Harvey Weinstein is back in court on rape and sexual assault charges – everything you need to know about the trial
Harvey Weinstein is facing four rape charges and seven other counts of sexual assault in Los Angeles.
Opening statements in the case are expected to begin today.
The charges are the latest in a long line of allegations against the disgraced movie mogul – previously considered Hollywood royalty, and one of the most award-winning producers in history.
The 70-year-old is already serving 23 years in prison in California for rape and sexual assault after being convicted in New York in 2020.
Here are all the details on his latest court case.
What has Weinstein been accused of?
Weinstein stands accused of 11 counts of rape and sexual assault against five women in LA and Beverley Hills between 2004 and 2013.
He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
If convicted on all 11 counts, Weinstein could be sentenced to up to 140 years in prison.
Who are Weinstein’s accusers?
Documentary filmmaker and actress Jennifer Siebel Newsom is one of the five women accusing Weinstein.
She appeared in small roles in dozens of films and television shows between 2002 and 2011, and has recently directed gender-focused documentaries including The Great American Lie and Fair Play. She is married to California governor Gavin Newsom.
She initially wrote about her experience with Weinstein in a 2017 essay in the Huffington Post, but revealed few details at the time.
Jennifer Siebel Newsom
Ms Newsom’s lawyer, Elizabeth Fegan, said in a statement: “Like many other women, my client was sexually assaulted by Harvey Weinstein at a purported business meeting that turned out to be a trap.
“She intends to testify at his trial in order to seek some measure of justice for survivors, and as part of her life’s work to improve the lives of women.”
The four other women will remain anonymous and give evidence as Jane Doe.
Most of the alleged incidents, like Mrs Newsom’s, happened under the guise of business meetings at luxury hotels in Beverly Hills and Los Angeles, which Weinstein used as his California headquarters during awards season and throughout the year.
Four of the alleged attacks are said to have occurred during Oscars week 2013, where Weinstein’s hit movies Silver Linings Playbook and Django Unchained took home numerous statuettes.
Weinstein was pictured with a walking frame at his previous trial
Who are the witnesses?
The initial witness list had over 270 names on, although the final list is expected to have fewer than half that number. The list has not been made public.
One witness, Barbara Schneeweiss, a producer on Project Runway and other television shows, was present in court and was told by a judge she was on call to come in at any time.
The jurors were also given a long list of names of witnesses in the coming trial, including those of the accusers, to determine whether they have any connection to them.
Read more:
Harvey Weinstein: The fall of the king of Hollywood
The prosecution will also be allowed to introduce as evidence parts of Weinstein’s New York conviction for rape and sexual assault.
One potential witness against Weinstein is Hollywood actor and director Mel Gibson after a judge ruled he can testify.
Prosecutors say Gibson, who won an Oscar for directing Braveheart, was a friend of one of the accusers.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Lisa Lench ruled Gibson could testify about what the friend told him about Weinstein, though the judge said she could change her mind depending on the friend’s testimony.
Will there be a jury?
It is a jury trial, and 12 jurors – nine men and three women – have been selected.
They appear to largely be aged between 40 and 70. Some appear to be older than that, and one man appears to be in his early to mid-20s.
Ten alternate jurors will also attend the full length of the trial, ready to step in and replace any of the jury of 12, should anyone become unable to serve.
They were chosen from a pool of 225 potential jurors, all of whom filled out a lengthy questionnaire.
It is understood to have contained questions including how much media coverage of Weinstein they had seen, and whether they had formed opinions from it.
There was also a question about a California law that says the testimony alone of a sexual assault victim can be sufficient evidence to convict if a juror believes them.
Weinstein at his 2020 trial in New York
What happened during the 2020 New York trial?
Weinstein is currently serving a 23-year prison sentence in California, after being extradited there following his conviction in March 2020 for assaulting production assistant Mimi Haleyi at his apartment in 2006 and third-degree rape of Jessica Mann in 2013.
He is currently appealing these convictions.
During a landmark trial, more than 100 women, including famous actresses such as Gwyneth Paltrow, Salma Hayek and Uma Thurman, Weinstein was accused of sexual misconduct stretching back decades – fuelling the #MeToo movement against sexual abuse and harassment.
He was acquitted of first-degree rape and two counts of predatory sexual assault dating back to the 1990s.
Previous to his extradition to California, he was serving his sentence at Wende Correctional Facility in Buffalo, New York – a maximum security prison.
Weinstein in his heyday, pictured on a red carpet in 2015
How did Weinstein fall from grace?
Harvey Weinstein was once the king of Hollywood, a man with the power to make and break careers in the movies.
But in October 2017, in reports by the New York Times and the New Yorker, the Oscar-winning producer was accused of sexual misconduct by a number of women. He was also accused of reaching settlements to keep the stories quiet.
In the months that followed, dozens more women came forward to allege incidents of rape, sexual assault and harassment by Weinstein dating back decades.
Police investigations into the allegations stretched from Los Angeles to New York and London.
Weinstein admitted his behaviour had “caused a lot of pain”, but consistently denied all the sexual allegations made against him.
In September 2020, Weinstein was stripped of his CBE following his conviction.
Numerous other distinctions bestowed on Weinstein during his career – including France’s prestigious Legion of Honour – have been revoked since allegations against him first surfaced.
The multi-Oscar winner, who was responsible for blockbusters including Pulp Fiction, The English Patient, Good Will Hunting, Gangs Of New York and Shakespeare In Love, was expelled from the Academy in 2017.
They had previously nominated his work for 341 awards, earning him 81 statuettes over the last 26 years.
Coach tickets to Glastonbury 2025 were sold out in half an hour, organisers have said, as they roll out a new booking system for festivalgoers.
They were the first group of tickets to be sold for the world-famous festival in Somerset, which is set to take place between 25 and 29 June.
This year, fans navigated a new system to buy the tickets as they were “randomly assigned a place in a queue” instead of having to refresh the holding page once they went live.
The organisers said in a post on X: “The Glastonbury 2025 tickets + coach travel which were on sale this evening have now all been sold.
“Our thanks to everyone who bought one.”
They added that National Express services would be available to bring festivalgoers from across the country to Glastonbury.
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Standard tickets will go on sale on Sunday at 9am. Last year they were sold out within an hour.
See Tickets said in a post on X that “confirmation emails are going out now to everyone who got @Glastonbury coach tickets this evening”.
Tickets for the annual event at Worthy Farm in Somerset cost £373.50 plus a £5 booking fee, and are sold exclusively through the See Tickets website, with no third-party sellers involved.
The new ticket system has changed the way people join the booking system.
Organisers previously warned hopefuls to log in “at least a few minutes” before the sale opened today and to avoid refreshing the page.
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Festivalgoers were also told not to attempt to game the system by using multiple devices.
The sale follows chaos earlier this year when tickets for the Oasis reunion went on sale, seeing a multitude of disappointed fans as well as those who felt cheated after being charged hundreds of pounds more for their tickets than was originally advertised.
Anyone wishing to buy tickets for Glastonbury must have registered by 11 November, a rule in place to avoid touting.
Entertainment
Christmas adverts – the 10 most-anticipated ads as the festive battle for customers commences
With just under six weeks to go to Christmas Day, the countdown has officially begun, with all the big brands rolling out their seasonal adverts.
Becoming something of an institution over recent years, many see the festive ads as the starting pistol for their Christmas preparation/panic, despite us only being halfway through November.
And with an estimated £10.5bn spent on this year’s Xmas ads, it’s not just about inducing a fuzzy warm feeling in viewers, but also about encouraging them to put their hand in their pocket.
As we brace ourselves for festive fun, we take a swift look at this year’s bevvy of commercial offerings, as the annual battle of the Christmas adverts begins.
John Lewis
A girl called Sally falls into a clothes rack reminiscent of CS Lewis’s The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe, but instead of finding Narnia, she ends up in John Lewis.
Pic: PA
Through family flashbacks we lean how much she loves her older sister, whose gift she has carelessly left it to the last minute to buy. Spoiler alert – as one would expect in an advert for a retailer, she finds a pressie.
With the retailer famous for its use of cover versions in their Christmas ads, this one is the origin story for a new cover, with a concurrent competition on TikTok to find an aspiring artist to rerecord a version, which will be featured on the Christmas Day airing and released by record label BMG too.
Waitrose
Marketed as a whodunnit – this big-budget production has a host of celebrity cameos, an intricate storyline and not one but two parts.
Pic: Waitrose
Comedian Joe Wilkinson, Fleabag star Sian Clifford and Succession’s Matthew Macfadyen all have a role in the ensemble, revolving around hunting down the thief of a “chilled desert”.
Being Christmas, when tensions are traditionally high, everyone has reason to have scoffed it. The culprit won’t be revealed until the second part of the ad is released, but in the meantime, activity at Kings Cross Station, in stores and on social media is set to keep the investigation very much alive.
Sainsbury’s
Sainsbury’s goes big for its advert, calling on a beloved Roald Dahl character – the BFG, or Big Friendly Giant – to travel the country with a supermarket worker called Sophie (who pleasingly is a real store employee) in the search for the perfect festive treats.
Pic: Sainsbury’s
A CGI BFG procures salmon, sprouts and cheese before a bit of magic helps him whip it all up into a feast, which he then gifts to an unsuspecting family through the window.
The first ones to release their ad earlier this month, the dulcet tones of national treasure Stephen Fry wrap the action, with a call to arms to stock up in readiness for Christmas.
M&S
Another national treasure – Dawn French – is back for this one, playing both herself and a festive fairy, who gives both French and her home a make-over ready for a Christmas soiree.
Pic: PA
French, whose multi-Christmas-dinner eating antics on The Vicar Of Dibley put her into the Xmas annals, is transformed into “the quintessential hostess” with a bit of help from her little friend.
Banking on the idea that you can never have enough of a good thing, there are six instalments of the advert running between now and the New Year. Who doesn’t like a second – or sixth – helping.
Lidl
This one pulls on the heartstrings, with a little girl inspired to give a gift to a boy who appears not to have any, after an old lady gives her some magic bells.
Pic: Lidl
Directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Tom Hooper (he directed The King’s Speech), a CGI racoon and giant gingerbread man add a little action to events around the dinner table.
But the take home message is to think about giving as well as receiving, with the return of the retailer’s toy banks scheme set up at supermarkets with the aim of donating over 100,000 toys, to ensure no child experiences a giftless Christmas.
Aldi
Kevin the Carrot is back for a ninth year running, this time trying to save the Christmas spirit from a bunch of hard-boiled humbug villains.
Pic: Aldi
With the ad narrated by actor Jim Broadbent, our plucky hero braves an oven, a Mission Impossible-inspired ventilation system and Bond-esque snow jet-ski dash across the mountains, all to save Christmas.
Helped by his wife Katie, he of course pulls it off. A fan favourite, soft toys of the root vegetable are sold in stores, and this year cuddly humbugs are on sale too.
Morrisons
It’s a song and dance number from Morrisons, courtesy of their singing oven gloves performing Bugsy Malone’s You Give A Little Love.
Pic: Morrisons
A choir of 26 Morrisons employees gave voice to the gloves, recording their rendition of the song at the iconic Abbey Road Studios in London.
Like Lidl, the retailer pulled out the directing big guns, hiring The Greatest Showman director Michael Gracey to oversee proceedings.
Asda
Bagging the prize for the most gnome puns in one advert, Asda sees a flash mob of gnomes preparing the store for Christmas.
Pic: Asda
The resulting advert isn’t as irritating as it sounds on paper, thanks to nice performances by the two human characters in the ad – Maggie and Bill.
And as we know, Christmas is all about the merchandise, so the supermarkets are of course selling special Xmas versions of their garden gnomes to accompany their already 50-strong gnome range. Who knew?
Tesco
Tesco reminds us of those members of the family who are no longer here to join us on the big day, with a man carrying on his late grandmother’s festive tradition of baking gingerbread.
Pic: Tesco
He becomes obsessed with the spicy treat, as it infiltrates every part of his day from his haircut to a trip to see the Christmas lights.
He eventually gets together with his grandad to bake a gingerbread house, revealing it to the family at lunch, thus keeping the tradition alive.
Greggs
And in the most unlikely festive cameo of the year, Greggs has enlisted Nigella Lawson to star in its first Christmas ad.
Pic: PA
Rapturously endorsing their festive bakes, Lawson has her hands full of pasties, and her table full of take-away coffees, as she promotes the bakery’s festive-themed fare.
Whether or not you believe the 64-year-old TV chef really tucks into their sausage rolls in real life – the attention-grabbing collaboration looks like a wise move for the chain, whose sales have jumped in recent weeks as it continues its UK expansion.
Entertainment
Paul Mescal says being the star of Gladiator II as it premieres in London is ‘absolutely, wildly overwhelming’
Gladiator II star Paul Mescal has said bringing Sir Ridley Scott’s legacy sequel to the big screen has been a “wildly… overwhelming” experience.
The star was speaking to Sky News on the red carpet at the film’s royal premiere which was attended by His Majesty the King, who had earlier hosted members of the film and TV industry at a Buckingham Palace reception.
When asked about making the move from indie films, like All Of Us Strangers and Aftersun, into one of the most eagerly anticipated films this year, Mescal said: “I’m excited to play with what the audience is expecting of me.”
“The royal audience is one thing… I think we’ve seen how an audience responded to the film, royal or not, and I think we’re excited for people to see it.”
A whole 24 years after Sir Ridley Scott’s Roman blockbuster starring Russell Crowe, Mescal plays Lucius who, much like the original, finds himself trying to win back his freedom after powerful emperors of Rome conquer his home.
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The King greets stars at film and TV event
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With an actual-scale model of the Colosseum built for the production, the film comes with high costs and a lot of hype.
“I’m struggling with words at the moment,” Mescal admitted, taking in the occasion, having come from the champagne reception at Buckingham Palace.
“This has been an absolutely, wildly – I keep using the word overwhelming – but I think if this isn’t slightly overwhelming then I don’t know what the hell is. I’m having a great time.”
Sir Ridley explained his reason for casting Mescal was that he saw aspects of “a young Albert Finney” in him.
While the pressure is on for the sequel to do well at the box office, the director said he’s learnt how to deal with the weight of expectations over the years.
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“Any film of [this] scale, it doesn’t matter how we play it down, it’s colossally stressful. You better embrace stress or don’t do the job.”
Before heading to the premiere, the King welcomed directors, actors, TV presenters, stunt performers and costume designers at the palace to mark the centenary of the Film and TV Charity, of which Charles has become patron.
Sir Ridley, actor Joseph Fiennes, actress India Amarteifio from the hit Netflix show Queen Charlotte, and TV presenter Claudia Winkleman were among the celebrities who attended the event.
Gladiator II is in cinemas on 15 November.
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