Bandaged Harvey Weinstein, 72, looks frail as he’s wheeled into court after emergency heart surgery to face new charge
DISGRACED Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein looked weak and pale as he was wheeled into court to face a new sex charge after getting emergency surgery.
Handcuffed and bandaged, Weinstein, 72, attended a hearing in New York City on Wednesday, two weeks after he was rushed to the hospital from prison.
Weinstein clutched a small stack of papers and two books - Kristen Hannah's Vietnam War novel The Woman and Dennis Lehane's crime noir Live By Night - as he was wheeled into the courthouse.
He pleaded not guilty as he was arraigned on a criminal sex act charge under a new indictment, which has been sealed from public view.
The details of the indictment are unclear, but prosecutors have mentioned that he was never charged for three alleged assaults that were mentioned in his now-overturned 2020 trial.
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Prosecutors said the alleged attacks took place in Manhattan hotels in the mid-2000s.
Weinstein saw renewed hope for a shorter sentence after a higher New York court made the shocking U-turn decision on the landmark #MeToo conviction.
Another court in the United Kingdom threw out a case against the producer that alleged indecent assault.
And on Tuesday, a federal judge dismissed another lawsuit that accused Weinstein and New York Knicks and Madison Square Garden owner James Dolan of sex trafficking and sexual assault.
However, Weinstein is still serving 16 years due to a 2022 rape conviction in Los Angeles, though his lawyers are arguing in an appeal that he didn't get a fair trial.
The producer has maintained since the beginning that all of his sexual encounters were consensual.
Concurrent with Weinstein's legal battles is the fallen mogul's declining health, which has been an in-court topic of conversation since his 2020 conviction.
Weinstein started using walkers and wheelchairs in recent years, and his lawyers say it's due to his poor jailhouse diet.
According to his attorneys, Weinstein suffers from diabetes and macular degeneration, which can cause worsened vision.
In his emergency surgery, the producer had to get fluid drained from around his heart.
According to his lawyer Arthur Aidala, the producer "almost died" in the hospital.
"He has sort of a shunt in his chest, which is attached to a bag, which is draining fluids from his body," Aidala said in a hearing after the surgery.
Despite this, Weinstein plans to attend all future hearings.
How Weinstein sparked the #MeToo movement
- In October 2017, The New York Times published a bombshell article where numerous actresses alleged abuse at the hands of Harvey Weinstein.
- Soon after, the actress Alyssa Milano asked women who have been sexually assaulted or harassed to share the words "Me Too" on social media.
- The request quickly became a movement - with actresses like Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Lawrence, and Uma Thurman all sharing their harrowing stories.
- It was later revealed that "Me Too" was first used by activity Tarana Burke in 2006 to describe her sexual assault.
- The media firestorm led to many media executives losing their positions, alongside backlash over whether the accusations were being properly investigated.
- Weinstein remained at the center of it all and was one of the few who was hit with criminal charges.
- A top executive who produced films like Pulp Fiction, Shakespeare in Love, and The Lord of the Rings, activist felt he was the perfect representation of how power and influence could be used for evil.
FALL FROM GRACE
Weinstein became the focus of a raft of sexual misconduct allegations made by women in Hollywood.
Hopeful actresses told harrowing tales of meeting with Weinstein with hopes to advance their careers, only for him to use his power to take advantage of them.
However, his cases are getting a second look since the shock overturning.
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Actress Jessica Mann and film producer Miriam "Mimi" Haley, whose initial allegations against Weinstein led to criminal charges, are expected to testify again in his New York retrial.
Weinstein will remain indefinitely in the prison ward of a hospital instead of the infirmary ward at a New York hospital.
Harvey Weinstein Trial Timeline
- October 2017: The New York Times reports the film mogul, whose Miramax film company won its first Oscar in 1997 for The English Patient, has reached legal settlements with eight women who accused him of sexual harassment spanning over 30 years. He is fired from his company, his wife leaves him, and the #Metoo movement is born.
- May 2018: Weinstein was arrested on charges of rape and a criminal sex act involving alleged assaults of two women.
- June 2018: He pleads not guilty to both charges and a third charge. One of them is eventually dropped.
- December 2019: Weinstein agrees to a $25 million settlement with a number of women who accused him of wrongdoing.
- February 2020: He is sentenced to 23 years in prison in New York for the charges brought against him in 2018.
- December 2020: A jury in Los Angeles convicts him of raping a model. He receives a 16-year prison term two months later, which runs alongside his New York sentence.
- April 2024: His New York conviction is overturned, and a new trial is ordered.