The New York Times released an article in October 2017 detailing Harvey Weinstein’s history of rape and assault. The story included the testimonies of the victims and Harvey’s expressions of regret for his troubling behavior, though he rejected the accusations and claimed that everything was consensual. Successful movie producer Harvey Weinstein and his brother Bob Weinstein established a production company, Miramax Films. His numerous independent movies, including “Pulp Fiction,” “Shakespeare in Love,” “The Heavenly Creatures,” and many more, were well-known and successful. In 1999, he received an Academy Award for “Shakespeare in Love,” but neither his fame nor his accomplishments could restore his reputation when his victims started speaking out against his sexual harassment and misconduct toward women. Even though he had been getting away with all the assaults and non-consensual physical contact for nearly 40 years, he finally had to give in to true journalism and the power of women’s unification.
Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey, journalists for the New York Times, covered the story about Weinstein igniting the #MeToo movement. After their article was published, 82 women in all spoke out against Harvey Weinstein. Jodi Kantor asserts that this was an opportunity for journalism to take the lead when other judicial institutions fell short of ensuring the victims’ safety and justice. When several reports of sexual harassment, particularly at the workplace, were made, they were unable to stay composed and had to look into the matter. Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor believed that sexual harassment affects everyone, not only regular women but also Hollywood celebrities. They began their research and learned about Harvey Weinstein, who had been accused in 2015 but had no criminal activity discovered in his case by the New York Police Department. Even though there was a tape of Harvey convincing the Italian model Ambra Gutierrez to see him in his room for five minutes, it was a challenging path for these two journalists to persuade these abused women to speak out against Harvey since they were afraid that Harvey was a powerful and prominent guy who could dash their safety and security of life.
They interviewed Gwyneth Paltrow, an Oscar-winning actress who was also assaulted by Weinstein when she was in her early 20s. She spoke of receiving a fax from her agency informing her that she needed to report to a hotel room to see Weinstein. She attended a conference there, and after it was over, Harvey caressed her and led her to a bedroom. Weinstein had threatened Paltrow, stating that if she refused and informed others, he would ruin her career. Not just Gwyneth Paltrow but even the younger Miramax employees were harmed by Weinstein, but they were unable to speak out since their jobs were in jeopardy. Some of the actresses were unable to speak out against him, while others wanted to but were prevented from doing so due to financial settlements and nondisclosure agreements conducted between them and Harvey. Since the settlements were very private, collecting real information was difficult for these reporters, so they called Irwin Reiter, a former Miramax accountant who had personal grievances against Weinstein. He provided Kantor and Twohey with information on an internal document made by one of Miramax’s former workers, Lauren O’Connor, who was a victim of Weinstein’s harassment. Even at the time, Weinstein’s company officials were aware of his behavior, but they attempted to conceal it in order to maintain their fame, forgetting that this issue may one day be the cause of this company’s destruction, which ultimately happened to Weinstein’s company. There was also a larger issue involving Lisa Bloom, Harvey Weinstein’s attorney. This was the biggest irony: she was the daughter of Gloria Allred, a well-known women’s rights attorney, yet she did little to prevent these ladies from being harassed, instead protecting the criminal. She even called one of the accusers, Rose McGowan, a liar and disturbing for her accusations. The New York Times article fueled women’s anger, and they took to the streets to protest and bring these criminals to justice. As Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey felt, even the smallest change could start a revolution; one can never predict what will happen next once a secret is revealed. Their story, in the form of the film “She Said” by Maria Schrader, gave Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey’s research the utmost honor. The movie presented accurate information without any fabrication. “She Said,” was entirely based on Jodi Karton and Megan Twohey’s nonfiction book, “She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement.”
Harvey Weinstein was 67 years old when he was arrested in 2017. He was given a 23-year jail term in New York. The fact that this man was caught at the age of 67 despite assaulting women for the previous 40 years is nonetheless regrettable. The judicial system is still in a difficult situation since there have been numerous Weinsteins who have taken advantage of legal loopholes. If the legal system doesn’t reform, #MeToo won’t be able to recover society from these predators.
