Was Harvey Weinstein Wrongly Fired? (Op-Ed)
Thomas J. Madden, Chairman and CEO, Transmedia GroupPerhaps Harvey Weinstein would have a case, if you read his contract with his own company. Looking at the contract, it’s pretty clear his colleagues knew about his penchant for playing adult peekaboo or worse with pretty ingénues.
In his contract are spiraling levels of fines for first, second, third incidents of sexual encounters, harassments or assaults and any incidents thereafter. Actually, horny Harvey may have a case he cannot be fired for just exercising his brand of fooling around.When you read his contract, it’s obvious the company realized they had a problem on their hands with Weinstein’s weaknesses with women, especially young actresses who looked to him as their gateway to a career in the magic kingdom of film.Did NBC Drop the Ball Because It Lacks Them? As a former NBC VP, I’m disappointed NBC didn’t break the Weinstein story and run with it when they had the chance. Sure it takes chutzpah to take on the head of a major studio, but that’s what NBC had when I was there reporting to take-no-prisoners, quick-on-the-draw NBC CEO Fred Silverman who was afraid of no one.BABYLON IN THE BACK SEATI know about those cab rides. I took many of them with the most beautiful actresses in the world, but I kept my lustful thoughts to myself, my hands in my lap and my attention on business, definitely not monkey business.As Hollywood super producer Weinstein continues to arouse the film industry to fasten their heat belts, Amazon did the right thing to suspend the head of its programming division following allegations of sexual harassment. Amazon says that the executive was put on an immediate leave of absence after a producer said that he harassed her in the back of a cab in San Diego.Isa Hackett, a producer on the show "The Man in the High Castle" told The Hollywood Reporter that Price made inappropriate sexual comments to her following an appearance at Comic-Con in 2015. She said that she reported the incident to Amazon executives at the time.Just as it took Hillary a while to wag her finger at Weinstein, it took Amazon a while to take action and come out with this carefully worded statement:OMG WE ONLY JUST FOUND OUT"We take seriously any questions about the conduct of our employees," Amazon told The Hollywood Reporter. "We expect people to set high standards for themselves; we encourage people to raise any concerns and we make it a priority to investigate and address them. Accordingly, we looked closely at this specific concern and addressed it directly with those involved."I guess better late than never. [author] About the Author: Thomas Madden is CEO of TransMedia Group, one of the largest independent PR firms in Florida, where it currently operates. The firm’s clients have included AT&T, American Red Cross, City of New York, GL Homes, Jordache Enterprises, McCormick and Schmick’s, Rexall Sundown, Stanley Steemer. [/author]
(Madden’s latest book “Is there enough Brady in Trump to win the inSUPERable BOWL?” on Amazon)
