Weinstein Company co-founder Bob Weinstein has been making a dedicated effort to distance himself and his company from his brother, Harvey Weinstein, both by working to fire him from the company and by dismissing him as “sick and depraved” over the many allegations that he sexually harassed and assaulted women. But now Bob Weinstein is facing a sexual harassment allegation of his own. According to Variety, former The Mist executive producer Amanda Segel says that Bob Weinstein “repeatedly made romantic overtures to her and asked her to join him for private dinners” even though she turned him down multiple times.
Segel says this began last summer and continued until her lawyer told The Weinstein Company that she would quit the show if Bob Weinstein didn’t stop contacting her “on personal matters.” She tells Variety that she went to dinner with him once in order to try and establish a “professional relationship” with the studio head, but he spent the time asking “highly intimate questions” and making “romantic overtures.” He also reportedly asked her for her age because he “didn’t want to date anyone younger than his daughter.” He also allegedly made a point to say that he was staying at the Beverly Hills Hotel because his daughter was staying at his home. After a while, he asked her to drive him to the hotel so he could let his driver go for the night, at which point he invited her up to his room. She turned him down.
After that, Weinstein began emailing her with “questions that were outside the scope of work on The Mist,” including asking if they could be friends. She said they could be friends in a “non-romantic way,” but he allegedly continued to make questionable advances by inviting her to a party that seemed like it wouldn’t involve any other people and continuously inviting her out to dinner. In a particularly damning allegation, Segel says he even joked that he could fire her for rejecting him. Later, he “became angry and screamed” at Segel during a conference call, which prompted her lawyer to contact The Weinstein Company about the harassment.
Segel later agreed to stay on the show, but only if she didn’t have to be in the same room as Weinstein or be alone on telephone calls with him. The production company also agreed to let her out of her contract if The Mist was picked up for a second season, which it was not. In a statement, Bob Weinstein denied the accusations that he “behaved inappropriately,” adding that it’s “most unfortunate that any such claim has been made.”