“I appreciate the way I’ve behaved with colleagues in the past has caused a lot of pain, and I sincerely apologize for it. Though I’m trying to do better, I know I have a long way to go.” This is Harvey Weinstein’s “apology”. Some of you might not know who Harvey Weinstein is. I’m sure a lot of you have heard his name or heard that he’s a producer in the past week or so, but that’s not enough to understand who he is. A producer is someone who finances and manages, a production and Weinstein was one of the most successful especially throughout the 1990’s. Weinstein played rough, allegedly running smear campaigns against his opponents and having many meeting with Academy board members. He was an awards powerhouse having a historic 81 Oscar wins, many of which you might know like Gangs of New York (2002), Pulp Fiction (1994), The King’s Speech (2010), The Butler (2013), and many more.

An investigation by The New York Times found previously undisclosed allegations against Weinstein stretching over nearly three decades. Throughout his career he was assaulting women. 1997- won 11 Oscars appears naked in hotel room and asks 23 year old Zoe Brock for a massage, 1999- won 10 Oscars and asks 22 year old Gwyneth Paltrow to “give him a massage” in his hotel room, 2015 – won 2 Oscars and admits on a NYPD sting tape to groping Battilana Gutierrez a behavior he is “used to”. Weinstein has been stripped of all awards, removed from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and many other organization.

Hollywood has a bad track record of letting powerful and beloved men get away with crimes. This is best exemplified to me by Roman Polanski. Roman Polanski has been a fugitive of the U.S. justice system since 1978, because after being charged with the rape of 13 year old girl he fled the country and has not returned since. In 2002 he won the Oscar for Best Director for “The Pianist”, the announcement met with a standing ovation and awkward dancing around why “Roman couldn’t be there”.  Finally seeing an influential man not only accused of sexual assault, harassment and rape, but actually punished for it, is incredibly important. Many more have been accused of assault in the weeks following, because victims feel that they won’t be called slurs across the media and watch their careers slip away and their accusations forgotten. There are more Harvey Weinstein’s in Hollywood, maybe not to the same degree, and some even worse, but that’s not what’s important. What we have to take away from this is that we should believe the first accuser, we should stand behind them, and not let public and/or personal love for a celebrity cloud our judgement because they are people too, and their fame and wealth does not excuse them from horrendous actions.