Queen Elizabeth II has stripped Harvey Weinstein of his CBE title, a top U.K. honor, which the disgraced producer was given by the queen in 2004.
“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 and that his name shall be erased from the Register of the said Order,” according to an announcement published in The Gazette, the U.K.’s official public record, Friday.
A CBE is awarded by the U.K.’s monarch to someone who has made a great impact in their line of work. Harvey Weinstein and his brother Bob Weinstein’s former company Miramax co-produced 1998’s “Shakespeare in Love.” The film, which was a U.S./U.K. co-production, won seven Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actress for Judi Dench for portraying Queen Elizabeth I.
Per the U.K. government’s guidance, “Honours can be taken away from people who have done something to damage the honours system’s reputation. Taking an honour away is called ‘forfeiture.’”
Weinstein is currently serving out a 23-year prison sentence after being convicted of rape and a criminal sexual act in New York earlier this year.
The disgraced producer, who has denied accusations of non-consensual sex, faces up to 29 years in prison for charges brought against him in Los Angeles, including forcible rape, forcible oral copulation, sexual penetration by use of force, sexual battery by restraint and sexual battery, based on the accounts of three women, for incidents occurring in 2010 and 2013.
In August, Weinstein’s Los Angeles extradition hearing was delayed until December due to the pandemic, following the L.A. District Attorney’s Office request of temporary custody of Weinstein in July to begin criminal proceedings.