Harvey Weinstein was expelled from the American Academy for sexual harassment.

The Hollywood mogul is the first person in the history of the Oscars organization to be disqualified for ethical reasons.

According to The Guardian, the announcement was made on October 14th after a special meeting of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Los Angeles, USA. The Oscar organizers decided to disqualify Harvey Weinstein due to his sexual harassment scandal. In its 90-year history, the Academy has only expelled one other member, Carmine Caridi, for distributing copies of films submitted for Oscars in 2004.

Thus, Harvey Weinstein was the first person to be expelled for ethical reasons. Previously, some members such as Roman Polanski, Bill Cosby, and Mel Gibson remained in the Academy despite being accused or suspected of committing crimes.

Harvey Weinstein has been removed from the Oscar organizing committee.

According to Academy practice, a two-thirds majority vote among the 54 board members is required to expel a member. The Guardian quoted a representative from the institution as saying: "We are doing this to distance ourselves from someone who does not deserve the respect of their colleagues. At the same time, we want to send a message about the end of an era of deliberate indifference and shameful complicity with sexual assault and harassment in the film industry."

"Such an extremely unpleasant issue must not be allowed to occur in our society. The leadership continues to set ethical standards of conduct, and every member of the Academy must set an example for that," a representative of the institution shared.

* Harvey Weinstein and the "Shakespeare in Love" team receive Oscars

Meanwhile, some argue that "firing" Harvey Weinstein would set a bad precedent. Mitchell Block, a member of the short film and animation group, said: "It's wrong for the Academy to react to Harvey as if he were the only pervert in Hollywood. The issue is much bigger than that. People are increasingly paying attention to the silence surrounding other perverts. I think the Academy shouldn't act hastily until it understands the full scale of the problem and has a clear policy."

Harvey Weinstein is a veteran producer and distributor who has mentored numerous Oscar-winning films. His company's films have received over 300 Oscar nominations in total. According to The Guardian, Harvey is the second most thanked person in Oscar acceptance speeches, second only to the legendary Steven Spielberg. He won the Oscar in 1999 when Shakespeare in Love – a film he produced – won "Best Picture".

Harvey Weinstein once mentored Gwyneth Paltrow (second from the right) to win the Oscar for "Best Actress".

On October 5th, the New York Times published an article accusing Harvey Weinstein of sexually harassing dozens of women over the past three decades. In the days that followed, actresses such as Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Léa Seydoux all accused the mogul, born in 1952. In Vietnam, former model Vu Thu Phuong also stated that Harvey Weinstein sexually harassed her after she starred in the film Shanghai, released by his company. This sex scandal has been widely considered by European and American media outlets as one of the most shocking scandals of the year.

In addition to being expelled from the American Academy, Harvey was also suspended from BAFTA – the British Academy of Film and Television Arts – and fired from Weinstein Company, the company he founded.

According to VNE