Reckoning Finally Arrives for Weinstein, Thanks to Brave Woman Who Spoke Out (Column)
Summary
I know I speak for a majority of women in Hollywood — and certainly the dozens of survivors who were abused by Harvey Weinstein over the years — when I say, thank goodness he was not absolved of the heinous crimes he was proven to have committed. I could only imagine the acute and massive outrage that would have been voiced had the disgraced mogul been acquitted of all charges against him in his New York rape trial. At the same time, there are those who believe his acquittal on three of the five potential criminal charges stopped short of full justice and robbed us of knowing he’d spend the rest of his life in jail. One of the most crucial messages of his conviction is that other perpetrators of sexual assault and rape will know that they can be held responsible for their criminal actions. Our senior music editor, Jem Aswad, made this chilling point to me: “Yes, R. Kelly is currently in jail on multiple sexual-misconduct charges, and several other artists and executives have been run out of the business on charges of sexual misconduct, but there’s a stronger sense of relief from those who dodged similar bullets than there is actual change in the air.”