Newly released emails show Bob Weinstein's fury at his brother.
By Rebekah Kuschmider — Written on Mar 10, 2020
Many convicts enter their sentencing hearing knowing that their family will be there to plead for leniency on their behalf. That won't be the case of Harvey Weinstein when he enters a New York courtroom to hear his fate tomorrow. His brother and former business partner Bob Weinstein has made it very clear that he is on the side of the women Harvey abused, not on the side of his convicted rapist brother.
The younger Weinstein has been open about his disgust about the crimes his brother has been accused of. Since 2017, when the allegations were made public in The New York Times and The New Yorker, he immediately condemned his brother's actions. He agreed to the process that took Harvey Weinstein out of their eponymous company and didn't think he should ever have a presence in Hollywood again.
Now, the court has released emails between the two brothers from 2017 showing that Bob was just as scathing in private as he was in public.
Who is Harvey Weinstein's brother?
1. Who is Harvey Weinstein's brother, Bob Weinstein?
Bob Weinstein is Harvey's Weinstein's younger brother. The two brothers were entrepreneurial from a young age, starting a music promotion business during the 1970s. They used the profits from that venture to form Miramax — named after their parents Miriam and Max Weinstein — and began acquiring distribution rights for films. They started out with documentaries at the beginning, then moved into art films over time. By 1993, they were successful enough that Disney offered to buy the company. They agreed to the deal and remained at the helm of the company, producing some of the biggest hits of the 1990s including Pulp Fiction, Shakespeare In Love, Good Will Hunting, The English Patient and many others.
2. They formed The Weinstein Company together in 2005.
In 2005, they decided to begin a new venture with The Weinstein Company. Harvey was the face of the company and he was the force behind films like Django Unchained and The Kings Speech, films that collected major awards. Bob headed up Dimension, a division of the company known more for popcorn flicks like the Scary Movie series. Harvey operated out of New York while Bob was more often in LA.
3. Bob was shocked and disgusted when the allegations about his brother came to light.
In 2017, stories in the New York Times and the New Yorker broke open the story that Harvey Weinstein had a long history of assaulting women. Dozens of women from all parts of the film and television industry told their stories of being lured to Weinstein's hotel room under false pretenses only to have him sexually assault them. He sometimes paid women off to remain silent about the assaults. Others were his employees and signed non-disclosure agreements as part of their settlements.
Bob Weinstein was swift to condemn his brother. "I find myself in a waking nightmare. My brother has caused unconscionable suffering," he told reporters in 2017. "As a father of three girls, I say this with every bone in my body — I am heartbroken for the women that he has harmed. I'm a fighter. For my entire adult life, I fought for the films I want to see the light of day. I have fought for my employees, who have dedicated their lives to achieving the vision of this company that me and my brother founded. But I cannot fight what is indefensible."
Bob and Harvey Weinstein.
4. He says he always knew his brother was a cheater, but not a rapist.
Many insiders at the time said Harvey's behavior with women was an open secret, but Bob claimed he thought it was just promiscuity on Harvey's part, not a long series of assaults against dozens of women.
"I actually was quite aware that Harvey was philandering with every woman he could meet. I was sick and disgusted by his actions. But that's the extent of what [I knew]. I said, "Harvey, you're just cheating. Why do you constantly cheat?" I could see it. But I wasn't in the room with him," the younger Weinstein recalled. "For me, I thought he was literally just going out there cheating in a pervasive way. It wasn't like he even had a mistress. It was one after another and that I was aware of. But as far as being in a room and hearing the description in The New York Times? No way. No F-in' way was I aware that that was the type of predator that he was. And the way he convinced people to do things? I thought they were all consensual situations."
He also explained that it had been years since he had interacted with his brother on a regular basis. He had chosen to move out to LA partly for busines and partly to get away from a man he said was verbally abusive to everyone, including him.
5. Now his correspondence with Harvey himself is public.
In February 2020, Harvey Weinstein was convicted of one count of sexual rape in the third degree and one count of committing a criminal sexual act. He could serve up to 29 years in prison for the two crimes and he is going to be sentenced on March 11, 2020. Before the sentencing hearing, the court unsealed evidence, including emails from Bob to Harvey in 2017.
“F–k u Harvey Weinstein. I pray there is a real hell. That’s where u belong,” Bob Weinstein wrote in 2017. “I suppose being you, is its own hell, if u could feel it, but no chance."
He went on to say “U deserve a lifetime achievement award for the sheer savagery and immorality and inhumanness, for the acts u have perpetrated.” He continued in another message. “What did u ever do wrong, except bully and abuse people in your whole life and now say crap like everyone makes mistakes,” Bob wrote. U have hurt, so many innocent women, your family, mine, me, your former employee, disgraced the name Weinstein. The saddest part of all this, is that u will rationalize, minimize and compartmentalize, it all away.”
6. What will happen next in this case?
Harvey Weinstein's lawyers are pleading for a light sentence on the grounds that their client is in poor health. He suffered a cardiac episode on the day of his conviction and was taken to Bellevue Hospital for surgery to recover in a locked ward. Once he was ready for transport, he was taken to Riker's Island to await his sentence. He is in the infirmary there, allegedly. His attorneys say his health is so poor that even five years in prison would likely kill him.
If given the maximum sentences, he could be in prison for up to 29 years. He is also awaiting a trial on additional criminal charges in Los Angeles.
RELATED: Shocking Testimony: Mimi Haleyi Says Harvey Weinstein Removed Her Tampon To Sexually Assault Her
Rebekah Kuschmider has been writing about celebrities, pop culture, entertainment, and politics since 2010. She is the creator of the blog FeminXer and she is a cohost of the weekly podcast The More Perfect Union.