New York (AFP) – Disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein, 72, was rushed from a New York prison to hospital for emergency heart surgery on Monday, US media reported. ABC News quoted Weinstein’s representatives as saying he was taken to New York’s Bellevue Hospital “due to several medical conditions.”
“We can confirm that Mr. Weinstein had a procedure and surgery on his heart today; however, (we) cannot comment any further than that,” the statement from Craig Rothfeld and Juda Engelmayer said. Weinstein is being held at the Rikers Island prison, where he is serving a 16-year sentence after being convicted on rape charges by a California court.
He had also been convicted by a New York court in 2020 of the rape and sexual assault of actor Jessica Mann and of forcibly performing oral sex on a production assistant. He was sentenced to 23 years in prison in that case. An appeals court, however, overturned that conviction in April, a shock reversal in one of the defining cases of the #MeToo movement. He is now awaiting retrial in that case.
Prosecutors say they may bring new sexual assault charges against him ahead of the retrial, and Weinstein was due to attend a procedural hearing in that case on Thursday. His lawyers have argued for a retrial in the California case, too. Arthur Aidala, Weinstein’s lawyer, said in July that his client’s health had been deteriorating in prison. The once-powerful film mogul has made court appearances in a wheelchair, looking frail and pale.
“He’s not a young man, he’s a sick man,” Aidala said at the time. “His diabetes is going through the roof.” In 2017, the allegations against Weinstein helped launch the #MeToo movement, a watershed moment for women fighting sexual misconduct. More than 80 women accused him of harassment, sexual assault or rape, including prominent actors Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Ashley Judd.
Weinstein says that any sexual relations in question were consensual. He and his brother Bob co-founded Miramax Films in 1979, a major Hollywood studio behind such diverse hits as “Pulp Fiction,” “There Will Be Blood,” and “Shakespeare in Love.”
© 2024 AFP
