Another Weinstein verdict is upon us – but what’s changed?

Yes, his downfall brought about a global reckoning but so much has changed as well, says Clémence Michallon

The disgraced director is facing a second criminal trial (AFP/Getty)

This year, for the third time in my career, I found myself reporting on Harvey Weinstein. The first time was in 2017, when The New York Times and the New Yorker both published sweeping reports of the allegations against him. The second time was in early 2020, when Weinstein’s first criminal trial took place in New York. (My last “normal” day of work before the pandemic sent us all home for months was the hearing during which he was sentenced to 23 years in prison after being convicted of third-degree rape and a criminal sex act.)

The third time is now, and it’s ongoing. Weinstein’s second criminal trial opened in Los Angeles earlier this year, and, as I type this, we are still awaiting a verdict. It’s difficult to predict which way the jury will rule. Weinstein is facing seven counts (two of rape and five of sexual assault). Jurors could find him innocent on all counts, guilty on all counts, or they could have a mixed verdict, as they did in New York, acquitting on some counts and convicting on others. (For one of the counts, they even have a choice of convicting or acquitting him on a criminal count or a lesser misdemeanour.)

There is often the temptation to view any development in Weinstein’s legal cases as a referendum on #MeToo. But as the year draws to a close – the fifth year during which I’ve devoted a significant chunk of my professional life to Weinstein – I am struck by how much bigger the movement has grown.