Harvey Weinstein has been taken to hospital after complaining of chest pains, according to his representative.
The disgraced movie mogul was remanded into custody on Monday morning (local time) after a jury convicted him on charges of sexual assault and third-degree rape.
Weinstein’s lawyer Arthur Aidala quoted Weinstein as saying to him after the verdict “I’m innocent. I’m innocent. How can this happen in America?”
Another of his defence attorneys, Donna Rotunno, said “Harvey is unbelievably strong. He took it like a man.”
Harvey Weinstein being lead away in cuffs, for your viewing pleasure.pic.twitter.com/YCHQ3K6zlx
— ☠️ Lilith Lovett ☠️ (@LilithLovett) February 24, 2020
Celebrities and activists welcomed the guilty verdict against the Academy Award-winning producer who had reigned as one of Hollywood’s most powerful figures.
“Today is a powerful day & a huge step forward in our collective healing,” tweeted actress Rose McGowan, who has accused Weinstein of raping her.
“For the women who testified in this case, and walked through traumatic hell, you did a public service to girls and women everywhere, thank you,” tweeted actress Ashley Judd, one of the first women in October 2017 to publicly accuse Weinstein of sexual misconduct.
“Gratitude to the brave women who’ve testified and to the jury for seeing through the dirty tactics of the defense,” tweeted actress Rosanna Arquette, who has said she resisted unwanted sexual advances by Weinstein.
Today is a powerful day & a huge step forward in our collective healing
— rose mcgowan (@rosemcgowan) February 24, 2020
“Today’s outcome in Harvey Weinstein’s New York trial is the result of the decisions of multiple women to come forward to journalists and to prosecutors at great personal cost and risk. Please keep those women in your thoughts today,” New Yorker journalist Ronan Farrow, who broke stories about allegations against Weinstein, wrote on Twitter.
Ambra Gutierrez, who helped expose Weinstein, believes the verdict is just the start.
“This is an example for many to follow,” she said outside the courtroom.
“The era of impunity for powerful men who rape people is over,” actress Mira Sorvino said, breaking down in tears on a conference call of Weinstein’s former accusers.
“He will rot in jail as he deserves.”
Weinstein made his mark with critically acclaimed films such as The English Patient, Pulp Fiction and Shakespeare in Love.
For the women who testified in this case, and walked through traumatic hell, you did a public service to girls and women everywhere, thank you.#ConvictWeinstein #Guilty
— ashley judd (@AshleyJudd) February 24, 2020
But more than 80 women, including famous actresses, accused him of sexual misconduct dating back decades.
He had denied the allegations and said any sexual encounters were consensual.
Weinstein was due to be transferred to the jail on Rikers Island, but instead was diverted to Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan.
Bellevue is known for its psychiatric facility, but it also serves as a hospital for jail inmates.
Weinstein had been free on $US2 million bond, but Justice James Burke ordered him held in jail prior to sentencing on March 11.
His attorney, Donna Rotunno, urged the judge to allow him to remain free, saying that he recently had unsuccessful back surgery and requires shots in order to keep from going blind.
Weinstein cut a feeble figure in court, appeaing most days with a walker, which his attorneys attribute to lingering back issues.
He sometimes leaned on Ms Rotunno for support.
During a TV interview on Fox News with Martha MacCallum on Monday evening, Ms Rotunno was asked if Weinstein would be getting medical care at whichever prison facility he ends up in, since he was remanded.
Ms Rotunno said her client will be receiving medical care, and she mentioned that he was having heart palpitations on Monday, though she did not reveal that he was admitted to the hospital with chest pains.
But there has been little sympathy for Weinstein, after a procession of women recounted his history of predatory behaviour.
Today’s outcome in Harvey Weinstein’s New York trial is the result of the decisions of multiple women to come forward to journalists and to prosecutors at great personal cost and risk. Please keep those women in your thoughts today.
— Ronan Farrow (@RonanFarrow) February 24, 2020
Testimony of “prior bad acts” is generally not allowed in criminal trials, but an exception to the law allowed prosecutors to call these women to show Weinstein had a particular intention or a signature pattern of behaviour.
Lauren Young, a model and actress, testified that the producer trapped her in a hotel bathroom in 2013, masturbated in front of her while groping her breasts, and told her “this is what all the actresses do to make it.”
Weinstein faces five to 29 years in prison.
