Tech giant Apple has terminated the deal with Harvey Weinstein’s production house for a series on legendary singer Elvis Presley, following sexual harassment allegations on the media mogul.
Weinstein has also been ousted from The Weinstein Company (TWC) as co-chairman post the controversy.
The Elvis project, which was in very initial stages — barely past the deal-making step, made it easier for Apple to pull the plug on the project, a person familiar with the matter told Deadline. He also revealed that there was an idea to expand the series into an anthology franchise, which would have followed stories of Prince and Michael Jackson in subsequent chapters.
Weistein’s name will now be removed from all ongoing TWC TV series on which he had served as executive producer. These shows, which are in far more advanced stages, will proceed as planned, at least currently, as most have surpassed pre-production and production.
The board made the decision to fire Weinstein from his company at a meeting held on Sunday afternoon.
“In light of new information about misconduct by Harvey Weinstein that has emerged in the past few days, the directors of The Weinstein Company—Robert Weinstein, Lance Maerov, Richard Koenigsberg and Tarak Ben Ammar—have determined, and have informed Harvey Weinstein, that his employment with The Weinstein Company is terminated, effective immediately,” read a statement from the TWC board.
(Breathe In, Breathe Out: Are you finding it tough to breathe polluted air? Join hands with FIT in partnership with #MyRightToBreathe to find a solution to pollution. Send in your suggestions to fit@thequint.com or WhatsApp @ +919999008335)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)