Harvey Weinstein will be stripped of his French Legion of Honor.
The French President Emmanuel Macron has announced that he has “taken steps” to remove the honor – which is handed out as an order of merit for great military or civil acts – from the 65-year-old producer after he was given it in 2012 by the then-President Nicholas Sarkozy.
A spokesperson for President Macron said that the 39-year-old politician says the allegations made against the producer, who has been accused of sexually assaulting a number of women over three decades, mean he “is in contradiction with honor”.
It comes after Harvey’s membership of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was revoked.
In a statement, the Academy said: “[The board had] to immediately expel him from the Academy. We do so not simply to separate ourselves from someone who does not merit the respect of his colleagues but also to send a message that the era of willful ignorance and shameful complicity in sexually predatory behavior and workplace harassment in our industry is over.
“What’s at issue here is a deeply troubling problem that has no place in our society. The board continues to work to establish ethical standards of conduct that all Academy members will be expected to exemplify.”
It was the board of governors – who included the likes of Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, and Whoopi Goldberg – decided to revoke the membership with “well in excess of the two-thirds majority” voted to revoke Weinstein’s membership.
Harvey’s brother Bob has called for his older sibling – whose wife Georgina Chapman walked out on him – to have his ownership interest in The Weinstein Company “severed” after he was sacked from the organisation after the allegations surfaced.
