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Queen Elizabeth formally strips Harvey Weinstein of his British honour

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Britain’s Queen Elizabeth has formally stripped Harvey Weinstein of his honorary award following his conviction for sexually assaulting a former production assistant and raping an actress.

“The Queen has directed that the appointment of Harvey Weinstein to be an Honorary Commander of the Civil Division of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, dated 29 January 2004, shall be cancelled and annulled,” according to an official announcement in the London Gazette said.

Weinstein, 68, is serving a 23-year prison term in New York state following his February 24 conviction. He has appealed the conviction.

He was sentenced to prison in March this year following his sexual assault and rape conviction in a case hailed as a victory for the #MeToo movement against sexual misconduct, after he made an unrepentant statement to the court.

The sentence was handed down in the Manhattan criminal court by Justice James Burke, who presided over Weinstein’s trial. A jury on February 24 found Weinstein guilty of sexually assaulting former production assistant Mimi Haleyi and raping former aspiring actress Jessica Mann.

“I feel remorse for all of the men who are going through this fight,” Weinstein told the court before he was sentenced.

Weinstein said he was worried about “thousands of men” being denied due process in the #MeToo era.

In a rambling statement, he said he was “confused” and that he believed he had a “serious friendship” with Mann and Haleyi.

Once one of Hollywood’s most influential producers, Weinstein had faced the possibility of a maximum sentence of 29 years in prison.

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance told reporters afterward that the judge “sent a message today that this type behaviour is something that any potential offender is going to have to consider. The judge took it seriously, which is exactly how we think he should have. And we’re grateful.”

Weinstein, wearing a suit and sitting in a wheelchair, and the six women who testified against Weinstein were in court for the proceedings.

In an emotional statement in court, Haleyi spoke of the trauma she had endured since the attack, saying, “It scarred me deeply, mentally and emotionally, perhaps irreparably, perhaps forever.” She said Weinstein has seemed “completely disconnected from the gravity of the crime he has committed against me.”

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