Weinstein Bankruptcy and NDA Fallout

In March, The Weinstein Company filed for bankruptcy protection and while that on its own is big news, the bigger story is that due to the company’s recent filing of Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the company released many of the victims of the ex-chairman and founder, Harvey Weinstein, from non-disclosure agreements that essentially served as a gag order to prevent them from speaking out against Weinstein.

Harvey Weinstein began getting ousted for his abuse of power and sexual assault in late 2017. Many celebrities came forward after a New York Times article detailed how for almost three decades Harvey had abused his high position in Hollywood to coerce young aspiring actresses into partaking in his “casting couch” among other accusations.

Weinstein’s abuse was somewhat of an open secret in Hollywood with rumors of said “casting couch” being a sort of joke amongst Hollywood’s elite. With his methods of coercion being referenced numerous times in the past, with one of the more notable examples being Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane joking “congratulations, you five ladies no longer have to pretend to be attracted to Harvey Weinstein.” After announcing the nominees for best supporting actress during the 85th Academy Awards, a few years before Weinstein would be outed as a predator.

As of this writing, the list of Weinstein’s accusers is at a staggering 97 with the number expected to increase now that many people have been released from the NDA that made them keep quiet on their abuse.

The fall of Harvey Weinstein has been quite the sight; his wife divorcing him, his membership to the academy being revoked, getting dismissed from his own company, and a litany of other things. Weinstein unintentionally opened the door for the MeToo movement and other anti-sexual abuse and assault movements in Hollywood.