Harvey Weinstein, the once upon a time “King of Hollywood,” has been sentenced to 23 years in prison. His sex crimes, which resurfaced in October of 2017, proved that he harassed nearly 80 women over the years. He has been using his power and domination in Hollywood to make women fear the thought of speaking out against him. But, one after another, his accusers stood together and finally spoke out, fueling the empowering #MeToo movement. 

Weinstein’s six accusers sat in the front row in the courtroom as they watched the man who broke them finally pay the price. Mimi Haleyi, one of Weinstein’s accusers, gave a heartbreaking testimony about their encounter in 2006.

“He pushed me down. He held me down by my arms. I said, ‘No!’ I said, ‘No, no!’ I didn’t know what was actually happening. This is me being raped,” Haleyi said.

She addressed feeling “very stupid” that she had been “so excited to go and see him” and that he treated her that way.

His second accuser, Jessica Mann, met Weinstein as an aspiring actress.

Mann and Weinstein met in 2012 at an industry party where he took an interest in her and her roommate. He had told them they would be “perfect to play the leads in a film he was producing called ‘Vampire Academy.'” Mann thought of Weinstein as her saving grace and knew him as the true guru of Hollywood.

However, she had no idea how to respond when he began to sexually mistreat her.

“It was basically him wanting to see me, needing a fix like a drug addict,” Mann said. “He was manipulative and alternated between cajoling me, mocking my naiveté and ultimately exploding in anger. It was “like Jekyll and Hyde.””

Weinstein was given a chance to speak at the courtroom.

“I really feel remorse for this situation,” Weinstein said. “I feel it deeply in my heart. I’m really trying, I’m really trying to be a better person.”

However, Justice James A. Burke, along with everyone Weinstein has hurt, had no need to have any remorse for him. Weinstein was given 20 years for his attack on Haleyi and another 3 years for raping Mann. Weinstein is ordered to be moved to an upstate prison within the next 10 days and will most likely be spending the rest of his life there. 

Out of the many valuable things can truly be taken away from this case, the most important one may be the fact that no one will ever again be strong enough to silence women. Rose McGowan, an early Weinstein accuser, told BBC today that “the little girl I was when I was hurt, she’s ecstatic. This is a great day. The trash has been taken out.”

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