“I know him on a personal level better than anyone. It’s hard to describe how I feel that he took out the emptiness inside of him in so many sick and depraved ways. It’s a sickness but not a sickness that is excusable. It’s a sickness that’s inexcusable,” Bob Weinstein said last week about his brother Harvey Weinstein in an extended interview with The Hollywood Reporter. However, ever since he tried to separate himself from his brother, there are many who have suggested Bob Weinstein has his own demons, and now it looks like they’re coming to light.
Amanda Segel, an executive producer of “The Mist,” has accused Bob Weinstein of sexual harassment, in a story that sounds not unlike something from Harvey Weinstein’s odious playbook. Segel shared her story to Variety, some of which we’ve excerpted here:
Segel’s discomfort with Bob Weinstein began in June 2016 when he invited her out to dinner in Los Angeles, at Dan Tana’s restaurant. Segel had been told by coworkers that Bob Weinstein had inquired with them whether she was single. She agreed to go to dinner with him in an effort to establish a professional relationship with the head of the company behind “The Mist.”
During the dinner, Weinstein asked Segel highly intimate questions and made romantic overtures to her, according to Segel. He wanted to know her age because he told her he didn’t want to date anyone younger than his daughter. He told Segel that he was staying at the Beverly Hills Hotel because his daughter was staying at his home in Los Angeles.
About halfway through the dinner, Weinstein asked Segel if she would drive him back to the hotel so that he could let his driver go for the night. Segel agreed. When she took him to the Sunset Boulevard hotel, he asked her to come up to his room. She declined.
After that night, Weinstein began sending emails to Segel with questions that were outside the scope of work on “The Mist.” He said he wanted them to be friends. She said that was possible but in a non romantic way, and reiterated that she was not open to dating.
In a scenario that echoes some of the allegations against Harvey Weinstein, Segel asserts that during this period Bob Weinstein invited her to a house he’d rented in Malibu for a party. When he called Segel to tell her the address of the house, she gathered that it was not a party but an invitation for the two of them to be alone. She did not attend.
Bob Weinstein persisted in trying to get Segel to join him for dinner, and she agreed on one other occasion, bringing “The Mist” executive producer and writer Christian Torpe with her. Eventually things escalated to a point where Segel, through her lawyers, established an agreement with The Weinstein Company executives that she never be in the same room or on the same call as Weinstein. And if “The Mist” was picked up for a second season, she would have the option to leave her contact (the series was not renewed).
Bob Weinstein has denied that any inappropriate behavior took place.
READ MORE: Producers Guild Of America Votes To Oust Harvey Weinstein
Meanwhile, Harvey Weinstein — after being fired from The Weinstein Company — has now formally resigned his position on the board. THR reports that Colony Capital continues to look at buying at The Weinstein Company, and notes that the “plan is to keep current management in place — minus Bob Weinstein, perhaps.” I imagine today’s news might factor into that decision. However, it should be noted that even if Harvey Weinstein still has no executive power, he owns 20% of The Weinstein Company shares, and could still wield his influence on the future of the studio.