Civil rights attorney Lisa Bloom has stepped down as legal adviser to embattled Hollywood film producer Harvey Weinstein as the once powerful movie mogul continues to come under fire for a slew of recently surfaced sexual harassment allegations dating back nearly three decades.
Ms. Bloom announced her decision Saturday afternoon on Twitter two days after The New York Times first reported that Mr. Weinstein, the co-founder of The Weinstein Company and Miramax production companies, has settled with at least eight women over the years to resolve claims of sexual harassment and other misconduct, prompting a third of The Weinstein Company’s all-male board to resign Friday and causing its remaining members to launch an independent investigation into the allegations.
“I have resigned as an advisor to Harvey Weinstein,” Ms. Bloom tweeted Saturday. “My understanding is that Mr. Weinstein and his board are moving toward an agreement,” her tweet said.
The explosive Times report published Thursday contained several disturbing accounts provided by actresses and other woman who said they were subject to Mr. Weinstein’s unwanted sexual advances beginning as far back as 1990 and as recently as 2015.
“I appreciate the way I’ve behaved with colleagues in the past has caused a lot of pain, and I sincerely apologize for it. Though I’m trying to do better, I know I have a long way to go,” Mr. Weinstein said of the claims.
The Huffington Post subsequently published a report of its own after conducting an on-the-record interview with a former Fox News reporter who said Mr. Weinstein masturbated in front of her inside a Manhattan restaurant.
Ms. Bloom had been advising Mr. Weinstein for the past year, The New York Times reported, but stressed during an interview broadcast by “Good Morning America” on Friday that she was not representing him in any legal matters.
“I’m not defending him in any sexual harassment cases — there aren’t any sexual harassment cases,” Ms. Bloom said at the time. “I’m working with a guy who has behaved badly over the years, who is genuinely remorseful, who says, you know, ’I have caused a lot of pain.’”
“I’ve often wished I could get in on the other side and knock the guy around a little and tell him to knock it off … Remarkably, I now have the opportunity to do that,” she said.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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