Motion Picture Academy Ousts Harvey Weinstein, Opening Door To Revisiting Polanski's Free Ride

Motion Picture Academy Ousts Harvey Weinstein, Opening Door To Revisiting Polanski's Free Ride

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences voted overwhelmingly to "immediately expel" Harvey Weinstein in an emergency meeting on Saturday. The decision broke 90 years of precedent, with the 54-member board of governors ousting one of the biggest Oscar layers in history over investigations by The New York Times and The New Yorkers that revealed countless sexual harassment and rape allegations against Weinstein going back decades. 

Women including Whoopi Goldberg, Lucasfilm chief Kathleen Kennedy and documentarian rory Kennedy comprise about 40 percent of the Academy members.

The academy said the vote was “well in excess of the required two-thirds majority.”