Disgraced film producer and entertainment mogul Harvey Weinstein, who was a focal point of the powerful #MeToo movement, was rushed from prison to the operating table on Monday for an emergency heart procedure.
According to a Fox News report, Weinstein, 72, was rushed from Rikers Island to Bellevue on Sunday evening due to “several medical complications.”
“As we have extensively stated before, Mr. Weinstein suffers a plethora of significant health issues that need ongoing treatment,” Craig Rothfeld and Juda Engelmayer, Weinstein’s authorized representatives, told Fox News in a statement.
“We are grateful to the executive team at the New York City Department of Correction and Rikers Island for acting swiftly in taking him to Bellevue Hospital.”
Weinstein has been in and out of court after his rape conviction in New York was overturned in April. A judge tentatively set his rape retrial to begin Nov. 12.
In late July, Weinstein was hospitalized with double pneumonia and COVID.
“Weinstein is being treated for the myriad of health conditions that he is still afflicted with on a daily basis, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, spinal stenosis, fluid in his heart and lungs, and various other conditions,” representative Craig Rothfeld told Fox News at the time.
“In addition, Mr. Weinstein tested positive for COVID and contracted double pneumonia in his lungs,”
A New York appeals court overturned Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction on April 25, ordering a new trial in a stunning reversal of a landmark #MeToo case.
In a 4-3 decision, the court found that Weinstein’s trial judge had allowed prosecutors to call as witnesses women who had said Weinstein had assaulted them, even though their accusations did not specifically relate to the entertainment mogul’s charges.
Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison after being convicted in February 2020 of forcing oral sex on TV and film production assistant Mimi Haley in 2006 and third-degree rape of hairstylist Jessica Mann in 2013.
This is an ongoing story. Check back for further developments.