Silence is not just assent, it is complicit consent - Part II

When yesterday's blog regarding the fact that Harvey Weinstein is the symptom of a much larger problem was written, TMZ had not yet reported that his contract with The Weinstein Company (TWC) contained some even more shocking language.  Here's a portion of the TMZ piece:

"According to the contract, if Weinstein "treated someone improperly in violation of the company's Code of Conduct," he must reimburse TWC for settlements or judgments. Additionally, "You [Weinstein] will pay the company liquidated damages of $250,000 for the first such instance, $500,000 for the second such instance, $750,000 for the third such instance, and $1,000,000 for each additional instance."
The contract says as long as Weinstein pays, it constitutes a "cure" for the misconduct and no further action can be taken. Translation -- Weinstein could be sued over and over and as long as he wrote a check, he keeps his job."

This tells us that the people at TWC who negotiated this deal with Harvey Weinstein and his lawyer were willing to look the other way if he sexually harassed, sexually assaulted or outright raped women; as long as he 'cured' the problem with money.  Money paid to the victims and money paid to the company.

One of the board members is quoted as having said that they all assumed that he was dealing with issues involving consensual sex.  Given that the misdeeds of Mr. Weinstein were "the worst kept secret in Hollywood" one has to wonder why in the world they would leap to that assumption.

Also unknown at the time was that Rose McGowan would say that "...HW raped me..." which certainly appears to be an allegation that Harvey Weinstein raped her.  This incident took place in Utah in 1997 in a hotel room during the Sundance Film Festival.  While Utah has eliminated the statute of limitation for rape as a crime, the change in the law doesn't apply to rapes where the original statute of limitations had expired prior to 2003.  In 1997 that statute in Utah was four years, so it seems Mr. Weinstein won't face criminal charges for this particular rape.

That raises another interesting point.  The women who were paid off to remain silent by HW signed nondisclosure agreements as part of their settlements.  Well sports fans, NDAs do not preclude someone who signed one from reporting a crime to the police.  

It is 5:39 a.m. as I write this, which means the #WomenBoycottTwitter movement is in its 6th hour.  Even though I wanted to play the @FindShotFirst movie trivia game this morning, I am supporting the boycott.  I will not tweet again until midnight tonight.

It is not enough to say we stand with the victims.  This list was compiled by Newsweek and will probably be outdated quickly as more of the victims call out this sexual predator for his crimes.

Ambra Battalia Guiterrez

Anglina Jolie

Ashley Judd

Asia Argento

Cara Delevingne

Dawn Dunning

Emily Nestor

Emma de Caunes

Gwyneth Paltrow

Jessica Barth

Judith Godrèche

Kate Beckinsale

Katherine Kendall

Laura Madden

Lauren O’Connor

Lauren Sivan

Léa Seydoux

Liza Campbell

Lucia Evans

Ramola Gara

Rosanna Arquette

Rose McGowan

Sophie Dix

Tomi-Ann Roberts

Zelda Perkins

Zoe Brock

Even listing their names is not enough.  I will not spend another dime on any film produced by the Weinstein Company until they take appropriate action.  That needs to include:

An admission that contracting with anyone who can cure their acts of sexual harassment, sexual assault and rape with money was utterly wrong.

Cooperating in every single investigation of the actions of Harvey Weinstein

Promulgating a new company policy making it clear that even the slightest infraction of their new code of conduct relating to issues of harassment, etc, will result in severe repercussions.

Enforcing that policy.

Until then I will not review their one potential Oscar contending film, Wind River.  I will not discuss it in articles I write regarding "Oscar buzz."  I will not spend one dime on any movie released by TWC.  I will not watch any television program whose production they are involved in.  Good thing I am not a fan of Project Runway, which lists Harvey Weinstein as executive producer.  I was going to watch Tulip Fever, but it is another film I will not watch or review.  I will publish a complete list of movies and television programming from TWC separately (after I get through the tax filing deadline of October 16th).

This is not a new problem in Hollywood or everywhere else.  I will leave you to ponder how this was allowed to go on for so long, after you read the words of Tippi Hedren: