The Weinstein Company, the studio co-founded by disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, filed for voluntary bankruptcy and entered into an agreement to sell its assets to a Dallas-based equity firm late on Monday, March 19.
But that isn’t the only big news. It also announced it is lifting all nondisclosure agreements that may have prevented employees from talking about their experiences with Weinstein, who has been accused by more than 70 women of sexual harassment or assault. (The 66-year-old has denied all allegations of rape and insists sexual relations he had were consensual.)
“Today, the Company also takes an important step toward justice for any victims who have been silenced by Harvey Weinstein. Since October, it has been reported that Harvey Weinstein used non-disclosure agreements as a secret weapon to silence his accusers,” the company said in a statement. “Effective immediately, those ‘agreements’ end.”
“The Company expressly releases any confidentiality provision to the extent it has prevented individuals who suffered or witnessed any form of sexual misconduct by Harvey Weinstein from telling their stories. No one should be afraid to speak out or coerced to stay quiet,” the statement continued. ”The Company thanks thanks the courageous individuals who have already come forward. Your voices have inspired a moment for change across the country and around the world.”
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, whose office sued Weinstein Company for not protecting its employees praised the announcement.
“This is a watershed moment for efforts to address the corrosive effects of sexual misconduct in the workplace,” Schneiderman wrote in a statement. “The Weinstein Company’s agreement to release victims of and witnesses to sexual misconduct of non-disclosure agreements, which my office has sought throughout this investigation and litigation, will finally enable voices that have for too long been muzzled to be heard.”
As previously reported, Weinstein was fired from his own company in early October following a New York Times report that detailed decades of sexual harassment allegations.
