 'nothing constrains power except power.' Finally, the power of the state is being massively weaponized to protect women and children from sexual predation and to train new generations of men in the practice and importance of sexual decorum. May this global fight continue!
13
I do hope that the DA will be emboldened to now go after the enablers (Weinsteins' and Epsteins'). I believe there are a lot more people that need to be held to account.
10
Yes like Paul Tudor Jones, Board of Directors of the Weinstein Group
1
Those were different times - when a wealthy rapist knew he could get away with it. That was the difference - that no one would believe them.
Like the other similarly convicted wealthy predator, suicide would not be a surprise - it's a rational choice when your few remaining years will be spent with almost no control over your life, when your whole life prior has been about controlling everyone around you.
7
Harvey Weinstein got the right punishment for his crimes.
May he live a very long life and every day of his miserable life recall the hurt and damage he wrought on his victims.
This is a death sentence for Harvey. We all know he is NOT coming out of the jail alive. Well, in olden times the sentence for such crimes would have been death by hanging but I like this one better. Let him remember his evil deeds every day of his miserable life and understand what harm he did to these women.
13
A lot of powerful men are going to think twice from now on about sexually exploiting women they have power over.
16
If Harvey Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison for raping women, I wonder what might the prison sentence assigned to Donald Trump for his previous escapades with Geoffrey Epstein and by himself for all of the women who claimed they were assaulted by Trump.
If Trump can't control the Cornoa Virus' impact on the United States economy, his ability to prevent women from tearing up their NDA's is non-existent.
6
The convicted-rapist-and-gutter-weasel's expression "different truths" is a laughable fiction. There is fact, there is opinion, there is belief. His fate was determined by facts and an application of the law by a judge and jury.
5
@AX "Different truths" is a close relative of "alternative facts" and just as dishonest.
4
Can’t wait for the movie.
Spike Lee can direct.
6
That Mr Weinstein is “confused” is clue enough to grasp that his worldview of women is distorted. How can he be confused? Wherein lies the confusion? Was it that he somehow thought molesting, raping and exploiting women was consensual because they didn’t immediately report his wrongdoings to the police? Come on! Put him in a dungeon and throw away the key, already!
7
I do not see any reason--other than pure vindictiveness--for shackling Mr. Weinstein's arms and legs. He poses no danger to the persons charged with guarding him. For the same reason, there is no reason to confine him to a maximum-security prison.
10
Where are other sexy criminals held?
1
That walker act really worked, just not on the right people.
1
If that's standard procedure, what reason is there to deviate from that? He's not special.
9
Think of the resources and the number of lives that had to be put on hold to prosecute a single rapist.
1
@dporpentine No, I prefer to think of it as an excellent long term investment in improving society.
25
Harvey Weinstein must already be losing sleep -- for many reasons -- about his prospects in prison.
3
Now Harvey needs to pay damages to all those women who have accused him of rape, etc. What else can he use his money for with a 23 year prison term ahead of him?
Look for his lawyers to plead mortal infirmity to get him out early. No way he will do all 23. In America, even horrible rich people rule.......one is even president.
3
He should serve his 23 years in Dannemora so nobody hears from him again.
2
I wouldn't be surprised if Trump pardons him.
2
He can't. Weinstein was convicted by the state, not the federal government.
5
The only visitors Weinstein MIGHT have in jail will be men.
After a few years, he'll have forgotten what women look like.
2
He had a good life. why did he blew it?
Trump will probably pardon him.
1
@bill He can't. It's a state rather than federal conviction.
2
It is more than amazing that this went on for so many decades with no one willing to step up to the plate and make a police report. More than 80 women now making allegations. Rape is still rape.
He will die in prison. Maybe he and Bill Cosby can become pen pals and share stories.
Bye Harvey. Have a nice day. We assume you have a lot on your mind like now, including "Wonder what my cellmates will be like?"
And he is reportedly facing a trial in California for cases filed there as well?
Harvey, you can give up the walker now. Nice acting but it didn't work.
7
Great news. Now lets prosecute the other powerful pervetrs and put then in prison too.
7
Don't worry, people. Good ol' Harvey will appeal, and money is going to be helpful.
1
The male dominant power structure in all walks of our society has to change, otherwise, the punishment of Weinstein and Crosby, while justified, will not stop the abuse of women by powerful men. I find the young college women on our campus, on average, are still much less assertive and much less likely to speak their minds, than their male counterparts. As long as this continues, men will always have more power over women and abusive men such as Weinstein will always have their ways.
8
Also not mentioned in this article is that Weinstein still faces likely rape charges in California in other cases. Even if Weinstein lives to be 90, I cannot see him ever getting out of prison.
I'm not defending Weinstein, but 20 years for a federal sex crime?
4
@AACNY
"But" contradicts your initial statement.
Where do you get "federal" from? Weinstein was found guilty in a NYS court of committing crimes under NYS laws.
20
Well, the penalty has been on the books for a while. It’s incredible how as soon as a wealthy or powerful person is convicted, the “tough on crime” crowd wonders why the system is so harsh.
19
@AACNY 23 years, which is less than the maximum of 29. And he was convicted by the State of New York, so he can't hold out for a pardon from Trump.
10
Trump will be the next to fall!
5
He thought sex was “consensual” with NINETY women who said the sex was NON consensual?
If Harvey Weinstein were black and poor he would be behind bars for life.
Harvey got off easy
20
Mr. Weinstein is confused? Once he is moved from the infirmary to his new prison cell and meets his new colleagues everything will become crystal clear.
12
Why it can be done and only later punished? Punishment comes too late. What is needed is prevention. There should be some in-built mechanism in society preventing bad things happening... There must be many responsibilities, of all people around him, who accepted to close eyes, they should be punished too? It took a long "me-too" fight to get justice done, whereas the wrongdoing was known for many, since long.
3
Now women (men and transgenders too)finally will not have to wait until they got their parts, twenty or thirty years after an abuse. No more quid pro quo in show business and everywhere else.
The sentence is completely disproportionate. Quite absurd, in fact.
9
I totally agree.
Should have been much longer, at least the full 29 years.
18
@speaktruth topower,
I agree with you. He should serve 29 years, together with the accusing women who were willing participants.
3
A predator goes down, and none too soon.
Weinstein was known for decades as a master manipulator and abuser. Let’s share this moment with all victims of all of Weinstein’s myriad abuses. The actors who were told: aIf you don’t do X, (this movie, this role, do this nude scene, whatever), “you’ll never work in this town again “, and didn’t. Let’s make this work for everyone.
5
And to think that he cannot even “buy” a pardon from our Fake President who, with his own despicable history of sexual assaults, most likely sympathizes with poor Harvey.
7
weinstein has not been in the rikers' infirmary since his conviction on feb. 25 -- he spent more than a few days at bellvue ...
1
Weinstein is not confused. He just thought his money and power could trick himself out of a conviction.
In the end, Harvey turned out to be a fatuous purveyor of cinematic content, a sexual predator, and pretty much a dunce who could not see the writing on the wall.
23 years sounds about right. I wonder how much he will serve before he dies? I don't buy the addled state and deluxe walker routine.
The number of females speaking out against Weinstein was large. The testimony the prosecution had lined up was daunting.
Don't get me wrong. I am very pleased Weinstein has to face the music in degrading fashion. But you'd think he would have been foresighted enough to spirit a large part of his money into offshore accounts, and live in a country from which he cannot be extradited.
You read about Harvey's legendary chutzpah coming out of Buffalo. About his creating a production company named after his parents. About his wheeling and dealing at Sundance. About his presence at the Academy Awards.
I guess he thought he could get away with anything. Well, Weinstein could not. And neither will this fatuous dunce in the White House.
12
Mr. Weinstein is "totally confused" about what is happening to him?
I imagine that the women who he assaulted likewise felt "totally confused." And far, far, FAR worse.
Sorry to be so blunt, but I am glad to know that he will most likely die in prison.
7
Weinstein is a despicable person, but he did not get a fair trial. Non evidence whatsoever was presented: just the words of the accusers, even contradicted by cosy emails.
This is not how Justice, capital J, works. This is justice out of the Dark Ages, the sort used to burn women on the stake.
12
@Astasia Pagnoni, sworn testimony _is_ evidence.
12
@Astasia Pagnoni
You need to familiarize yourself with the something we lawyers like to call the "rules of evidence." They are codified (that means they are laws) and they tell us what evidence is.
You will be interested to find that sworn testimony (or as you so eloquently put it, "words") --even if they are "accusers"-- constitutes competent testimony.
I hope this clears it up for you.
14
Media needs to remove “non-consensual sex” from the lexicon. It is a fantasy PR term that has been used ad naseum to describe the act that always was, is, and should be known as rape.
16
Who will keep the money from future showings of Miramax/Weinstein movies?
1
While the likes of Weinstein, Moore, Lauer, O’Reilly, Rose, Schneiderman, Moonves., Franken and others get exposed with serious consequences, there by the grace of god goes the self-confessed (ahem) grabber in the WH scot free to wreak havoc on the nation like the way he hypocritically disparages declared victims of sexual assault. This gross hypocrisy is both galling and appalling
7
Fall from "grace"? Good one. Off to LA where his fall will be from less lofty heights if convicted. It is a shame that he can't bunk with Bill Cosby. They seem to have a lot in common and might enjoy each others company.
3
They had better take excessive measures to keep him under suicide watch.
2
@Katrink
Or maybe not...
4
I'm left with this empty feeling that nothing has really happened and enormous time, energy and resources has been spent with subjective results soon to be forgotten. I am NOT saying such is how it should be, only that -try as I might- I cannot conceive of any measurable good coming from the Weinstein and other scandals excepting prestige and enrichment to some; i.e., , other than vague suggestions of support to an unclear cause. I owe and pledge to take a strong stand against male dominance and try and level the playing field between genders in matters sexual and in the workplace. I'm not left with a feeling, however, that this cause has been advanced. PS/ Overhearing a vehement discussion of #MeToo, a male colleague was shouted down by suggesting that at least SOME females -historically and today- game the "casting couch" technique to their advantage and certainly to the detriment of all other women. To be refused the right to allow such to be considered underscores the polarizing status of things.
7
The next Weinstein-like character might think twice about having casting “auditions” behind closed doors. That would be great progress.
3
23 years is a long time to be put away. Weinstein seems remorseful, unlike people like Timothy McVeigh, Bill Cosby, Jeffrey Epstein or Donald Trump. Wouldn't five years have been enough?
3
@Diogenes No. He hasn't admitted his crimes, just expressed general remorse.
6
“He violated my trust and my body and my personal right to deny sexual advances,” she said
Sounds like Trump and Clinton
1
As a "nice guy", it's great to finally see this outcome; his kind of behavior always seemed inherently wrong. What I don't understand is why for so many years society basically said to Weinstein that his kind of behavior was okay, as long as you're successful and bring others up with you. Mr. Weinstein earned those 23 years. It will probably take a few more prosecutions to send a real message to others similarly inclined that thou shall not treat others badly, no matter how much power you have. Let's hope those prosecutions happen, and that the message gets through.
7
NPR quoted a statement from Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr.: "We thank the survivors for their remarkable statements today and indescribable courage over the last two years". He can't describe their courage because he is utterly lacking himself. How many women were harmed after he initially refused to press charges against Weinstein? Vance seems like just another enabler.
5
Lawyers and criminals will do whatever it takes to get sympathy. Does anyone remember the move, The Fortune Cookie? You reap what you sow. To the perp, is this how a good man acts?
The only bad news here is that none of the many, many people around him who knew, helped, or looked the other way will be sharing his cell.
5
He is 67 years old. Picking up the tab for geriatric prisoners is awfully expensive.
I see no reason other than vengeance to incarcerate people past their 80th birthday.
2
It’s only 23 years Harvey.
You can do it.
3
23 and MeToo.
Trump should see himself in this mirror. Same number of accusers over the same length of time.
7
Weinstein has used his power in his business to exploit people to satisfy his personal cravings. He is a predator and a criminal. He deserves the long prison sentence. Whether he should be obliged to die in prison should be determined by the parole board.
I know this is justice served. Bad men in powerful positions deserve to be taken down to the bottom rung and made to start all over again (if you are not completely broken by then, I believe Feinstein is, how could he not? Look at him.).
As for women like Jessica Mann with her "Give me Love" sweater will equally be as difficult as well. When you lose trust you have to start over as well. I suggest women like this read, watch and learn from, yes, Monica Lewinski. Her interview with John Oliver called and what she has done to restore herself is beyond inspiring. What a smart, funny and highly intelligent woman she has become. Watch, you'll love it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yq7Eh6JTKIg (16 minutes into the segment, the whole segment is great).
Why does it take so long for thing's like this to surface?
Well, he had two convictions fro rape. Serious time was appropriate. This definitely send a strong, strong message to predatory men- one they need to hear and fear.
2
Amazing job by Miriam and Jessica, and all of the other victims who came forward to support this prosecution, the lawyers who believed in them, and the journalists who pursued and publicized the story. And to Donna Rotunno and all of the other craven enablers, it's not too late to rethink everything you stand for, but do know that the arc of history IS coming for you, so I wouldn't wait any longer to WAKE UP.
5
He brought a lot of young actress to the level of celebrities . Why actually they were going to his Hotel room or flying on private jet with him. And why suddenly 100 women open up??? Why they did not report abuse in the beginning of their work with him?
11
PLEASE, media, do not try to capture market share with any "exclusive" interviews from prison. Let his story stand on its own and move on.
3
What? It's unbelievable! No outcry from the Donny? No reduction in the sentence length? Oh well, perhaps a pardon is just around the corner.
@Ron Rape is a State offence, not Federal. Trump has no pardon power for State crimes. When/if he is ever convicted of the same the only person that could possibly pardon him would the NY Governor. I doubt Andrew Cuomo would cut him too much slack.
3
The preying of the truly disgusting on the not so innocent, isn't, for most men or women, the compelling story that the #MeToo makes it out to be.
If it was, Elizabeth Warren would be the front runner in the Democratic primary, and Joe Biden would be feeling sorry for himself.
2
Great. One down (two if you count Jeffrey Epstein — down "for good" no less).
Yet the current president of the United States has been accused of rape, sexual assault, and sexual harassment, including non-consensual kissing or groping, by at least 23 women since the 1980s. Where's his comeuppance?
5
At the press conference after the verdict, I was hoping a reporter would ask defense attorney Donna Rotunno, how would you have felt early in your legal career if a senior partner had solicited you for sex, you had turned him down, and it had effectively brought your legal career to an end?
10
Bless all the women who came forward. Am speaking for myself and every “me too” woman in this country who might finally have some impact, and hoping for all women around the globe to get there someday.
6
He's "totally confused" and "really trying to be a better person." Hopefully, the time in prison will show him the error of his ways. If not, oh well!
Usually, I have sympathy for people. But this guy gets none.
4
If I am not mistaken the scales of justice are held by a blindfolded woman, indicaticting that judgement is determined not by the who but by the what crime has been committed.
In this case, as in the opioids case has the blindfold been removed???
1
Let it not be "Club Fed Med" or local equivalent.
1
Well, mainly I want to know if he gets to take his scooter with him. Or, maybe he doesn't need it anymore.
2
I would like to thank Jodi Kantor and Meghan Twohey, for their reporting and excellent book, “She Said,” and Ronan Farrow for his work and book, “Catch and Kill.” They helped explain how someone with Harvey Weinstein’s level of predation could go unchecked for so long. Both books are excellent.
Thank you also to the prosecutors, the judge, and especially the women who came forward. It must have required great strength and courage.
4
Twenty three years for a seventy year old man in bad health is a death sentence, I believe the punishment does not fit the crime. I have been raped and long lasting damage occurs but we keep living, people who kill often get lighter sentences.
5
@mcp
And he will keep living too. Without the luxuries, but with medical care and guards protecting him. Much like his victims who had lives shattered - but still alive - after their rapes.
6
I was beginning to lose faith but it seems we still do carry out justice in this country. Good bye and good riddance to him. Can only hope that other men like him will get the message loud and clear. Your time is up.
3
Recently reading the Torah and beyond, women were worth the bartering equivalent of about three goats. This was not too long ago, about two to three thousand years ago.
Their collective lot improved sporadically in time and place, and in some places today, viz., Afghanistan, it is still largely miserable. I believe history will record and people will remember this day as special for homo sapiens when xx and xy became of equal value.
3
Congratulations to the New York Times for their win -- in this round -- in their long fight against democratic rights, against the presumption of innocence, against the right to a fair trial by impartial jurors, against a standard of "beyond reasonable doubt" standard of proof to protect falsely accused, against statutes of limitations to protect society against "professional accusers."
The losers -- in this round -- are the working class, against whom the enhanced power of the state will be directed.
But this is a multi-round fight. And the interests of the top 10%, which the NYT represents, will not prevail in the end. The working class has yet to even enter the ring.
5
I totally applaud the conviction and, all things considered, the sentence does not seem too harsh.
However, the man came in a wheelchair. Why did he have handcuffs etc? The US justice system is always so degrading, when that is completely unnecessary.
1
@CitizenTM
Because all are equal, and many will claim more debility than they have, and procedures do have a reason. One of the reasons is so the prisoner can't snatch up a weapon to hurt others OR themselves. He is no doubt on suicide watch, and suicide would be a rational act in his circumstances.
2
Good start, 23 years, and who knows what will come out of LA for poor little Harvey.
A new paradigm regarding power be it social, cultural, economic, is long over due.
Can we now start really hearing female farm workers?
2
At the risk of seeming harsh, but on behalf of my wife, sister, daughter, and granddaughters, the man got off light in comparison to the damage he caused to far too many women.
8
If he really felt remorse, he should have admitted this immediately and avoided the trial and intimidating witnesses. Shame on him for begging for mercy now and trying to get influential friends to intercede on his behalf.
3
His “prison consultant”? That alone is a giant emblem of his privilege and sense of impunity.
And it seems as though he STILL doesn’t understand what he did wrong, with his assertion of alternate truths. What a loathsome specimen of humanity.
6
I feel a sense of foreboding: That all Weinstein’s money and power will get him out of the slammer. I’ll be surprised, I’m sad to say, if Mr. Weinstein, who appears to feel very sorry for himself, does actual time.
No doubt Weinstein's counsel will appeal based on something or other. It will be interesting to see what happens.
2
Undoubtedly there will be huge yard sales at Weinstein's various domiciles. Probably pick up some great deals on Hollywood memorabilia, cool statues, posters, props, autographs, photos, champagne flutes, caviar spoons, art, size 48 husky suits and coats, "HW" cufflinks, 'thank-you' notes from stars and starlets, and all sorts of oddball knickknacks. Such good fun!
1
@H. Clark, ugh. Not enough hand sanitizer in the world.
8
What a just outcome. But on everyone’s mind is the inevitability of never ending appeals. The walker didn’t get him the sympathy support he wanted but he’s already successfully traded a jail cell for a hospital bed. So is there true justice?
4
The bigger they are the harder they fall. There will be an appeal, and then another.
Will the world be a safer place? I doubt it.
3
@Don Juan
I wonder on what grounds an appeal would be filed. Possibly at the sentence compared to the crimes that he was found guilty on. But doubt they will be successful.
1
This is about justice for his victims, no t safety. That said, this sentence might make a few men think before they harass or rape a subordinate.
2
Not wishing to be one of those virtue signalers, but...
My two brothers and I were born in the 1950s and 60s, respectively, and none of us ever talk about women in disparaging or sexist terms, nor do we beep or whistle at women on the street. We grew up in the same society Mr. Weinstein did.
Saying "Those were different times" doesn't wash. You're either a pig or you're not, you either treat women as objects or you don't, you're either a rapist or you're not, there is no "I'm confused!"
If a woman says "No" it means no, yesterday, today and tomorrow, yes?
Hard lesson, Harvey...better luck next time. Loved "Pulp Fiction," though.
936
I think of my father, who was born in 1915 and owned a factory with mostly women workers. I NEVER heard him disparage or bully women. He treated everyone with respect. He was old enough to be Weinstein’s father.
Harvey is a product of “the Sixties.” And no, it wasn’t the Stone Age.
95
@Zellickson thank you. My grandfather was the most respectful person in the world -- to everyone -- and the idea that my father would treat women in this manner is beyond fantastical. To say that Harvey is "confused" and a product of his environment is to tarnish all good, upstanding, decent men with the same brush. They deserve better than that.
137
@Sharon
I disagree, Harvey is a product of Harvey.
63
It seems that justice has been served. The law should always be about accountability not revenge. The judge in handing down this sentence has made that quite clear. Harvey is being held accountable for what he was found guilty of by a jury of his peers. There has to be consequences for one's actions if not anarchy takes hold. I doubt that this will send a message to the man child in the White House. We can take some comfort in knowing that all the power & money that Harvey had at his disposal is in the end useless.
So when the NY AG finalizes the case against Trump & takes it to the grand jury it could start a process of him spending the rest of his wretched life in a NY state prison. Harvey has only himself to blame . In his mind he thought he was "master of the universe". This sentence will bring him down to earth. I do not regard the women as "victims". They are survivors who have upheld their right to be treated with dignity. I wish for them continued recovery and a positive future. They showed to all us that the rich and powerful cannot do as they please & walk away leaving behind pain
and suffering.
7
@Concerned Citizen
Wealth and power without limit comprise the heart of this story, not sex, and I too hope this becomes an example. But are there really more people who would stand up to someone in their own field whose support could propel them to success? especially when the abuse was directed at someone else?
What is so stunning about this whole sordid affair is how long the open secret of Weinstein’s horrific behavior circulated in both Los Angeles and New York. Thank you to the brave women who were finally taken seriously, and the journalists who showed Weinstein for the monster that he is by telling their stories, laying the groundwork, finally, for his prosecution.
1688
@Margaret Reilly Stunning because it's an open secret? Open secrets seem to be fairly commonplace now in so many aspects of our lives here and abroad . Open secrets that are harmful and dangerous, but have no consequences. He got got. I don't see it as a sea change.
19
@Margaret Reilly: Including Cyrus Vance, the DA who initially refused to start criminal proceedings against Weinstein when when the first victim came forward years ago.
78
@Margaret Reilly Weinstein is one of many male predators who prey on women and young children. This must be dealt with as a criminal pattern and not as a "stand alone" incident. Will our justice culture adopt a new view of sex crimes? We shall see.
26
I can’t shake the feeling that the Weinstein prosecution will be an instance of “one and done.” He is the scalp the Establishment will waive to show that Justice has been done, that the powerful have learned their lesson and that now is the time for healing and moving on - which is to say, amnesty for everyone else.
To be fair, #MeToo has had greater courtroom success than all the victims of the finance-led Great Recession of 2007-08 where no high level banker or financier was criminally pursued. For those victims, it proved to be “none and done.”
9
IIRC, several of the bigwigs at Enron did indeed serve jail time.
1
@David G. Enron was years before the housing bubble created debacle of 2007-08. But Enron’s collapse brought down the major audit firm Arthur Anderson with it. But my comment still stands, I think.
1
Ronan Farrow shined a light on why journalism matters! I salute him.
33
At least he is showing remorse...oops, it is remorse for the other men who will be impacted by his conviction, wrong party again, loser. He will appeal but hopefully CA and England will continue with their prosecutions for his crimes. When his money runs out, so will his attorneys and he can just be some ordinary rapist fighting the system. But the Hollywood insiders who posed for pictures with him and invited him to their parties created the illusion that he was just a typical powerful guy, rather than a predator.
6
Finally. Now it’s Trump’s turn.
33
Good. Now on to the enablers. Lawyers, assistants, Bob Weinstein, the Miramax Board.
8
@Outta Here Don't forget Meryl Streep!
Next up: Donald J Trump, and his sorry history of treating women as pieces of meat.
Poor Harvey. Perhaps some of his prison mates will have had sisters or mothers who were sexually assaulted. They could provide some additional insights to him on how the rest of us feel about people like Weinstein.
15
If only it were possible to hold Trump accountable for the multiple sexual assaults he has committed over the years. When Oscar Wilde was tried and sentenced to prison in a homosexual scandal, the politically well-connected young aristocrat who was also involved was let off scot-free, because his daddy was the Marquess of Queensbury. Some thought that Wilde's good connections and brilliant reputation would protect him, but alas, as a mere scribbler in the entertainment business, his status was inferior to that of a man who belonged to the political ruling class. Like Wilde, Weinstein did not have enough solid political protection. Trump is fortunate that he's president now. Will his political connections protect him once he is out of office? We shall wait and see.
9
@Allison: Trump wasn't accused of any offense against a woman until he ran for president and the left did everything it could to trash him & stop his election. Same thing happened to Justice Kavanaugh. Michael Avenatti's client-accusers were preposterous, another accuser's claims went down in flames in an NBC interview, and still another accuser later admitted she fabricated her claim because she wanted to help stop Kavanaugh from getting confirmed. What this teaches is never assume as true any allegation made for the first time during a heated & divisive political contest.
1
@Allison I find your comparison between a serial rapist and a man who simply engaged in consensual same-sex relationships pretty disturbing. Being gay is not a moral failing. I trust that was not your intention.
3
This sentence sends a strong message.
No going to hotel rooms with Producers etc...
Hollywood is a dangerous place for young people and especially women. Be on the lookout for sexual predators.
Do not put yourself in a dangerous situation.
Don't let your ambition dictate your safety.
Good luck going forward.
3
@P&L
So interesting that you see this as a warning for women so they can learn to behave in such a way that bad men won't hurt them. "don't let your ambition" get you hurt? So, don't be ambitious because then you'll be hurt and it will be your fault?! That thinking would sure keep us right in our place, wouldn't it? Hollywood is a dangerous place for women? Less so now!
9
@P&L
Seems like you missed the memo as you still appear to believe that women are responsible for men's crimes. Troubling. How about this:
-Do not rape women.
-Don't coerce women into having sex with you.
-Do not assault women.
-Sex without consent is rape.
-Sexual contact without consent is assault.
-Obtain affirmative consent.
-Men are not entitled to women's bodies.
-Men are responsible for their own behavior.
11
The opposite is true. The sentence sends the message that it is okey to put yourself in any situation. As long as there are no witnesses, you can always claim that you said no, and send the man to prison for 23 years.
3
I never expected the NYC justice system to do the right thing. This is a fitting end.
Now, let's drag-up every enabler and functionary in the epstein case (including the west palm police department) and shine a giant light on them!
9
I don't believe a word Weinstein says. As someone with 2 ruptured discs, and knowing people with spinal stenosis, I am highly skeptical of Mr. Weinstein all bent over his walker. Everyone I know with a bad back of any kind always tries to stay as erect as possible to put the least strain on the inter-vertebral joints and a bent-over position like that is about as painful as can be. In other words, I suspect he is faking, in part, what is going on with his back.
I didn't believe Bill Cosby, I don't believe Donald Trump, and I don't believe Harvey Weinstein. But only 2 of the 3 are convicted felons.
21
@Dadof2, so far...
4
Looks like wealth and celebrity cannot protect these men anymore. First Cosby now Weinstein. It's taken decades and the suffering of many women to get to this day. This will change the legal landscape for women who have been sexually abused by powerful men. Prosecutors please roll out the lawsuits against Charlie Rose, Matt Lauer, Leslie Moonves, etc. The women are finally being believed!
7
Weinstein represents the Age of Trump so beautifully - a powerful man using his "influence" in such a repulsive reprehensible way. Justice is served...who's next?
9
Finally, justice.
I hope that someday trump will face the same outcome for the same crimes.
15
Before you celebrate or doubt, consider this: Would you feel any remorse or pity for a stranger convicted of first-degree criminal sex and third-degree rape? The answer is almost certainly no. Justice is once again blind. A long sentence is neither harsh nor lenient. A long sentence is just.
7
In these times of unrelenting bad news this is a little ray of sunshine.
7
I cannot even begin to imagine how devastating it must be to be the victim of a sexual attack. Sometimes I feel rape is even a worse crime than murder, given the unthinkable suffering the victims go through their entire lives.
In light of that, this is very good news. Weinstein deserves no compassion. I reserve mine for the women he victimized. May they find some measure of peace and relief today.
10
He ran wild for decades. Cosby too.
Money and power apparently shields.
6
Done. Now we go hunting for bigger targets. Let's Roll.
7
Guess the optics of the walker failed to fool anyone.
9
There is still the risk that with his substantial resources he will wreck petty revenge on those who stood up to him, as it is his modus operandi. His enablers and hirelings (and in particular the covert operatives he used) should be investigated as accessories, not only to protect those Weinstein still wishes to harm, not only for justice, but as a deterrent to the dirty tricks brigades who act with impunity for other abusers.
5
I understand everyone's position here - that HW should be punished due to his horrific acts. but we act as if he is a lone monster, when the reality is that we are all to blame for creating a society that breeds these types of men. when will we start to reflect and ask the real hard questions? it's easy to throw stones. but have you asked yourself today what you're doing to help perpetuate the patriarchy?
7
All good, this meting of justice for Weinstein's victim's. Where is justice for Trump's victim's?
6
Go make some hand sanitizer, Weinstein!
6
He got what he deserved but I hate the thought that we, the public, will pay for his daily sustenance and healthcare till the day he dies.
Can't we both put him in prison and make him pay for the services he receives while in there???
4
Good that he's sentenced to 23 years and will undoubtedly die in prison. Now I hope that stories about him disappear from the news because we have much bigger problems in front of us.
4
"Mr. Weinstein, who was sitting in a wheelchair, told the court that he was remorseful, but also “totally confused” about what had happened to him."
He told the court that "he was remorseful" not because of his heinous attacks on women, but because he was finally caught and punished, and he feels "totally confused," because he was not caught for so long, assuming his acts were consensual and not actually reprehensible and criminal.
4
"The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice."
7
Age of a criminal should never be considered. The fact that Harvey will probably die in prison is a injustice as he will not serve his entire sentence.
4
Should've been given 502 years. That man and others like him deserve what the Justice handed to them.
Now let's clear his assets in civil court.
Let this be a stark reminder to anyone who engages in this grotesque behavior that your turn will come before the judge.
6
This is great news. The women he raped were afforded a modicum of justice with this sentence. I was raped and nearly murdered by a stranger at knifepoint 18 years ago. The rapist got 12 years (reduced sentence for confessing (but w/DNA proof, wasn't confession just a golden ticket to a reduction?) The perpetrator was released after 6 yrs and 6 mos.. My severe PTSD cost me my job, architectural career, my life savings, friends who couldn't deal with my emotional chaos, etc. People have no idea how traumatic rape is, and how lenient sentences humiliate victims even further. Let's hope there's a real change coming.
791
@kmgx25
As I have noted on these pages many times, real change is possible ONLY if fathers teach their sons that women are to be respected, cherished and loved. Fathers must model that behavior. The sad reality is that many men, who today are fathers, were themselves raised by fathers who abused their wives. The cycle can only be broken with great determination and purpose.
63
@kmgx25
I feel for you, sincerely. And applaud your courage to share such trauma. May you find a path to healing.
89
@kmgx25 I am so truly sorry for you. That sentence was a crime. I fell like everyday in the newspapers there are juxtapositions in sentencing I will never understand.
30
The defense attorney urged " the judge to take into account Mr. Weinstein’s fragile health in sentencing, noting that a long sentence would be “a de facto life sentence.”
. . . . . . .
Harvey Weinstein roamed the earth a free man for 67 years, abusing dozens and dozens of women; forever soiling the fabric their lives. A life sentence at this point hardly seem unjust.
15
If Donald Trump is re-elected, justice will be further delayed by 4 years.
6
He says he’s “confused”. The encounters were consensual. Then he expresses “remorse” for women “and men” going through “this crisis.”
These are astounding attitudes.
To label them as ‘entitled’ is as close as I can come to describing what actually is a deep pathology beyond my knowledge.
7
A well deserved punishment.... at least part of the Judicial system is functioning.
5
Will the prison be accessible for his walker or will he need a rascal?
3
I actually believe that he thinks he did nothing wrong. Because he did not jump a woman from behind bushes wearing a mask. Because the culture of 20-30 years ago never questioned this behavior.
To the next Weinstein: It's wrong.
279
@LFK
Sorry, "the culture of 20-30 years ago never questioned this behavior" is wrong. I was fifty to sixty years old at that time, and knew since I was a tad that such behaviour was wrong and abhorrent. Having sisters and daughters was strong confirmation.
Let's hope there's not a 'next Weinstein'.
30
@LFK I think Weinstein's type of behavior has always been reprehensible and criminal. And any sensible person has always know it. I think you are right that the "culture" neglected to question it because rich and powerful men who defined the "culture" claimed the privilege to threaten, harass, demand, extort, bully and force women to do their bidding. But the culture and the men and their victims all knew it was wrong. Dead wrong. Weinstein didn't care whether it was right or wrong. He didn't care about the women. All he cared about was using his wealth and status to get what he thought his wealth and status conferred upon him. The only thing he's surprised to discover is that his victims are strong enough to tell him he was wrong.
30
@LFK
He wouldn't have hired ex spies to harass the women he attacked if he thought he was innocent.
What he thought is that his money would shield and protect him and it did until it didn't.
23
In a country where people can be incarcerated for 10+ years for marijuana possession, 23 years is a drop in the bucket for all of the harm that this one person has brought to others. He deserves life imprisonment, however many years that may be.
13
it angers me that he will likely serve about 1/4 of this, which means he will do about 6 years then get out on some sort of compassionate release program, or good behavior. Too bad this is not Federal, then he might actually do the whole sentence. Let's see what CA does when they convict him of other crimes.
5
An absurd sentence. Just because he is famous.
That is not equal treatment under the law. No one else would have gotten such a sentence with the same facts.
Prosecutors and judges are out of control these days.
5
He is famous because he is powerful. Very powerful. He abused that power. A harsher punishment is not out of line in such circumstances.
14
@Ted George and yet in Paris, Gabriel Matzneff has practiced and promoted his depraved lifestlye for 50 years and has been lauded and protected by the French elite. What would be your suggestion for his prison sentence?
1
He'll have plenty of time to read the NYT comments about how awful he is and the pain he inflicted because of his power trip. No more power for Harvey. Others have power over him now.
7
@Kevin I'm wondering how the conditions will be in terms of how he's kept. I'd imagine he'll be given every comfort under the sun, despite his incarceration.
"Other former employees who were quoted in the memo described Mr. Weinstein as a bully with a volcanic temper who berated people and had physically assaulted workers and business partners, including his brother, Bob Weinstein."
Knowing Bob Weinstein's wife, I was told in 1984 when Desperately Seeking Susan was in production on the Lower East Side with a bit part played by my friend the late Pater Maloney, that Harvey was a very bad man. The bigger they are...I'm glad he will out of the way of others.
13
I take no pleasure in Weinstein’s suffering or the fear he must be feeling as he faces 23 years in prison for sex crimes.
I am very grateful, however, that the judge had the courage to impose an appropriate sentence.
I’m gratified that 7 men on that jury agreed with 5 women that Weinstein is guilty.
I’m glad that the prosecution did a great job and didn’t hold back.
I’m glad that Weinstein’s “walker” and his female lead attorney did not fool anyone into believing he was too meek to be held accountable.
And I’m really grateful that the system seems to have worked in this case.
589
@Scottapottomus
"I take no pleasure in Weinstein’s suffering or the fear he must be feeling as he faces 23 years in prison for sex crimes." I agree, though I have no regard for him.
5
@Scottapottomus Yes. Bravo the judge. Bravo the jurors. Bravo all the people who he hurt and who worked for justice.
10
Our justice system requires that every indicted person should receive legal representation and I tip my hat to those lawyers who feel a moral and ethical obligation to defend odious people. They should not be maligned or criticized for doing their job, as they help ensure that our legal system has the appropriate checks and balances.
With that in mind, my hope is that Donna Rotunno--Weinstein's lawyer who publicly accused victims of being "guilty of a lot of things," taunting them in court, inducing panic attacks--maybe takes some time to enjoy the bucket of gold she assuredly received from Weinstein. Because that's all she gets from this case, which she lost in spectacular, humiliating fashion. Going forward, I doubt very much that other powerful men facing similar charges will bother to seek her legal counsel any longer, as this loss can only be seen as a devastating repudiation of her entire defense strategy.
It's a crushing defeat for Rotunno.
12
Keep in mind that a half-hearted defense would have created a greater likelihood of a successful appeal.
@Norman
Good. Those tactics should result in a crushing defeat.
1
I am a little surprised at the sentence. I certainly agree with it. However I still have little faith in our justice system. HW deserved this and I applaud the bravery of any woman that comes forward and demands justice. I will never have any faith in our justice system until I see politicians sentenced for crimes against our citizens. Kavanagh should never have been confirmed. Trump should have been sent to the slammer by the SDNY long before he even considered politics. Most New Yorkers would agree with me. White collar crime is not victimless. It hurts most Americans who are vulnerable to losing any chance of moving up.
I am not a woman. I could never begin to say I understand what they had to go through. But that doesn't mean I can't be angry. Especially when I know there is someone sitting on the highest court in the land who should also be in jail. Get rid of the Republicans in Congress. They are complicit in putting a morally bankrupt man on the bench. I for the life of me cannot grasp the logic of any woman that can look at Trump and think he isn't a molester of women. He has admitted it!
Women Trump supporters who simply over look his morally corrupt background do nothing more than accept subjugation of a world population larger than the male population. This is my opinion. I am not a feminist. Just a man who grew up with parents that weren't perfect but taught me to respect women always until they would give you reason not too.
7
Weinstein in his old age, has become basically a ward of the state. His last years of life will be paid for by the state, protecting him from poverty care.
I think Prison is what he deserves, I don't think the state should pay for his old/elderly care and housing.
Was Weinstein close to Trump? Could Trump after he gets out of office be prosecuted for his actions?
3
And with this sentencing, a lot of other film and television moguls are holding their breath.
8
As to the defense's allusion to his charitable inclinations: I write from personal experience to report that his "charitable" inclinations have been limited, highly selective and tied primarily to what would best serve his interests.
They are also irrelevant.
17
So Weinstein is convicted based on no evidence and no witnesses-- where what little evidence there is in fact contradicts the accusers-- and then given a sentence which is longer than what is often given to violent assaults which cause grievous bodily harm, sometimes life-altering, and actually about as much as we often give murderers.
Don't ever tell me that crimes against women are minimized in this country, I think this whole affair proves on the contrary just how little it takes to convict a man of sex crimes in this country, and how tremendously he is punished once convicted.
7
This seems excessive. It seems like he is being sentenced for the collective bad acts of a whole lot of men, not just his own.
9
@mh12345 Was Bernie Madof excessively punished (100 plus years) for the same infraction?
1
Great news. And thanks to the brave women who came forward.
Weinstein, "sitting in a wheelchair, told the court that he was remorseful, but also “totally confused” about what had happened to him." Which is it? If he's remorseful then he understands; he's not confused. If he's confused, he can't be remorseful because he doesn't understand. What hogwash...just another over-privileged monster still trying to have it both ways.
14
As is usually the case, the man who rapes women believes he has done nothing wrong. As do his many defenders.
This isn’t a problem of one man who takes advantage of social, economic, and physical power to satisfy his lust for physical power over women. This is a problem of a wider culture that fails to condemn such behavior.
13
This sends a message: if you have a story to tell, come forward. It will not be easy. It will be painful and traumatic and the victim-blaming will be disgusting. But the only way to get these predators like Harvey Weinstein off the street is for people to tell their stories.
And sadly in the entertainment industry predators like Mr. Weinstein are the norm, rather than the exception. I can't wait to see some more creeps go down.
6
@Ivy unfortunately a lot of women make up stories
2
When did he become disabled and in poor health? I don't recall reading anything about that or seeing pictures of him using a walker before this trial? Did I miss something along the way?
1
This notion that a long sentence for an old man (or woman) is a "defacto life sentence" really gets the whole thing backwards. He enjoyed decades of freedom after committing these crimes and only now has to pay the price. That doesn't mean he should get a discount.
7
Good for the judge listening to the prosecutor and not HIS internal voice.
1
"Mr. Weinstein suggested in a rambling speech to the court that he thought his relationships with his victims were consensual and he was “totally confused” by what had happened to him."
He still insists that his "relationships with his victims were consensual" and that he was "totally confused".
And yet, just recently he pleaded that he be allowed to
"take a leave of absence and get into heavy therapy and counseling whether it be in a facility or somewhere else, and allow me to resurrect myself with a second chance.”
If all of his sexual encounters with those women were consensual, why would he want or need "heavy therapy?"
Thank goodness this lying, pathetic and disturbed human being was handed a very, very harsh sentence.
Thank you Justice Burke for not believing his pleas and for remaining unmoved nor convinced. Your sentence spoke volumes.
7
"She [Donna Rotunno, Weinstein's attorney] urged the judge to take into account Mr. Weinstein’s fragile health in sentencing, noting that a long sentence would be 'a de facto life sentence.' "
I doubt Harvey Weinstein ever gave a thought to the fragility of the mental health of the women he abused.
13
Now what about Matt Lauer and Moonves and Epstein’s enablers and the whole Trump contingent? I hope each one of them is hunkered down in their mansions, waiting for the other shoe to drop.
7
Harvey may have already lost “everything”, but this sentence is also for all the other potential creeps still out there. Not only will you lose your big-shot privileged life, but your freedom is on the line. Behave, or else.
4
Am I correct in my understanding that these women were not physically prevented from walking away, nor were unconscious at the time?
Do women that were held or tied down and then forcibly raped, or those who were too impaired and unaware to make a choice, agree that what they suffered should be described in the same terms used for women who could have walked out at any time, but made the conscious choice not to?
Does this man - whom I absolutely acknowledge is a pig - deserve more prison time and hatred and "minimum time" than rapists who physically and violently constrain and threaten their victims?
Do I think for one minute that the mob on this, or any other forum, will tolerate a dissenting opinion..."
Please, disagree with my opinion, but respect diversity... respect diversity of opinion.
11
@Nick
Nick, please do go find some women who have been "held or tied down and then forcibly raped ..." and then really listen to them. Really, really listen to them. I think you'll learn a lot.
In my experience, women are great at supporting one another in times of pain -- we just support, rather than worry about our own pain being greater than her pain and which terms are being used to characterize it.
I was not "physically prevented from walking away" from the college professor who made a sexual advance. I did walk away from him. Unfortunately, I was so hurt and freaked out by the experience that I never took another class in that department, therefore changing the course of my education. I was 18 years old. He was probably 45, and in a position of power over me.
So, do you dismiss my experience because I was able to walk away without being raped? That's ok. It's your opinion and you have every right to it. We can walk away from you.
6
@teresa
No need to show your gender-bias - men are also "...great at supporting one another in times of pain." We're all great at supporting either gender in times of pain.
Your experience is an example that shows a person walking away from someone in power that exerts undue influence over them. Your professor should have been reprimanded or fired for violating codes of conduct - had you reported him. But - even today - he should not be tried as a rapist.
Nick, are you any less robbed if threatened with a weapon but not actually hurt?
2
But will Weinstein actually go to prison? Of course not, this is the United States, where the rich only go to jail if they have financially victimized other rich people, and then only sometimes.
2
Weinstein is "totally confused" by what happened to him? I read that as he thought that he was so powerful that woman wouldn't mind being violated by him.
1
Now that he is headed to the clink, Harvey can ditch the 'sympathy' walker. It didn't work this time.
5
After he gets out he can make a movie about prison life.
1
I can understand why he was “totally confused” about what had happened to him. After all when you are rich and famous you can do anything. And they let you. That's just part of the deal that people like Weinstein expect. That they can treat people as they will.
5
I'm sorry that Epstein and Trump won't be in the cells next to Harvey.
4
What is the status of the pending California case against him?
In lockup, can Harvey get private movie screenings (with refreshments)?? The man wants to keep up with his trade!
I am glad he received this sentence. Those women were so brave to come forward.
I am also glad that Cyrus Vance finally came forward to bring these cases to trial. Where was he when that hotel chambermaid came forward to complain about a hotel guest's sexual advances several years ago. She never got her day in court.
4
And a yellow card for diving simulation: throw the walker away, Harvey. You won’t need it in a cell.
10
No sympathy for Harvey is needed to ask, what do we Americans, who rejoice in punishment of others, expect of that punishment? What does society gain by it? What are the alternatives?
This de facto life-sentence may at least serve as a deterrent, since the rich, unlike the poor, who accept incarceration as the cost of having no resources, are terrified of prison.
But what enduring satisfaction is there, in yet another draconian sentence, even for those most deserving of one, when the system itself is grossly unfair and boardroom, financial and polluting crimes go almost entirely unpunished?
There's got to be a better way. Blood lust or hunger for revenge are not ideal principles on which to run a justice system. Other countries don't do it this way.
4
It’s a start, and you have already noted the “enduring satisfaction.” It is a deterrent.
I feel heartened that the victims in this case have received justice as they must have been very fearful of the power Mr. Weinstein once wielded. Let this send out a message to others that this sort of behaviour will reap stern consequences. Hopefully others will take heart and bring their cases to court and get closure.
2
Am I the only one discouraged by this sentence? It took 40 years of accusations from 90 different women. This conviction came after at least one woman actually went to the police. And the police had Weinstein admitting to groping her on tape. Even with that, the cops didn't do anything.
Also, Weinstein wrote that Jennifer Aniston "should be killed." Uhh. What?
Is anyone going to do anything about the system - the cops, the lawyers, the DAs - that let Harvey Weinsten off for 40 years? Because this makes me wonder about all the other crimes that go uninvestigated and unsolved simply because the alleged perp is moderately famous.
12
@Danny:
Yes.
He should've been sentenced to Life in Prison; the women he raped are already serving that, emotionally and spiritually.
1
He will be out in 1 year, with all his advisers and experts; paid for with his ill gotten millions. Harvey Weinstein knows no shame, the people there were for him to exploit. The system that gave him privilege and allowed him to do this is what must be condemned.
@pkvls Well, maybe. But Madoff is still in jail even though he's dying, according to his doctor. Every now and then "the system" you refer to has to make an example of somebody. Madoff is one. I hope that Weinstein is another.
2
After reading Ronan Farrow’s book and the first hand account of the trauma and smear all these women had to go through at the hands of this monster and his enablers and as a father of a 7 year old girl I just want to say.
Thanks to all of you brave victims of abuse and violence that had the courage to selflessly come forward and re-live your traumas so all the new generations can stand on your shoulders. Today the world inches forward thanks to you.
21
@Federico Gomez
nice letter, Federico. Thank you.
Wow, Harvey!!! That's real time. That's much more jail time than those college admissions fraud parents received. Finally, a sentence that nearly fits the crime for someone of the wealthy and connected crowd.
Harvey Weinstein's long sentence may just be a drop in the bucket of the unleveled American justice system that caters to the rich, powerful and White, but today's news seems to give a small warm feeling of justice.
370
@Uptown Guy
He won't be serving 23 years. His expensive lawyers will use every trick in the book, for as many years as it takes, to get him out way earlier. He's already prepping for future breaks on medical grounds. The mob did this all the time. And Harvey still has many very powerful friends who will help when the heat cools. If Epstein can commit suicide before spilling the beans, Harvey can get early relief.
8
One assumes that Mr. Weinstein will appeal. One also assumes that his appeal with be successful, if the appellate court is reading the Evidence Rules as they have been established and interpreted over the years.
6
One should never assume anything. Unless the judge charged the jury incorrectly an appeal on these facts will be very difficult.
13
As you clearly have not, otherwise you would know that testimony is sufficient under the “evidence rules”.
3
It too so many tears and so many people moving mountains to bring him to justice. Let this be a warning example to those who think they are untouchable to consequences.
50
Some commenters seem to think this was too harsh a sentence. Really? I’m happy the judge offered this sentence (short of the 25 yrs he could have gotten). One could argue that even 25 is not enough. Do you really see him as innocent? Or if guilty, capable of change (he’s shown no remorse to date, except for being caught)? Maybe think about it from the perspective of the over 80 women who credibly accused him of sexual assault &/or harassment (not all of whom could press charges due to statutes of limitations). Looks different from that vantage point.
51
Re: "...Maybe think about it from the perspective of the over 80 women who credibly accused him of sexual assault &/or harassment (not all of whom could press charges due to statutes of limitations). Looks different from that vantage point..." {@Nancy Mullin}
...23 years?
How, 'bout we replace 'life, w/o parole', with... 'defenestration'?
{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defenestrations_of_Prague}
Well deserved; now if Stone can be held similarly accountable.
33
The facts that were presented in the courtroom and the lack of evidence should have set Mr. Weinstein free. No police reports, no medical records, nothing. Did the accusers stop seeing Mr. Weinstein after the alleged incident? No. And why Jessica Mann reached out to Mr. Weinstein for favors? Why she kept calling, texting and asking him back?
There is a difference between moral sins and crime and in this country a person is presumed innocent until proven guilty. The entire process reminded me medieval ages when the crowd condemned the person without proof.
19
The issue is consent. Just because you are married does not mean you automatically consent to a sex act. So the jury rightly in my view looked at the incidents in question to determine if there was consent. Remember HW could have testified and made the case that he honestly believed that the women consented. He choose not to. So the jury only had the detailed facts related to each incident from the complainant. Not a surprising outcome.
13
@Maria You don't understand. Weinstein was the most powerful man in Hollywood. An aspiring actress could no more refuse him than they could a king, not unless they wanted to continue working.
It's like the Mafia; you don't blame the victim because they kept making payments to the organization and said nothing. There was fear. There was pressure. This is not simply about rape and sexual harassment; it's about abuse of power and position.
5
@Maria
He's got another trial coming.
And since you weren't there at the trial
How do you know?
The women who spoke up are the heroes here. Bless them. This sends a huge and needed message out - all around the world.
The recent huge demonstration in Mexico against violence on women is another good sign of change. This is great progress we need a lot more of.
62
The media circus with the cultural and political hysteria surrounding this trial was Sheppard v. Ohio all over again. The state court appeals will fail, but it’ll be interesting if SCOTUS takes this case for review.
7
@Beantownah:
On what possible grounds would the Supreme Court ever bother to review this???
3
Weinstein's story is also one of how influential people in America continuously gravitate to characters who have money and influence overlooking their deviant behavior. That Weinstein was a sexual predator was widely known, yet people from the Clintons to Obamas to Streeps to others befriended and cuddled up to him, almost legitimizing his predatory behavior. Shame on them.
30
Good.
40
This sentence is fitting - a hard won victory. When you pull out the lens, think about all the industries that this very thing has been happening in for so very long and how many other Harvey Weinstein's there were and are out there . This verdict took a huge group effort and large amounts time and money spent to bring down one huge icon in a very protected business. My hope is that it sends a clear as a bell signal to all sexual predators ( of any gender ) out there and makes it easier to prosecute future cases.
33
Is there a company willing to distribute the Harvey Weinstein movie to the big screens or will it go straight to the streaming services?
5
Is the sentencing system fair?
In the case of HW, a 23 year sentence is effectively, a life sentence behind bars.
If another man who committed the same crime happened to be 23 years old, a 23 year sentence would not be a life sentence.
Should we shorten HW's sentence? Extend the 23 year old's? One size fits all?
The criminal justice system remains archaic.
14
@RonRich - so you belief 23 years would be okay for a 23 year old but not for an older, wiser gent such as Harvey?
2
@RonRich First, being raped is a life sentence. Weinstein made no age-distinction when he assaulted his victims. The 20 year-olds he abused have more life to get through with the wounds he left them with than 50 year-olds would have done.
Second, absolutely not, we shouldn't be shortening sentences simply because the perpetrator is older by the time he gets caught and convicted. He's had more years of getting away with it than the 23-year-old would have done!
5
@RonRich It's not archaic. Misunderstanding doesn't give you the right to mischaracterize it.
2
First, I want to say that I think Harvey Weinstein belongs in prison. But it seems like the long sentence is based in part on evidence on which he wasn't convicted or wasn't part of the trial. The jury rejected the predatory counts yet it seems that he essentially got life in prison anyway. I wish the reporting...and maybe someone in the comments would explain a bit more about the law and how due process works in a case like this.
11
@Mary The justice system is based both on judgement and mercy. The judgement part is the province of the jury: these are the elements of the crime; did this guy do it? The prosecutor's job in this phase is to establish the elements of the crime charged and to prove to the jury, beyond a reasonable doubt, that the defendant met all of the elements. The mercy part is up to the judge. At the sentencing phase the judge can consider all kinds of factors about the individual that may not have been allowed as evidence at trial. The judge is charged with "tailoring" an appropriate sentence for a particular person. Unless you have mandatory sentences, which is where politicians decide what is appropriate for everybody -- a one size fits all approach.
10
@Mary The sentence is within the legally permitted range for the crimes he committed, as while he was acquitted of the predatory sex counts, he was still convicted of very serious crimes under NY law; the media failed to adequately convey that to the public. One of the crimes for which he was convicted, under NY law, is a class B Violent Felony Offense, punishable by a determinate sentence in NYS prison within the range of between 5 - 25 years. Thus, the sentence is legal and appropriate.
6
One can debate whether the 23 years of imprisonment is merited, but surely there must be some consensus that the cheering and celebrating is vulgar and unbecoming. And I am not sure if he was convicted on the merits of the evidence before the court or of a public braying for it.
And vulgar it is to see such unabashed cheering - it is shameful and embarrassing that in a community of humans we should so publicly celebrate the downfall of another . . .
24
@PS It's not "celebrating the downfall" but celebrating the act of justice. I'll cheer as loudly as I like, thank you.
63
@PS - Who's celebrating Harvey's downfall? My perception is folks cheering on the administration of Justice, which often has been bigly evasive for certain segments of our population.
26
@PS
When I worked in Child Protective Services I met men who had raped step daughters and neighbor's daughters and their own daughters regularly for years, - and got probation - for nothing - rom Family Court - - and many similar situations, where criminal charges were not even pressed. MOST men who rape and molest women and children NEVER even face prosecution. They are never even called out. I've known women who have been sexually attacked and been raped myself, and there was no justice.
That's "unbecoming." That is "vulgar." That is shameful. A harsh sentence to a miserably abusive man used to having things his way is to be applauded.
13
US prison sentences are too long and too severe in capital cases.
8
@Kevin Cahill Weinstein was not caused of a capital crime. He has not, as far as anyone knows, committed a murder.
1
One piece of good news today. Let it be a stark warning to powerful men who pray on women: you will pay for this eventually. It may take a while, but you will.
17
Not enough considering the number of victims. Hopefully, he will not outlive the sentence.
5
How many more women did he assault? When asked for advice.....her first thought was:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g70XbYd0bZ8
Tarana Burke began #meToo for the protection of black girls. It was “ignited” for that reason. It was then appropriated for rich famous white women. #checkYourFacts
5
@elijAH Starr
Your labeling Struggling actresses as rich white woman says what?
I never heard of either of the woman.
1
Really??? Is that really the issue here sister?
1
Unbelievably brave women made this happen. My most profound and heartfelt respect for these women. Such honor and selflessness is rarely witnessed in our age.
15
What about Trump?
44
@Tom
Coming soon to a theater near you!
1
This is wonderful news. As I read this, I rejoice for myself and all the other bright young women in the 1970’s Advertising business who were hit on by supposedly trustworthy colleagues, pawed by clients and sidelined as male peers were fast-tracked. May our daughters, nieces, granddaughters and all women of the future never be forced to experience those humiliations!
57
Doanald, your time is coming. There is no escape.
34
“The sentence marked a significant milestone in the #MeToo movement, which ignited after several women openly accused Mr. Weinstein of sexual assault and harassment. Women around the globe shifted the cultural landscape as they began to speak about mistreatment at the hands of powerful men.”
A fine example of investigative journalism, protection of freedom of speech, rule of law amongst many other ideals born in a society as flawed but as dedicated to our values and strengths as the USA - the movement that went around the world. So proud.
32
So there is some justice in the world today. Thank you many times over to all the incredibly brave women who came forward and to the journalists who told their story. Very courageous.
51
Wow 94 accusers.
It is time to reconsider a culture that permits private interactions with a person who has a lot of power.
Sorry, but all one-on-one meetings should be in public spaces. No excuses.
25
@redpill
That may well become the new norm, as it should be.
But we all need to be teaching our girls that.
Corporations have been educating us lowly office workers about creating a safe and respectful work environment, ever since the 1990’s. Finally, the “big guys” are being held to the same standard.
37
@The Buddy Corporate HR is a complete and utter joke. NEVER to be trusted to do the right thing for the survivor. I will never ever ever go to HR again. The second I understood that I was going to be fully railroaded, I told them I knew exactly what the game was and that I knew they were not there for me, letting them also know of all the favors they were still doing for the disgraced CEO, and reminding them of the cesspit they were, given all the high profile cases there. I may not have gotten any justice, but you can bet it was highly satisfying to call them out to their faces.
10
He got basically a deserved life sentence.
14
The accounts of their moral and sexual abuse in the hands of Weinstein by Selma Hayek and Lupita Nyong'o, published in the NYT, will forever stay with me. Even though he didn't actually rape them if I recall correctly, those pieces showcase how unrelenting and ruthless Weinstein was in harassing the two of them. I can't wait for women to finally rule the world
52
Disgusting guy-behavior, not permissible.
14
What next for his attorney, Donna Rotunno?
4
@Anna Kavan Remember, Weinstein hired and fired a few sets of lawyers for this case. I don’t want to hear him whining about the lawyers who took his case to trial.
Nevertheless, in the appeal of a criminal conviction, it is not unusual for the appellate lawyers to argue “ineffective assistance” by the trial lawyers.
At least under California law, a client cannot sue their criminal defense lawyer for the civil tort of legal malpractice unless they can establish they are factually innocent of the charged crime. It is a very high burden that few clients can meet.
@Anna Kavan She'll be fine.
Dear NYTimes, Please stop trying to be so click-baity. Your digital headline reads: "Harvey Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison for sex crimes, a stunning downfall for a Hollywood mogul whose abuse of women ignited #MeToo."
Stop telling me how I should be reacting to something. This isn't stunning...this is an expected and appropriate result of his horrible behavior.
Give the news straight.
Thanks for your otherwise excellent reporting.
32
@AJ
They're simply saying that distance from the top Hollywood producer to inmate is a stunning one. You don't have to be stunned by it.
1
A copy of a note that Bob, Harvey’s brother, that was sent to the now convicted rapist as reported in The Guardian:
“U deserve a lifetime achievement award for the sheer savagery and immorality and inhumanness, for the acts u have perpetrated. Oh I forgot. They were all consensual. Then what are u in rehab for? Sex addiction. Don’t think so. You wouldn’t have harassment, assault and rape charges u have now received, from 82 women for active consensual sex.”
37
@Opinioned!
His brother's words are the most telling. Only why he did not stop him? He had to know that Harvey has been an entitled monster.
2
FINALLY!
22
Thank you, Ronan Farrow. Superior journalism matters.
137
@Anonymouse You forgot to mention Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey.
5
Yessssss!
12
Well I guess Weinstein surrogates will now start appearing on FOX News, angling for a Presidential pardon.
9
@casbott Nope. State crime so no pardon option available. He might be able to get a pardon from the governor but that is not happening. Not now not never.
11
As this was not a federal prosecution, Trump has no say in this.
That said, most of the pundits on Fox News and its viewers are probably ignorant of that fact.
2
@casbott Weinstein was tried in NY State Supreme Court, not in a federal court, or for federal crimes. Trump cannot pardon him.
1
YES!!
10
Good. Now can we please make Covfefe-45 accountable for his sex crimes? Prince Andrew, too. So sick of rich white men getting away with their crimes.
150
@SYJ Don't worry, it's not just rich white men getting away with it.
3
You’d add Bill Clinton to that list as well I assume?
2
Yes!
7
YES!!!!
10
Good!
7
And all these women were sweet, innocent young things. If you believe that, you probably own swampland in Florida!
7
@Ed L It doesn’t matter if they were sweet or innocent. What matters is what he did. Doesn’t matter (to the law) who he did it to or what their personalities were or whatever. It matters what he did.
36
@Ed L But they weren't criminals.
6
@Ed L
"more than 90 women have accused Mr. Weinstein of misconduct, including harassment, inappropriate touching and sexual assault"
And what exactly are you accusing these 90 women of, Ed? Will you stand up and tell them to their faces what you believe they did wrong?
And how about the other 50 million waitresses, motel maids, office-workers, etc who have to deal with predators on the job? How's about you demonstrate for all of us the proper behavior that would protect them (including their paychecks) and earn them your respect.
And when you demonstrate proper behavior for us, remember to recruit somebody 5 inches taller and 30 pounds heavier than you to play the part of the predator. While you're at it, maybe you could explain the source of your expertise.
6
Justice!
6
Now that Harvey Weinstein is a convicted sex offender, will he be stripped of the Academy Award and Golden Globe award he received for "Shakespeare In Love" and all other acclaims he has received in the past?
Just asking.
16
@Marge Keller He did not create these works of arts, he merely provided the money and controlled the people.
In general, in the financial, educational, artistic, cultural world, the small people who actually create, actually work, actually produce good things (like wealth, better students and citizens, great art) are overshadowed and their fruits are taken from them by the "managers" who control the money and the people.
@Marge Keller -
It is a death sentence.
@Steve Singer A death sentence means the person is executed by the state. Weinstein is likely to die in prison, but that is most emphatically not the same thing as a lethal injection.
1
He will unquestionably die in prison, the end seems fitting.
13
Well deserved
11
Cool.
6
Good. Throw away the key.
12
Good.
9
Good riddance.
Those men with so much socioeconomic power and privilege like Harvey Weinstein Jeffrey Epstein, R. Kelly and Bill Cosby are particularly depraved and inhumane.
They neither deserve nor have they earned any compassion nor sympathy for their crimes.
34
As one commentor started their piece " At the end of the day ", well at the end of the day what ? What was proven ? What has this once powerful man being reduced to Rikers Island Inmate #Blah Blah Blah proven ?
That even once in a while the Left will reject one of their own, a confidante and contributor to the rich and famous. Who's next Bill Clinton ? As I recall their were similar lurid tales about his various picadillow's .
Bill Cosby, Harvey Weinstein, Jeffrey Epstein, Alan Dershowitz and Bill Clinton.....that's some fraternity !
6
@Tom ,Retired Florida Junkman Tom that is some fraternity especially when you consider Jeffrey Epstein was given his "teaching " position by the father of Bill Barr, Trump's Attorney General. It gives us an idea of just how far the corruption spreads and seeps into all social circles.
3
Decades ago, a sexual predator who raped my 12-year-old cousin got three years in Attica.
When I read about Weistein's sentence, and that of others like him, the injustice that was meted out over 60 years ago sticks in my craw. Makes me nauseous actually.
29
@pat
It is nauseating. But, finally, our voices are being heard. For that, we can rejoice. Now we need to keep powerful men's legal hands off our bodies. Our bodies belong to us, not to the state and our choices are ours.
13
@pat -
It is awful. All of it.
3
And all the famous actors and directors that either worked with him, or aspired to work with him are silent. Had this been a five year sentence where he got out in two years, he would have weaseled his way back into the film industry....and his past would be largely forgotten or forgive. 23 years sends a message loud and clear. Good!
737
@Michelle
Everything you write here is incorrect, except the last word.
6
@T Which parts are inaccurate? Who had taken him to task for his behavior before? Once a weasel, always a weasel.
7
We only need look at Polansky to see how the movie world forgives “geniuses”, even if they’re pigs.
6
Hope he didn’t spend too much on the walker. Obviously was not a useful stage prop.
45
@SheBear
Harvey is over 65 and probably on Medicare, which pays for the first walker.
3
Judge Burke, who was an Assistant D.A. before being appointed, was and is pro-prosecution and anti-defendant in his career who thinks giving out harsh sentences solidifies his position as a rule of law judge. Unfortunately he has no experience in the real world and is therefore historically totally biased against a defendant’s mortal defects, yet allowing defects in witness testimony. The rule of law, he forgets, permits mercy, reformation and redemption. In handing out this extremely harsh sentence, ( guideline was as little as 5 years to a max of 29 years) Burke forgot the true role of a well rounded judge and bowed to the worst of public opinion in favor of solidifying a legacy defined by punishment but not wisdom!
7
@R. Stuart The sentence was well within the guidelines, and it covers criminal behavior that spanned decades. Decades Weinstein lived in full enjoyment of his money and power and criminal behavior while his victims' lives were forever altered.
It is only because justice was so long delayed that his current sentence appears to be a life sentence.
56
@R. Stuart I'm still confused about Weinstein's sentence being impacted by conduct for which he wasn't convicted. How does that work?
3
@R. Stuart
I can hardly believe you think it is the work of one prosecutor /judge. You yourself trust in the rule of law and the jurisprudence of sentencing. Do you think the predatorial acts and the victimization should be condoned?
1
Maybe the stock market will rebound for a few minutes. This is justice.
7
I am struck with the issue of time and place. What is acceptable in one time/crowd becomes a crime in another. Don’t misunderstand. No has always meant no. But male behavior has changed and what was acceptable in the 50s doesn’t begin fly today. I think Weinstein operated at the edges of behaviors seen in different times, when male sexual aggression was something women suffered through and men shrugged off. He is an astoundingly grotesque version of what was sort of accepted (think of all the guys who knew but said nothing), if not the actual physical act itself which might have been a line some towed, but the culture of male superiority. You can sometimes still bump into the older version of it (think smirking guys who check you out as if it’s ok), but it’s less visible. But it's not women who should be expending all of the energy anymore; time to men to step up and say it’s wrong. That’s the difference between changing the culture vs driving it underground.
In Weinstein’s case, prison will definitely be a penal (vs corrective) institution, as inmates don’t like this kind of crime. They will also not like that he’s rich, unless they can benefit from that (and some will try). He will suffer in prison, which brings no joy (to me), but it might be justice.
10
@PS
I started work in the 1980s. Raping women was discouraged even then. My mom went to work in the 1960s in local TV. She new then she didn't want to end up with someone like Weinstein as a boss.
6
@PS -
He isn't anymore. He’s financially destroyed; except for what he knows.
@PS "Toe the Line" an expression meaning to conform to a rule or standard.
Let see how others who are accused of the same sex crimes, but happen to be richer and more powerful, will be treated by the US justice system.
11
A manslaughter conviction would have been 1/3 to 1/2 of his 23 years. Political justice is no justice.
12
@John Millsap Not if it was manslaughter of more than one victim, with evidence of six cases of manslaughter presented during the trial.
You’re not comparing like with like.
10
@John Millsap
I was sexually assaulted at the age of 11. I am now 73 and it still affects me. He assaulted (some of whom he raped) at least 60 women whose lives were impacted by his attacks. How does that become a political justice issue? If he had attacked and damaged 60 men would that still be political in your mind or would you see him as a menace to society?
2
He feels “remorse” for the men going through this? Add another 23 years for not getting it (and for every assault not in the charges or reported.)
33
So, how long will he likely serve?
Felons in the UK are automatically paroled after they have served 50% - unless the sentencing judge orders a minimum term or the Home Secretary orders a genuine 'whole of life' sentence.
Automatic parole.. we don't have as many prisons as you guys.
2
@nolongeradoc - Has lots of money and I am quite sure his legal team will begin the appeals process if they haven't already filed. Then there is always the possibility of "free on bail" pending the appeal.
Violating someone's spirit and abusing their trust, to me is not the same thing as maiming and bruising, breaking a limb or facial bone and so on. Many of the women based upon testimony I read maintained a relationship with him afterward, and near as I can tell, not one sought out the police to press charges immediately after the encounter with him.
In my books, he is a pig, but I am sure there are many restaurant owners or other business owners who have done far worse. Heck the current occupant of the WH has 25 public accusers, and that has been swept under the rug. I am all for justice but it needs to proportional and not completely arbitrary.
9
@Mike Quinlan It may not be the same thing to you, but bones heal much faster and more easily.
5
@Mike Quinlan It’s very common for women to maintain relationships with people who raped them or sexually assaulted them or even harassed and assaulted them for years. We are mostly injured by people we know, sometimes people we love, often times people we depend on or admire, and we want to believe it didn’t happen, that it wasn’t like that, that our situation was different, that he didn’t mean it, that it was our own fault, etc. Sometimes it takes 10 or 20 years to come to terms with what really happened and put the blame where it belongs. You are thinking of rape as a stranger who grabs a woman and drags her into an ally. I think it’s mostly not like that for most women.
You are right that there are many other people who are not punished, but they *should* be. Their cases aren’t usually investigated by journalists or publicized in this way.
3
@AnnaT I think you are downplaying the after-effects of what I will call abuse with violence. I am just pointing out there are some pretty horrific crimes that are committed that get nowhere near the sentence rendered here.
I am deeply sympathetic to anybody who carries psychological trauma. I have also lived long enough that I know very few people get to escape experiencing some in their lives. I also know that psychologically, revenge does not actually resolve issues or provide any real remedy for victims.
I know that sex can be a minefield of emotions, and I don't think our society equips us well to deal with them. I do not have the answers. I just hope that the culture actually does change.
As a survivor of multiple forms of abuse at the hands of men, mostly when I was a young woman, I applaud this judge's decision. Kudos and blessings to all the women he hurt. I think what was really disgusting about this trial was seeing the pathetic attempt by Weinstein to garner sympathy with that walker.
39
He feels remorse "for all the men going through this crisis." You mean the sexual predators who might finally face the consequences of their own actions? More proof that he really doesn't get it.
Thanks to the witnesses and prosecutors for some very deserved, late justice.
64
Good! The bad guy got what was coming. Criminal actions have jail as the consequence. Thank you to the 90 women who spoke out -- I have no doubt there are at least 90 others. And thank you to Ronan Farrow for his dogged pursuit of the truth without which today's sentencing might never have happened. I read "Catch and Kill" and I look forward to many more years of your investigative pieces.
37
Mr. Weinstein says he was "confused" and that he thought all the sexual acts were "consensual". Hopefully, this very just sentence will clear up his confusion and give him the clarity that he so desperately needs.
70
I don't think Harvey Weinstein was wronged here, but it DOES strike me as kind of odd that convicted murderers get less time.
9
@Mike Schmidt That is not a true statement. A relative of mine got 30 years for murdering a man who had been abusing her for years. The reason she was convicted? She shot him in the back...had he been coming towards her she would probably be free. Juries are fickle creatures.
1
@Mike Schmidt - Not the murderers of multiple people.
1
I hope that now that women can see that they will be believed even against the word of a powerful man, they will stop letting tolerating abusive behavior and assaults and will report any hint of these asap. To the HR people, to the police, to women's groups, to Ronan--to whomever it takes.
8
Harvey and his future roommate The Donald will have so many ribald stories to share! Most fun cell on the block.
19
As the skunk at the comment party leaving all the ins and outs to others:
The Weinstein conviction was on two specific counts. A sentence of some length was in order on that conviction. Twenty-years? Mob justice, not that justice is the right word.
5
@Donald Nawi It was more than two counts — it was criminal charges against two women for two separate women for crimes committed many years apart. Would it make you feel better if he had two trials, was found guilty in both trials, and was sentenced to 11 years for each crime?
Under California’s “three strikes” law — which has a lot of problems — a person who is convicted of two or three felonies is going to spend a lot of time in prison. Weinstein will find out how he fits into those laws when he goes on trial in Los Angeles.
1
Can someone please tell Harvey that he can return the rented walker (seen being used) by him on sentencing day as it won’t be permitted in his cell and would no doubt irritate any potential cell mates due to a lack of space.
Goodbye Harvey.
6
Imagine you had lived the high life for ever. Soft pillows. Comfortable luxurious bedding and apartments. Any food you wanted. People opening doors for you. Private planes taking you everywhere on this planet at a moment's notice. People applauding you on television. The list goes on.
You walk into the court on the day of your verdict - and probably for the rest of your life these comforts are distant history. You live worse than the lowest of janitors you ever looked down on.
Incredible.
27
@CitizenTM he can ask bernie madoff for some advice on how to cope!
4
“He lost everything,” his lawyers wrote in a letter to the judge, pointing to his divorce and the loss of his company. “His fall from grace has been historic.”
And, whose fault is that?
68
There are a lot of people commenting on the length of the sentence and describing it as 'harsh'. Spare a thought for all the black men serving jail sentences that actually are harsh and don't fit the crimes they (purportedly, in some cases) committed.
31
@Judith: Two (or a thousand) wrongs don't make a right.
1
Yes! This is justice for women everywhere. And it's not just going to be movie moguls. Predators: watch out. We're not going to be silent anymore.
25
And the Board of Directors aka the Enablers get into their limos and enjoy the ride home to Greenwich
12
While this is certainly a major win for the #MeToo movement, I wouldn't be surprised if Weinstein, through the power of money and competent attorneys, is released within a couple of years, either because of his "health" or "good behavior."
6
Huzzah for everyone concerned with giving Harvey Weinstein the verdict he deserved, and the punishment he earned.
But--and it's a big one--we, the public, need to remember that while the egregious actions of Harvey Weinstein harmed many, many women--WORKPLACE discrimination affects ALL women--in loss of income, loss of opportunity, and the loss to businesses in actual business--all because MEN believe they have some unique RIGHT to be in charge of everything all the time.
EQUALITY under the law--no less, no more--is what PEOPLE deserve.
Anyone who sexually harasses as many women as Harvey Weinstein (or Jeffrey Epstein, or that total tool Peter Nygard) deserves EVERY MINUTE of jail time. Makes one rather regret the lack of dungeons (Bastille style) in our fair country.
9
@GibsonGirl99 Having worked for women for the past 21+ years, your generalizations are wrong. ALL women are not victims, and all MEN don't believe they have a RIGHT to be in charge. Nothing in this world is absolute.
When the #metoo movement began, I was one of the many women whose past traumas were ripped wide open again. I did not report the boyfriend who assaulted me in college, and the Weinstein case brought my regret over not immediately reporting and leaving into tight focus. I was shocked, but also not surprised, that my own anger had simmered on the back burner for over a decade. This sentence today feels somehow like a vindication. These women demonstrated a special kind of resilience that many of us who will never get justice know all too intimately. Their lives have worth, and they know it. And however late in arriving, their bravery and Justice Burke's determination to do the right thing in sentencing is an indication that society is starting to feel the gravity of a woman's worth, too.
557
I did report my assault and was treated like the assailant rather than the victim. My ‘friends’ and ‘colleagues’ abandoned me. When the #metoo movement started many reached out to me. There is no right answer. Therapy, support, honesty, healthy boundaries, and transparency will help your recovery. Stay strong!
85
@Korinda, please look up the organization Hidden Water, which provides support to those who have been harmed by sexual assault. They have an incredible capacity to help with healing for abuses and harm that was kept invisible for far too long. My best to you.
16
Finally, some good news.
18
At last, some good news!
12
Good! The man brought it on himself with predatory and abusive acts repeated over decades. If he had not been rich and white, Weinstein would have been locked up long ago.
10
@Cecilia The vast, vast majority of sexual predators are never arrested much less locked up. You can save your class angst on this one.
1
Wowsa. That's a death sentence.
3
@J.Sutton
No it is not! It is a sentence of life in prison. His actions affected many women for their entire lives so it is just that his freedom be curtailed. He is a menace to society and needs to be separated from it.
2
Kind of rich to claim that "he lost everything" when his corporate entity paid for the sexual assault settlements without costing Weinstein personally a dime.
19
“But I’m innocent,” Weinstein mouthed after the guilty verdict was read in court.
THIS is how you convince a judge to throw the book at you with a 23-year sentence. No repentance. No remorse. He’ll have the rest of his life to consider his “innocence” behind bars.
25
When you mess up your life as totally and unnecessarily as Mr. Weinstein has, there surely must have been something seriously wrong with him deeply driving him to do it.
Sex alone cannot have been the cause. To a man like him today that is freely available everywhere.
Exactly what it was in his case remains a mystery to me, but it surely must have been something he hated about himself.
5
@A. Stanton, well now he has 23 years to figure what that was is. Finally seeing daylight the morning you die always struck me as nothing crueler.
1
@A. Stanton
Rape and sexual abuse are not for sex alone. They are an expression of power. He was powerful and felt he could do whatever he wanted to whomever he wanted. He got away with it for decades and others looked the other way. Now he has been caught, tried, convicted, and sentenced. Don't look to me for sympathy. He earned every day of tat sentence.
2
@A. Stanton Power.
1
I hope this case will get parents talking candidly with their 12-year old sons about the full range of primate instinctual impulses that might pop into their young heads. Impulses that say to try to demean or dominate their female peers. Impulses that say to obtain sexual gratification using any means, including deceit, extortion, or social coercion. Impulses that say to stand down when they see another boy caving to such predatory impulses. Impulses that say to consume online porn and interpret what they are seeing as normal, or as their entitlement as males.
Things will change when young men enter puberty prepared for the full range of unexpected impulses buried deep in their primate legacy. The crime is sending them out onto the sexual playground of their teens completely in the dark about what might suddenly pop into their heads. Mothers and girls can help by understanding that boys and men need additional socialization -- specialized skills of impulse control that come with testosterone.
15
@pb
Wonderful timely advice! But I would add - fathers - also do your job of eductaing your sons.
7
@pb How about getting the fathers, brothers and uncles to help out, too? Why should women keeping bearing the brunt of teaching males how to be responsible humans?
4
It’s a life sentence without parole even if reduced by half on appeal.
He’ll die in prison.
7
I find Weinstein's subjugation and abuse of women beyond adjectives. I know in my heart he represents the tip of the iceberg. My hope is the punishment he's gotten will have a chilling effect, at least on many other sexual predators.
14
Just an FYI to all the commenters.... I see a lot of people thanking the "SDNY" and even Letitia James. They had nothing to do with this prosecution.
It was the New York County (Manhattan) District Attorney's office that is responsible for this prosecution. Its part of the government of the City of New York.
When the SDNY is being referenced, its the Southern District of New York of the Federal court system.
Letitia James is the NYS Attorney General. Her office does oversee the City courts & DA offices, but only if there's a violation of NYS law committed by those offices. However, the NYS AG should be credited for helping strengthen the state's anti-sexual harassment laws that were passed.
5
Bravo! Finally, a powerful man is held accountable.
23
Every day that HW spends in prison is paid for by the taxpayers; How come no heavy fine was imposed on HW?
Of course, the 23 year sentence is tantamount to a life sentence in this case. It will no doubt be reduced on appeal, or HW and his lawyers may negotiate "a deal" to obtain reduction of the sentence. However, HW should be sent to prison immediately, and not be released on bail pending the results of any appeal. In my opinion, justice would be served if HW has to start serving time in prison right away.
11
@BJM I believe he's already in prison. Went there straight after hospitalization.
3
@BJM,
I think because this was the criminal phase.
He'll get creamed in the civil cases that are sure to follow.
2
At the end of the day, this is about men in positions of power taking advantage of women in a subservient position. Chalk one up for women. And I'm tired of hearing about mitigating circumstances in sentencing a crime, like having children, other good works, etc. Do the crime, do the time.
59
“We may have different truths, but I have remorse for all of you and for all the men going through this crisis”
This does not sound like someone who is truly remorseful - look at the wording here. "...and for all the men"? I'm sure his attorney will be appealing, thus the desire to have him read a sentence that expresses remorse without admitting guilt. But it sounds to me like true remorse is absent here as well. Sounds like the only kind of remorse he has is that he got caught!
34
@AnyCompetentAdult2020 : Agreed. “Different truths “. No remorse there!
What is a “different truth “ ?
I know what my grandma would call that.
3
The same Hollywood crowd that gave Roman Polanski a standing ovation at the Oscars turned a blind eye to & protected Weinstein all these years for the sake of celebrity ambitions. Wonder if Meryl Streep will continue to refer to Weinstein as "God."
34
@Devlin Please defend a position in which Streep's statement thanking "God, Harvey Weinstein, the punisher, Old Testament, I guess . . ." was said in earnest and is to be held against her for eternity.
1
I wish the news outlets can summarize the testimony of the other 20 people that testified for the prosecution. Its been reported that the guilty verdict came about because of the testimony of 6 accusers. But there was apparently much more to this case.
6
@RBC yes, and I wish the sketch artists could produce like twenty sketches, not just one, sparingly handed out - or else it should be televised..
3
The judiciary is required to sentence a defendant in light of all the circumstances including the defendant's. Harsh sentences are not rare. Consider the fact the United States incarcerates more of its population for longer periods than any other country. We are a nation where retribution has become the principal goal of sentencing.
10
@HJ Mattes Also worth noting how prison contractors & operators influence sentencing laws & guidelines as incarceration is a multi billion dollar business. Its amazing how much money is donated to state legislators by these prison companies.
6
@HJ Mattes And had Weinstein been female, we would have seen a compassionate sentence.
A fair trial and justice. Plain, simple, and effective.
44
Amazing. Honestly, I did not expect this from our justice system. I really didn't it. I thought he would get something like 5-7 years, 10 tops. My faith in our justice system has been temporarily restored.
146
One appropriate result says nothing about the system in general which suffers from all the horrible flaws it did yesterday.
9
This is a major victory for all women, in the United State of America’s especially. Hopefully this will give all females the confidence and courage they need to pursue any and all future cases. Never again should a sexual predator be allowed to roam freely for 12 months, never mind four decades. A standing ovation and 12-gun salute to those whose bravery in the courtroom prevailed. That includes the judicial staff who gathered the facts and acted on them. This was more than the 20 years for which I hoped. And am deeply relieved for my two daughters, their girl friends, my sisters and fiends and neighbors. There is NO shame in speaking up and standing your ground in a classroom, a neighborhood meeting, a conference room or a court room. Maybe this will give others more courage to stand with them.
93
@Emily It's a start. But I think the real victory for women will be when we are no longer subjected to this kind of treatment from anyone, anywhere... When we don't have to "stand up" against this type of behavior because it doesn't happen...and if it does, we are believed without having our character, motivation, or sanity questioned.
36
@Emily Maybe not such a major victory. I suspect that men who are in positions to help women through mentoring or just friendship will in the future be much more careful of any relationship where something like this sentence is even remotely possible.
1
@Abbott Hall Anybody who thinks, "I can't mentor a woman, I might get 23 years in prison" is either stupid or a sex criminal. In either case, they shouldn't be mentoring anyone.
3
I have never understood why a persons age or health should effect the sentence. Especially in this case, where the frailty suddenly appeared just prior to trail. The guy basically has a bad back and is overweight.
186
There is security footage from a grocery store around when he suddenly found back problems. He was walking just fine when he didn't think the public could see. It's just a ploy, and I'm glad the judge could see past that.
29
@Jim Z
The reason why age is often taken into consideration regarding sentencing is that statistics clearly indicate that older offenders like Weinstein, Cosby, etc.. are far less likely to continue to commit crimes then are younger offenders.
Not arguing whether taking age and/or infirmity into consideration is right or wrong. But it is taken into consideration.
2
@Concernicus There is a program in the California state prison system to allow older prisoners to seek release. However, they have to be at least 60 years old AND have already served at least 25 years. So it would not apply to HW.
9
He got off easy. He got a lot less than he deserved.
If he was smart enough to do these things, he was smart enough to know that he shouldn't do these things. And if he was smart enough to know that he shouldn't do these things but chose to do them anyway, then he should have been smart enough to know what would happen to him if and when he got caught.
He had his excuses all figured out. But they didn't work. I guess he wasn't as smart as he thought he was.
This is a very small measure of justice when compared to the hurt he caused and the damage he inflicted on his victims.
111
@Surreptitious Bass I get your point. But you don't have to be smart to be a sexual predator. You just ("just"!) have to hate women and have issues with power and control.
13
@Female Citizen I get your point as well and I agree. Mine was not meant to be an overarching comment, only one about Weinstein. He knew what he was doing was wrong, but he went ahead and did it anyway. He attempted to build in deniability and alternative explanations for his actions, but it didn't work. He was a master manipulator.
I would argue that in his interpersonal relationships with females he was an idiot and an immoral fool. But that's another discussion for another time.
Females are equals (superiors?) and friends with different reproductive roles (and other roles that differ) who are to be respected and cared about as fellow human beings. And when necessary, protected from sexual predators like Weinstein.
But what about the careers and livelihoods of all these women? The have suffered lifelong economic and reputational damage. Where is the justice for that?
51
@Shiloh 2012
Since there is now a criminal conviction, civil lawsuits will obviously follow. Money can't solve all their problems, but it might help.
34
@John Harper Just hope there's money left. A lot of people are suing and victims are unfortunately counted as an "unsecured" liability in a bankruptcy. His children who are under court ordered child support actually get paid first.
3
@Shiloh 2012 The criminal justice system does not provide justice. At best, it incapacitates those who commit crimes, and it discourages them and others from committing crimes in the future. Since Weinstein is an unusually bad and incorrigible criminal, his case has little to do with the really terrible aspects of the criminal justice system, which affect those who are less bad and less incorrigible.
1
While the public may applaud this decision, this trial was more politics than justice.
20
@Victor
What are you talking about? He was convicted in a court of law of serious crimes against specific women. He was acquitted of the most serious charges, indicating that the jury took its role very seriously. Honestly, some people just can't stop defending the indefensible.
74
@Victor A lot of things are politics
1
@Victor If anything, "politics" was the reason this predator went so many years without being prosecuted, and piled up so many victims.
22
As an elderly woman with sight TBI, I wonder if this issue was not 'selected' to validate women at the time of Presidential elections. How horrifyingly ironic that we now have as a potential candidate the worst possible choice embodying everything HW was. I intend to write in Ms Clinton, the only possible choice in this duplicitous time.
3
@katesisco Why not Warren? She was actually running.
43
@katesisco
If you write in anyone other than voting for the candidate selected by the Democratic Party as a whole you will be helping to get Trump re-elected.
12
I’m still devastated about Elizabeth Warren’s dismissal by the American public. She would’ve been an amazing (and so highly capable) POTUS.
8
Weinstein is a bad man. Nonetheless, this sentence and the verdict were likely unlawful and likely to be overturned in the coming years. However, the fact he will be incarcerated for some portion of the intervening years provides some comfort.
As reported by this paper, despite the defense's request, the Judge refused to excuse a juror who had failed to report during voir dire that she was writing a book on young women and predatory women. This is a major legal error for three reasons: the juror lied by omitting a material fact while under oath, the juror was biased, and the juror had a financial motive to convict the defendant.
Another crucial error was the admission of testimony accusing the defendant of crimes for which he was not convicted. This is a violation of current Supreme Court precedent. The New York courts may uphold such behavior, but the Supreme Court won't.
Another possible error that isn't as clear cut is premising a defendant's sentence upon legally unproven allegations. One may say 'well Harvey is a bad man,' but is that the precedent we should be setting? Such a precedent will undoubtedly fall harshest upon the poor and minorities.
27
@JR
"Another crucial error was the admission of testimony accusing the defendant of crimes for which he was not convicted. This is a violation of current Supreme Court precedent. The New York courts may uphold such behavior, but the Supreme Court won't."
This part is really concerning. I believe that Weinstein was likely guilty but allowed unproven allegations of crime B during a trial for crime A seems to be remarkably unfair.
14
@JR
Maybe he will get a Presidential pardon. The President seems to like to help those most like himself. Of course we know how unfair liberal NY has been to the Defendant.
@JR
Something smells very fishy (legally) here.
2
Good. This is also a victory for those who battle against his defense lawyer's argument that it is the woman's responsibility for going to his room, or for women to go on tinder dates and not expect rape. It's like saying it's black men fault for walking into certain neighborhoods, wearing certain hoodies. This world is messed up, this is a step forward.
59
@kiara
The defense didn't make any of those arguments.
@kiara these women knew what they were doing, why they were doing it, and what they were going to get out of it.
1
@kiara This is why it is essential that parents teach their sons that the default position of women is NO.
Even if they AGREE to come to a man's apartment or hotel room, or go on tinder dates it means nothing. Nowadays, it is impossible to get any true reading on what anyone is really interested in; and interest is mercurial--it can change from second to second. Uncertainty can be very destructive. Therefore a man who understands that the default position of women is NO is a wise man. Such a man will realize that Tinder dates, hook-ups, meeting in bars and clubs; or considering the workplace as a place to meet is OUT and that any other belief can lead to grave misunderstandings at best, and a long term in prison at worst. If I had a son (I have a daughter), I would teach him that maintaining a distance is best.
This is why old-fashioned courtship must return. It is best for men to meet honest and clear-minded women who really are interested in relationships through introductions from family and friends who know both parties very well.
Good. Now he will know what it's like to be powerless while surrounded by a bunch of people likely to have much empathy.
22
Wow. We can certainly be sure this will be a clarion warning to other men that the days of abusing women with impunity in America are coming to an end. Wow.
Justice at last!
31
Will this verdict help bring about change in an environment that has long needed equity…that is what I hope will be the outcome.
Do I feel any empathy for Weinstein? Only as much as he had for the women he took advantage of and used for his own pleasure.
29
Somehow doesn’t seem enough for a lifetime of abuse.
34
Finally some great news.for his victims. Donald Trump should be looked at too.
99
he can lose the walker now, wasn't much use as a prop.
99
@PeterH
Drat? I made this comment 5 minutes ago. You beat me to it.
I called it the 'sympathy' walker.
2
Hurrah!
A victory for Women and Every Moral Person.
20
I find it curious that there have been absolutely no pictures of this man in a wheelchair and an orange jumpsuit. As a survivor of sexual abuse myself, I need to see that image of the fallen man.
35
Q. When does the trump pardon occur?
A. As soon as he gets his payoff.
5
@Sam Darcy luckily these are state charges, which means Trump can’t issue a pardon for them.
46
When a Democrat is elected. He’s Hillary’s pal.
1
Thanks to brave people like the Weinstein and Cosby victims putting their privacy and reputations on the line, who risked everything in pursuit of justice.
131
@The Buddy
Yes indeed! But in cases of rape and sexual assault, everything is taken from you. At that point you have nothing to lose. So now the maxim should be, the most dangerous person is the woman with nothing to lose.
3
An entitled predatory monster who is finally being put away so he does no further harm. Why oh why has it taken so long for justice to be served.
28
Wow! Justice Burke did to Harvey what Harvey did to so many women! Great day in America.
28
@Accidental Lieutenant ,
What Justice Burke did was legal. What Weinstein did was not.
Still a great day.
1
Harvey had to pay the price so that we can pretend that justice is real. Any white rich guy from Trump's circles would get the normal white guy advantage. Had Harvey supported Trump he would have gotten 3 years.
6
@Chris
Solid point, and sadly I agree with you. But one day it'll be Donald Trump's turn; he has it coming. Keep the faith.
17
@Chris Sometimes justice is real. And that makes me very happy.
I LOVE the smell of justice in the morning!!!
This day has been a long time coming, and Harvey is going to be right where he belongs.
Ha, at his attorneys blaming his misery on the jury verdict. NOPE. He did this all to himself.
24
He ruined a lot of lives. Stole a lot of dreams.
He deserves to die in prison, and hopefully will use that time to try to make amends for the terrible wrongs he committed.
It is hard not to feel a twinge of sympathy for anyone experiencing such a stunning downfall. But justice has been served.
14
Hollywood enabled Weinstein.
He had the power to make people rich and famous.
Sound familiar?
13
I wonder if the walker be returned to the medical supply store for a refund.
46
@Marge Keller I recently learned that my local medical supply store charges very high rental rates — the rental charge for 3 months is more than the full price for the device. Which is why I now have a wheelchair parked in my living room and no one to use it.
2
I'm glad to see that some parts of our government are still functioning.
47
Wow! And :)
Yes, there will be appeals and probably a reduced sentence, and that is exactly why this sentence is correct.
8
This sentence is also justice for the innumerable careers Harvey vindictively destroyed in Hollywood, male and female. His tantrums and seek-and-destroy behavior are well documented. He lived his life with no regard for others. He will now pay the price. Remember the character Harvey Weingard in Entourage, which was meant to be Weinstein. Yeah, that guy finally got his.
18
"Really trying to be a better person" would have involved pleading Guilty, avoiding the trauma of a trial for his many victims; not hiring a toxic lawyer to attack his accusers in court and coincidentally imply that women -- specifically, females -- who are sexually assaulted "put themselves in that position." In other words, the victims themselves "should have been able to prevent" the assault committed by the criminal who assaults them.
I do not doubt that now, having finally been forced to face up to actual uncomfortable consequences for his egregious misdeeds over many decades, Harvey Weinstein may indeed be just beginning to experience something akin to remorse.
But he's not quite there yet. The father of as many as five children that we know of, he has not quite yet grasped fully how profoundly his cruel & peremptory pursuit of some kind of thrill from the domination of the young offspring of other families has damaged many hundreds of lives. Not merely the lives of his victims, but also the lives of all those who loved them -- not to mention his own family members, his wives, offspring, other relatives who also got dragged through his crime spree.
Even the Academy, that so many times fêted and honored this predator, seems tarnished by its association with him.
If there is anything positive to be said about this day, it is that perhaps it will give others pause before they attack.
Thank you, Your Honor, Justice James A. Burke, SDNY, jurors & all who helped.
55
It remains to be seen how women are accepted in the work place in the future. I am thrilled that my daughter and granddaughters will face less sexual harassment in the work place, but I'm also concerned about whether male supervisors will give them the same social availability they give the men who work for them. Women in the workplace are now a greater risk to the men they work for and the impact of this is yet to be determined. Weinstein is an outlier, but the relations between men and women very gray and his level of punishment will influence the shades.
4
If what you say is true then the solution is to put women in all positions of power. Then we wouldn't have to worry about decisions men might make because of their concern for their own well being.
5
@Alan I doubt women will face less sexual harassment in the workplace--it's too institutionalized. What they may encounter is a slightly more favorable climate for any lawsuit they may care to bring. I suppose that's a victory of some kind...
3
@Alan, women are not "a greater risk to the men they work for"—men are finally being held to account for their harassment and abusive behavior. There's zero risk if you don't engage in those behaviors.
5
Harvey Weinstein was a powerful figure in the entertainment world for long years. Would women have been attracted to him otherwise, agreed to meet with him in hotel rooms or made other clandestine arrangements with him? It was operation of the Hollywood casting couch, a customarily method of making or aggrandizing a career in the movie business. Though largely associated with women the casting couch was also used for career advancement by men. A business arrangement. Sex in exchange for special considerations. With Weinstein’s trial and conviction this tradition has been outed and once and for all publicly exposed, shames and de-legitimized. Good for that.
5
This sends a powerful message - women will not be easily taken advantage of. We live in a more just and safe society today for women and girls, which brings me great relief as the mother of two young girls.
18
finally some good news today. although we aren't where we need to be, we got a little bit closer. Thank you to the women who were brave enough to come out about this and start this much needed movement. Thank you to those who testified and looked at the greater good and how this can help all women and girls in the world.
Felt so great to read the judge was not sympathetic. He actually said he felt sorry for the men going through this? LOL.
23
Now can we apply the same level of vigilance to the outstanding investigation into the Jeffrey Epstein ring and into that of Peter Nygard?
Let us leave no stone unturned.
My hearts go out to all of the women and girls who encounter and are still encountering this type of heinous abuse. I think it will shock the world when the names of he predators slowly come to the surface, as they will.
I am confident that justice will be completely served.
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@Jennifer sadly I think the Epstein bit will get the DA's pocket veto. too many powerful people involved. REALLY powerful.
6
@Bryant Yes that is my sense too, glad you emphasized "really".
1
Wait, you mean the walker didn't work!?
Enormous congratulations and gratitude to the brave women who testified. Our world is a little brighter today thanks to you.
671
@Solaris And safer.
13
weinstein and men of his ilk (and there are many of them) should be given a maximum sentence once convicted. This is not only a punishment for their individual crimes, but also puts others on notice that society has had enough of this uncivilized behavior. The Me Too movement needs to be supported by every man and woman in this effort to identify and punish such predatory behavior.
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I agree, why only 3 years for the rape of the other girl?
But 23 years is an accomplishment from where we were before, unfortunately.
5 or 10 years ago, we could've predicted he would get off with community service. We're at least progressing, albeit slowly.
12
@sharon pendleton ... perhaps all criminals;regardless of race, creed, gender, or self identification of any type; should receive maximum sentencing if convicted of multiple repeat criminal offenses.
4
Astonishing sentence! I'm happy the judge slammed the hammer down very hard on him.
78
In the comments section of a Weinstein article by Lena Dunham in this very paper, on October 10th 2017, five days before Alyssa Milano would tweet the idea, I wrote the following:
“Here’s what really needs to happen now. Every woman who has ever been presented with a career/sex quid pro in the entertainment industry should come forward and simply say, “Me, too.”
That idea was about bringing public awareness and the collective outrage of women to the point where protections that are taken for granted in any other industry in this country would begin to protect as well women in Hollywood.
A day like today was the culmination of a faint momentary hope I had when I wrote that comment. But #MeToo happened, as did this ultimate result, exactly as I’d hoped it could, in my wildest dreams.
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@jammer
Me, too. Twice. I worked "behind the scenes."
The first time (in Seattle, WA, in the 1990s), I did what I was supposed to do; I immediately spoke to my union Business Agent. It turned out he sent me on the call; he set me up in the situation. He sent me to a director's hotel room to work overnight drawing a storyboard (with a director neither of us had met before). He could not comprehend what I was saying to him; that this was unsafe for me and an unacceptable working situation. My IATSE Business Agent yelled at me on the phone that I had embarrassed him and my refusal had negatively impacted all the members in my local. He accused me of not wanting to work. He never sent me on a call again. I had committed career suicide.
The second time it happened, the man who came through the door in a bathrobe was my boss. There was no one else to complain to. I left work that day and never went back. I committed income suicide.
It's not as simple and easy for women to object as you think it is.
8
@jammer "That idea was about bringing public awareness and the collective outrage of women to the point where protections that are taken for granted in any other industry..." You're kidding, right? Do you think women are protected in other, less glamorous industries? I'd laugh, but it's really too sad.
4
I’m very sorry for your experiences. Not unusual at all in the entertainment industry as well as so many just abandon their careers and leave town.
But I’m not understanding your saying that it’s not as easy for women to come forward as I think it is. I never said or thought that women coming forward was anything but the most difficult and life changing battle any women could ever take on.
Much peace and wellness to you.
2
The members of the board of the Weinstein Corporation should share HW's fate. They knew about his abuse, whether sexual, verbal or threat-related, as they paid off multiple victims. They knowingly hired employees whose main assignment was to find new victims for HW to abuse. They are complicit in his actions by virtue of enabling him to continue, and they should be subject to civil and criminal penalties.
Whether this outcome has any effect on other big corporate abusers remains to be seen, but I have my doubts. HW's reflexive reaching out to other rich, powerful men like Bloomberg, Bezos, Gates and others, indicates that not only was he not particularly ashamed of the crimes he'd committed but that the heavyweight boys' club to which he belonged would empathize and bring their power to bear on the victims and the system.
It's precisely what DJT has done with his pardons of felon friends and attacks on victims and witnesses, to say nothing of the 16+ women who have accused him of sexual assault and his own bragging about attacking women.
The feeling of entitlement and invulnerability may be dented by HW's fate but it will take far more than this to stamp it out.
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@Shar
Thank you for your insightful, compelling, remarks. I am also eagerly waiting to see how the US justice system will handle those accused of the same crimes who happen to be richer, more powerful, and more well-connected.
8
All of Hollywood knew! This stuff has been going in forever and was the norm!! Sadly, I stopped caring when Hollywood elite came out against HW - they should have come out when it started!!!
2
"Harvey Weinstein, the once influential Hollywood producer, was sentenced to 23 years in a New York State prison"
WOW.
I am shocked and surprised. But most, I am pleased.
Finally, true justice was delivered today.
134
While I understand that the arguments of the defense and prosecution are interesting and emotional, the fact that the findings and reasoning of the judge are omitted from this article is a serious failure of reporting.
17
@Pete B its just broke...they will update article
2
@Pete B
Weinstein was convicted by a jury.
@Sharon Yes, I see that happened. I know there is pressure on media outlets to get coverage out fast, but I would prefer a quick alert, and then a new, complete article. It seems silly to have to read the article repeatedly, re-reading much of the content, searching for the new information.
Justice done, he earned and deserves it. On the other hand, the impeached Donald Trump has twenty, or more women accusing him of a variety of sexual offenses, including rape, yet there is no justice, nor accountability. I hope we see the day when karma catches up with Trump and he's perp walked into prison, where he deserves to be.
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@Marc Castle
Wishful thinking. Trump's minor passes at women were nothing compared to Weinstein. If Trump is prosecutable, then about 50M men in the US are.
1
@Ted George
Oh, I don't know. Tying a 13-year-old girl to a bed and raping her kind of seems like a biggie to me...not some "minor pass" at a woman. And Trump is prosecutable for so many crimes that it's nearly impossible to list them all.
4
Hmm...
Deserving of a substantial prison sentence as he surely was, since he was cleared of the most serious offenses, it's rather obvious the length of the sentence reflects the MeToo zeitgeist that pervades at the moment.No doubt there'll be much over zealous rejoicing in those quarters as a major head can now be displayed in their trophy cabinet.
8
I see your point, but I also think that the sentencing guidelines are too low for sex crimes. The victims often receive the equivalent of lifetime sentences themselves.
14
@Lord Snooty
The Lord might see it differently if Lady Snooty had been assaulted.
But isn't that how it always is...until something directly affects us or our loved ones, it is easy to minimize or deny the harm.
6
@Julie Velde
And I see your point...but that clearly depends on what society deems a sex crime. Touching a shoulder, patting someone on the behind or clumsily stealing a kiss however misguided and asinine is clearly not the same as actual penetrative rape and I cannot believe those on the receiving end of the former have a lifetime sentence to serve. It's important for the MeToo movement to understand and accept you cannot paint all men and all actions with the same brush.
2