All the sexual assault or harassment allegations against Harvey Weinstein, recapped | PBS NewsHour

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All the sexual assault or harassment allegations against Harvey Weinstein, recapped

The allegations of sexual harassment and abuse against film producer Harvey Weinstein intensified this week, as more women came forward and gave on-the-record accounts of the Hollywood mogul making unwanted advances and forcing physical contact.

Days after The New York Times published a bombshell report that outlined three decades of sexual harassment allegations against Weinstein — including interviews with at least eight current and past employees — both the Times and The New Yorker followed up by publishing additional testimonies. Three women who spoke to the New Yorker said Weinstein had raped them.

Ronan Farrow, who wrote Tuesday’s story for The New Yorker, told the PBS NewsHour that in addition to the 13 women he spoke with in the course of his reporting, “there’s an incredible uprising of people within [Weinstein’s] companies talking for the first time in decades about what they said was a culture of complicity, about a pattern of meetings that they said were thin cover for predatory advances on young women.”

Many of the encounters with Weinstein follow similar patterns: Big work appointments or meetings turn out to be in his hotel room. Weinstein offers massages or is naked or barely dressed. The women said they felt uncomfortable and wanted to leave. Some did. Others felt pressure to stay.

Actress Ashley Judd told the Times that in one encounter with Weinstein two decades ago, the powerful mogul asked if she would watch him shower.

“How do I get out of the room as fast as possible without alienating Harvey Weinstein?” Judd said she remembers herself thinking at the time.

Weinstein, who was ousted from the Weinstein Company earlier this week, has denied the allegations made against him, saying that the Times’ first report was “saturated with false and defamatory statements.” In a video later obtained by ABC News, Weinstein said outside his daughter’s Los Angeles home that, “I’m not doing okay, but I’m trying. I got to get help. You know what, we all make mistakes.”

Here’s a look at all of the allegations made against Weinstein in the most recent reports.

The rape allegations

The New Yorker reported it spoke to three women who said Weinstein raped them. One was left unnamed in the story. Since then, several more women have reached out to other media outlets to share their stories.

Lysette Anthony — Late 1980s. Story by The Sunday Times of London.

British actress Lysette Anthony told The Sunday Times that Weinstein raped her in the late 1980s.

Anthony said she and Weinstein were friends, but in an impromptu visit to her home in London, the actress said, “he pushed me inside and rammed me up against the coat rack in my tiny hall and started fumbling at my gown.” She said she was unable to push him away.

She reported the rape to the London Metropolitan Police last week, as other allegations came forward.

Scotland Yard is investigating four other allegations of rape against Weinstein from two unidentified women, according to The Telegraph. One of them is an unnamed former Miramax employee who alleged Weinstein raped her in London in 1992. The other woman told British police she was allegedly sexually assaulted by Weinstein in 2010, 2011 and 2015.

Asia Argento — 1997. Story by The New Yorker.

Twenty years ago, Argento, an Italian film actress and director, was led to a hotel room on the French Riviera by a producer, who promised a party. When they arrived, only Weinstein was inside. She said Weinstein performed oral sex on her without her consent, adding that she feared that he would “crush” her if she spoke out about the sexual assault.

“That’s why this story—in my case, it’s twenty years old; some of them are older—has never come out,” she told The New Yorker.

Lucia Evans — Summer 2004. Story by The New Yorker.

Evans, then known as Lucia Stoller, told the New Yorker she was approached by Weinstein in 2004, in a New York club. Evans, who wanted to be an actress, said she had heard rumors about Weinstein’s behavior, but provided her contact information to him.

Weinstein started calling her late at night. One day, after being promised readings for a casting executive, Evans agreed to meet with Weinstein during the daytime. Evans said she was led to a room alone with Weinstein, who overpowered her and forced her to perform oral sex on him.

Rose McGowan Mid 1990s. Story by the New York Times.

In its Oct. 5 report of sexual harassment settlements reached with Weinstein, the Times initially reported that actor Rose McGowan reached a $100,000 settlement in 1997 with Weinstein regarding an incident at a hotel.

But as allegations against Weinstein continues to mount, McGowan emerged as a vocal figure on social media criticizing sexual misconduct in Hollywood and on Oct. 12 took to Twitter to publicly allege that Weinstein raped her.

In her tweet, McGowan wrote that she had told an Amazon studio head several times that Weinstein had raped her, but “he said it hadn’t been proven,” she wrote. “I said I was the proof.”

The tweet was directed at Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, condemning Amazon Studios for disregarding her claims. She also criticized Amazon Studios for deciding to work with Weinstein on a script she had written and sold to the studio.

She wrote, “When I heard a Weinstein bailout was in the works…I forcefully begged studio head to do the right thing. I was ignored. Deal was done. Amazon won a dirty Oscar.”

She did not further elaborate on the allegation.

The sexual harassment allegations

Both the Times and The New Yorker reported that rumors have circulated around Weinstein for years and that there were patterns in the allegations. The women said they were scared to speak out, with some fearing retribution. At least 40 women have come forward. Below are all the latest, on-the-record allegations against Weinstein.

Rosanna Arquette — Early 1990s. Story by the New York Times and The New Yorker.

Arquette told the New Yorker that Weinstein asked her to meet him at the Beverly Hills Hotel to pick up a script, but upon arriving, she was directed upstairs to his room. She entered to find him in a bathrobe, asking for a massage that she refused to give. He then pulled her hand toward his erect penis, which Arquette refused to touch.

Weinstein name-dropped other women who he claimed had accepted his advances and consequently moved forward in their careers. She left the room after telling him, “I’ll never be that girl.”

Jessica Barth — 2011. Story by The New Yorker.

Barth said Weinstein invited her to the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills for a business meeting but asked her to come up to his room to speak privately. As they conversed, Weinstein alternated between asking for a massage in bed and offering her a role in a film. Barth refused the advances and walked toward the door, but as she left, Weinstein promised her a meeting with one of his female executives. The meeting did occur, but was described in the New Yorker as a formality. “I just knew it was bullshit,” she said.

Kate Beckinsale — Early 1990s. Story posted on Instagram.

The actress said in an Instagram post that Weinstein offered her alcohol while appearing at the door of his hotel room in a bathrobe. “A few years later he asked me if he had tried anything with me in that first meeting. I realized he couldn’t remember if he had assaulted me or not,” she wrote.

Beckinsale added that she has said “no” to Weinstein professionally many times over the years, “some of which ended up with him screaming at me calling me a c— and making threats.”

Juls Bindi — 2010. Story by ABC’s “20/20.”

Bindi was a 29-year-old massage therapist when she says Weinstein arranged for an appointment with her. As she began the massage, she said Weinstein stopped her and asked her about his genitals. Stunned, Bindi stepped back and ran into the bathroom, but Weinstein allegedly followed her and proceeded to masturbate in front of her. When she tried to get by him, Bindi said “he grabbed me, starting groping on my chest, and he kept going.” She pushed him away and left the room.

Zoe Brock — 1998. Story posted on Medium.

The model wrote on Medium that she was “Harveyed” at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. When she was left alone in a hotel room with Weinstein, Brock said he disrobed and asked her to give him a massage while he was naked. Brock said she ran into the bathroom and locked the door.

“Harvey chased me, dick, balls and all, and banged on the door with his fists, pleading with me to come out,” she wrote.

Liza Campbell — 1995. Story by The Sunday Times of London.

Liza Campbell, a script writer for Miramax 20 years ago, said Weinstein tried to force her to take a bath with him when she arrived for a meeting at his hotel room.

Florence Darel — 1995. Story by Le Parisien.

French actress Florence Darel was 26 years old when she met Weinstein for a business meeting arranged by her agent at the Ritz Hotel in Paris. Weinstein allegedly told her he wanted to have “relations” with her, even as his wife was in the next room. She says that he insisted that if she became his mistress, he would make her a star in the U.S. She reportedly rejected him and left.

Cara DelevingneStory posted to Instagram.

Cara Delevingne, 25, posted on Instagram that she had two separate encounters with Weinstein. The first happened when Weinstein called to ask about her sexual orientation. “It was a very odd and uncomfortable call,” she wrote. In the second incident, which occurred at least a year later, Delevingne said Weinstein invited her to his room. Another woman was there when he arrived. Weinstein asked them both to kiss. Delevingne said she began to sing because she “thought it would make the situation better,” something more akin to a professional audition. After singing, she got up to leave. At the door, Delevingne said Weinstein tried to kiss her.

Sophie Dix — 1990. Story by the Guardian.

Weinstein invited then-aspiring actress Dix to his hotel room in London to watch raw footage from a day’s filming. “Within a heartbeat,” she said, he pushed her on the bed as he tried to pull her clothes off. She ran to hide in the bathroom and returned to find him masturbating. She ran out when she heard room service coming.

Dawn Dunning — 2003. Story by the New York Times.

In 2003, Dunning, then 24 years old, said she rejected a sexual advance from Weinstein, who offered three movie roles to her in exchange for three-way sex with him. She fled. “This is how the business works,” Dunning recalled Weinstein saying before she left his hotel room.

Emma de Caunes — 2010. Story by The New Yorker.

De Caunes, a French actress, agreed to a lunch meeting with Weinstein at the Hôtel Ritz in Paris, where he discussed a film adaptation of a book that he was producing. He asked her to accompany him to his room to pick up the book. After some resistance, de Caunes agreed. In his hotel room, he stepped into the bathroom and emerged naked with an erection, demanding she join him in bed. De Caunes panicked and left.

Angie EverhartStory shared on Frosty, Heidi and Frank.

Model Everhart and Weinstein were staying on the same boat during the Venice Film Festival over a decade ago. Sleeping in her cabin, Everhart woke up to see Weinstein standing on her bed, masturbating and blocking the door. He told her, “You’re a really nice girl, you shouldn’t tell anybody about this.” She told others on the boat but nothing was done about the incident.

Claire ForlaniStory posted on Twitter.

British actress Forlani recounted in a post on Twitter five incidents of sexual harassment in hotel rooms and at dinners where Weinstein suggested massages and boasted about the number of women he had helped in the industry in exchange for a sexual relationship. “I escaped [five] times,” Forlani wrotr. “All I remember was I ducked, dived and ultimately got out of there without getting slobbered over.”

Romola Garai — Early 2000s. Story by The Guardian.

The British actress said she had a hotel room “audition” with Weinstein during which he was wearing a bathrobe. “You can’t find an actress that doesn’t have that kind of story about Harvey,” she told the Guardian.

Louisette Geiss — 2008. Revealed at a news conference.

During a pitch meeting, the screenwriter and actress said Weinstein, in a bathrobe and then naked, pleaded with her to watch him masturbate at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.

Louise Godbold — Early 1990s. Wrote about it on ACEs Connection.

Godbold said Weinstein, as other women has described, trapped her in an “empty meeting room, the begging for a massage, his hands on my shoulders as I attempted to beat a retreat.”

Judith Godrèche — 1996. Story by the New York Times.

French actress Judith Godrèche told the Times that Weinstein invited her to his suite. There, he asked to give her a massage. When she refused, Weinstein said it was an American custom to do so.

“The next thing I know, he’s pressing against me and pulling off my sweater,” she told the Times. She promptly left.

Heather Graham — Early 2000s. Story by Variety.

During a conversation about her career in Weinstein’s office, actress Heather Graham said the film producer later said that he was able to sleep with other women, per an agreement with his wife. Graham said she left the meeting “feeling uneasy.” “There was no explicit mention that to star in one of those films I had to sleep with him, but the subtext was there,” Graham wrote for Variety.

Ambra Battilana Gutierrez — March 2015. Audio recording published by The New Yorker.

Harvey Weinstein, Caught on Tape

Listen to Harvey Weinstein admit to groping a woman, in a recording secretly captured during an N.Y.P.D. sting operation. Read the full story: http://nyer.cm/X9Trt6J

Posted by The New Yorker on Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Gutierrez, a Filipina-Italian model, said during a meeting with Weinstein, he “lunged at her, groping her breasts and attempting to put a hand up her skirt while she protested.” She notified the New York Police Department, and the next night, with the support of a NYPD sting operation, she wore a wire to record another encounter with the film producer, the magazine reported. In the audio recording, a voice identified as Gutierrez is heard saying that she was uncomfortable. She then asked Weinstein why he touched her breasts yesterday.

“Oh, please, I’m sorry, just come on in,” a man identified as Weinstein is heard saying. “I’m used to that. Come on. Please,” he said.

“You’re used to that?” Gutierrez asked.

Ultimately, the Manhattan district attorney’s office decided not to file charges against Weinstein.

Lena Headey — 2005. Story posted on Twitter.

Actress Headey recounted in a series of tweets two encounters with Harvey Weinstein. She first met Weinstein in 2005 at the Venice Film Festival while promoting a film. Weinstein asked her to take a walk with her, during which “he stopped and made some suggestive comment, a gesture,” that Headey said she just “laughed it off” in disbelief.

Years later, she and Weinstein met for breakfast in L.A. to discuss potential work, but he soon invited her up to his hotel room to grab a script. “We walked to the lift and the energy shifted,” Headey wrote. “I’m not interested in anything other than work, please don’t think I got in here with you for any other reason,” she told him. In silence, Weinstein steered her toward his room, but when the hotel key didn’t work, he angrily walked her back downstairs, holding her by the arm, and into a car and allegedly whispered, “Don’t tell anyone about this, not your manager, not your agent.”

Lauren Holly — Late 1990s. Story shared on The Social.

Actress Holly shared her encounter with Weinstein on the Canadian talk show “The Social.” Holly had known him well before the incident and found their meeting in his hotel room normal, saying that she had met to discuss business with producers in hotel suites many times before. After a few minutes of small talk, Weinstein excused himself and returned wearing a bathrobe and continued talking as he stepped into the shower.

“My head is going crazy at this point … He’s acting like the situation is normal,” she said. When he finished showering, Weinstein approached Holly naked and asked for a massage. Scared, she left the room. When she confided in a few people in the industry, she said they told her that since Weinstein hadn’t raped her, “you need to keep your mouth shut because it’s Harvey Weinstein.”

Katherine Kendall — 1993. Story by the New York Times.

Weinstein invited actress Katherine Kendall into his apartment, where they conversed about art and books. Kendall told the Times that she was nervous, but the nature of the conversation and the pictures of his wife around the room calmed her down. As other women recounted, Weinstein stepped into the bathroom to change into a bathrobe, and came out to ask for a massage and to see her breasts. Kendall refused his advances.

Mia KirshnerStory written for The Globe and Mail.

In an op-ed for The Globe and Mail, Canadian actor and activist Mia Kirshner described her experience with Weinstein as “an order in a hotel room where he attempted to treat me like chattel that could be purchased with the promise of work in exchange for being his disposable orifice.”

She wrote about the institutional change needed to end the fear of speaking out against a “disease” in the film industry and recounted that she was “encouraged by former managers and agents to forget about what happened.”

Angelina Jolie — 1990s. Story by the New York Times.

Actress Angelina Jolie said she rejected Weinstein’s unwanted advances in a hotel room sometime in the late 1990s. “I had a bad experience with Harvey Weinstein in my youth, and as a result, chose never to work with him again and warn others when they did,” Jolie told the Times in the email.

Ashley Judd — 1997. Story by the New York Times.

Judd joined Weinstein for a morning business meeting at the Peninsula Beverly Hills hotel but was sent up to his suite, where he was wearing a bathrobe and repeatedly asked her to give him a massage or to watch him shower. She refused his invitations several times before leaving the room.

Laura Madden — Multiple times beginning in 1991. Story by the New York Times.

Madden, a film producer, was asked multiple times by Weinstein to give him massages when meeting him at hotels in London and Dublin. She told the Times “he had a way of making anyone who objected feel like an outlier.”

Emily Nestor — December 2014. Story by The New Yorker and The New York Times.

Nestor, an aspiring actress at the time, had started her first day as a temporary front-desk assistant at The Weinstein Company when he invited her to meet him at the Peninsula Beverly Hills hotel the next morning for coffee. She had become aware of Weinstein’s reputation through friends and other employees but agreed to meet him.

In that meeting, Weinstein proposed that she accept his sexual advances and be his girlfriend in exchange for his support in the industry. She refused but as he continued to insist, she told The New Yorker that Weinstein seemed to gloat over his past encounters with other women who had initially declined but then accepted his advances after a few drinks, and that he had never drugged a woman “like Bill Cosby.”

Nestor told a friend about the incident and he reported it to the company’s human resources department. But the department, and others in the company who were aware of Weinstein’s behavior were ineffective in deterring it.

Jennifer Siebel NewsomStory written for The Huffington Post.

Filmmaker Siebel Newsom said her encounter with Weinstein mirrored the “disturbing, but not at all shocking” stories of those reported by The New York Times. “I was incredibly naïve,” she wrote in a piece for the Huffington Post. “New to the industry, and didn’t know how to deal with his aggressive advances,” including “an invitation to meet with him about a role in The Peninsula Hotel, where staff were present and then all of the sudden disappeared like clockwork, leaving me alone with this extremely powerful and intimidating Hollywood legend.”

Brit Marling — 2014. Story by The Atlantic.

Marling was trying to break in into the film industry when she said she agreed to a business meeting with Weinstein at a hotel bar but was directed to his suite by an assistant. In a piece for the Atlantic, Marling detailed an encounter with Weinstein that followed the same pattern as other allegations that have surfaced in the past couple of weeks: Weinstein invited her to her suite, offered her a massage and asked if they could shower together. Unsure of how to decline advances from Weinstein, whom she saw as a “gatekeeper” to her future career, she said she left the room shaking.

Lupita Nyong’o — Circa 2011. Story by the New York Times.

Then an aspiring actress and a student at the Yale School of Drama, Nyong’o said she accepted an invitation to watch a film with Weinstein and his children in his home in Westport, Connecticut. As the film began, Weinstein asked her to follow him into the bedroom where he allegedly offered to give her a massage. Panicked, Nyong’o offered to give him one instead. “It would allow me to be in control physically,” she wrote in an op-ed for The New York Times, “to know exactly where his hands were at all times.” She said Weinstein wanted to undress himself but she told him she was uncomfortable and they returned to view the film. In a later encounter, Nyong’o met Weinstein for drinks in New York, where Weinstein propositioned her, asking her to go with him to private room upstairs and that, as Nyong’o wrote, “If I wanted to be an actress, then I had to be willing to do this sort of thing.” She declined his offer and Weinstein ended the meeting with ambivalent comments about her career that she said “felt like both a threat and a reassurance at the same time.”

Gwyneth Paltrow — Mid 1990s. Story by the New York Times.

In a follow-up story, the Times spoke with Gwyneth Paltrow, who said she was invited to Weinstein’s hotel room when she was 22. There, he suggested that Paltrow give him a massage. The actress refused his advances and told the newspaper that Weinstein warned her to keep the secret. Paltrow, who at the time was recently hired to lead the 1996 movie “Emma,” said she thought he was going to fire her.

Samantha Panagrosso — 2003. Story by Variety.

Panagrosso, a model, said Weinstein made unwanted sexual advances toward her at a dinner during the 2003 Cannes Film Festival. Later, he walked into her cabin on a friend’s yacht where she had been staying, pushed her on the bed and tried to grope her.

“I tried to play it off because I thought he’s not going to do anything because my friends are on the boat,” Panagrosso said. Ignoring her rejection, Weinstein asked her for a massage and to let him see her breasts. She told Variety that “it got very frustrating to get him out. It was like bargaining.”

Sarah Polley — 1998. Story written for The New York Times.

The New York Times published an op-ed by Sarah Polley, a Canadian writer, director and actor, who described a 1998 meeting with Harvey Weinstein, a publicist and a co-worker in which Weinstein referenced famous stars with whom he was close. Weinstein told her that if they had “that kind of ‘close relationship,’” her career would likewise take off. Polley refused Weinstein’s proposition and wrote that at the time, “like so many, I didn’t know what to do with all of it. I’ve grown up in this industry, surrounded by predatory behavior, and the idea of making people care about it seemed as distant an ambition as pulling the sun out of the sky.”

Tomi-Ann Roberts — 1984. Story by The New York Times.

Weinstein once urged Tomi-Ann Roberts, then 20 years old in 1984, to audition for a movie. When she met him at a hotel for a meeting about the movie, Weinstein appeared nude under a bathrobe. He suggested she, too, get naked. She left.

Melissa Sagemiller — Summer of 2000. Story by The Huffington Post.

Actress Sagemiller said she met with Weinstein in his hotel room to discuss a script, but he appeared in a bathrobe and asked her for a massage and a kiss while blocking the door. She was able to leave after she kissed him on the lips and he allegedly said, “OK, you can go now. That’s all I wanted. Just do what I say and you can get your way.” Sagemiller said Weinstein made inappropriate sexual advances toward her in two other separate occasions.

Léa Seydoux — Circa 2012. Story by The Guardian.

Actress Lea Seydoux said Weinstein tried to kiss her on the lips during a conversation about her career in his hotel room. She said he was “very domineering” in his advances. “I pushed him physically. I think he respected me because I resisted him,” she told The Guardian.

Lauren Sivan — 2007. Story by Huffington Post

Lauren Sivan, who was a television anchor at the time for a New York cable channel, said Weinstein cornered her at a restaurant in Manhattan. Sivan said she rejected his attempt to kiss her and he then exposed himself to her and began to masturbate.

Mira Sorvino — September 1995. Story by The New Yorker.

Sorvino said Weinstein sexually harassed her at the Toronto International Film Festival more than 22 years ago. The actress was alone with Weinstein in a hotel room, when he started to massage her shoulders, making her uncomfortable. He then tried to get more physical. After refusing Weinstein’s advances, Sorvino left the room. In a separate incident weeks later, the magazine reported that Weinstein called Sorvino to say he was coming to her apartment. Sorvino said she eventually was able to ward Weinstein, who arrived at her door past midnight, off, by saying her new boyfriend, who was really a friend, was coming over.

Paula Wachowiak — 1980. Story by The Buffalo News.

Wachowiak was 24 years old, working as a production assistant for Weinstein in 1980, when she said she was asked to take a folder with checks to his hotel room to get them signed. According to Wachowiak, when she walked into the room, she realized Weinstein was naked with only a hand towel around his waist. She said he then dropped the towel and covered himself with the folder Wachowiak gave him, while he asked her for a massage. Wachowiak reportedly repeatedly refused Weinstein’s demands saying, “that’s not in my job description,” and left the room when he signed the checks.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences building is seen in Beverly Hills, California. Photo by Danny Moloshok/Reuters

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences building is seen in Beverly Hills, California. Photo by Danny Moloshok/Reuters

The fallout

The board of directors of The Weinstein Company, which Weinstein co-founded in 2005, announced Weinstein’s termination on Oct 8. The decision was made by four members, including Weinstein’s Brother, Robert Weinstein, after three members of the company’s board resigned due to the revelations.

Weinstein acknowledged the allegations that first became public on Thursday in an apology letter where he attributed his behavior to coming “of age in the 60’s and 70’s, when all the rules about behavior and workplaces were different,” and wrote that he planned to work with therapists to “deal with the issue head on.”
On Friday, The Weinstein Company said Weinstein would take an indefinite leave of absence and that it would hire a law firm to investigate the allegations, while Weinstein said in an interview with The Wrap that he planned to sue the Times.

But as new information emerged, those who initially stood behind Weinstein decided to sever ties. Lisa Bloom, Weinstein’s legal advisor, resigned on Saturday amid criticism from company board members who disapproved of her counseling, according to the Times. And Weinstein’s wife, Georgina Chapman, told People magazine she would leave him.

What are those in the industry saying?

New voices within Hollywood have emerged to denounce Weinstein’s behavior.

In an interview with the Daily Beast, George Clooney called Weinstein’s actions “indefensible” but said he had never known about the behavior.

Actress Meryl Streep also condemned the behavior in a statement to the Huffington Post and added, “not everybody knew. Harvey supported the work fiercely, was exasperating but respectful with me in our working relationship, and with many others with whom he worked professionally.”

Dozens of Democratic lawmakers who received campaign contributions from Weinstein, including Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., pledged to give away the money to charities. President Donald Trump also commented on the scandal telling reporters, “I’ve known Harvey Weinstein for a long time. I’m not at all surprised to see it.”

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which awarded Weinstein an Oscar in 1999 for producing “Shakespeare in Love,” issued a statement Oct. 11 that called Weinstein’s behavior “repugnant, abhorrent, and antithetical to the high standards of the Academy and the creative community it represents,” and said it would address the scandal in a board of governors meeting Oct. 14. The British Academy of Film and Television Arts suspended Weinstein’s membership from the organization.

What’s next?

Several news organizations followed this story for years. Kim Masters, editor-at-large at The Hollywood Reporter, called it Hollywood’s “open secret” and told NPR that “many of us have tried literally over the course of the last couple of decades,” to expose Weinstein’s alleged sexual misconduct.

Pushback from Weinstein and insufficient sourcing prevented them from putting the story in print, the Huffington Post reported. And a culture of complicity within the industry silenced alleged victims.

“There is a vast machine set up to silence these women,” Ronan Farrow told the NewsHour Tuesday. “We’re talking about legal settlements where women were paid to sign very restrictive disclosure agreements. We’re talking about a public relations team that plants negative items about women,” he added.

READ MORE: All the assault allegations against Donald Trump, recapped

PBS NewsHour will update this story as it develops.