DISGRACED FILM PRODUCER Harvey Weinstein was rushed to hospital in New York yesterday for emergency heart surgery, his lawyer has said.

Weinstein, 72, was taken from Rikers Island prison, where he is currently serving a sentence for rape, to Bellevue Hospital in New York.

In a statement to US media, his lawyer Craig Rothfeld said Weinstein was rushed to hospital last night “due to several medical conditions”.

“We can confirm that Mr Weinstein had a procedure and surgery on his heart today however cannot comment any further than that,” said Rothfeld.

He added: “As we have extensively stated before, Mr Weinstein suffers a plethora of significant health issues that need ongoing treatment.”

Weinstein was previously taken to hospital in July after testing positive for Covid and contracting pneumonia in both of his lungs.

His hospitalisation comes months after a New York appeals court overturned his conviction in April in a shock reversal in one of the defining cases of the #MeToo movement.

Weinstein, 72, was convicted in New York in 2020 of the rape and sexual assault of actress Jessica Mann and of forcibly performing oral sex on a production assistant.

However, the court ruled that the trial judge had erred by allowing testimony from accusers who Weinstein was not formally charged with assaulting.

In July, a New York judge set a tentative November date for the retrial.

Prosecutors say they may bring new sexual assault charges against him ahead of the retrial, and Weinstein was due to attend a procedural hearing in that case on Thursday.

Although Weinstein’s New York conviction was overturned, he has remained behind bars because of a conviction for rape in California for which he received a sentence of 16 years.

His lawyers have argued for a retrial in the California case, too.

In 2017, the allegations against Weinstein helped launch the #MeToo movement, a watershed moment for women fighting sexual misconduct.

More than 80 women accused him of harassment, sexual assault or rape, including prominent actors Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow and Ashley Judd.

Weinstein says that any sexual relations in question were consensual.

He and his brother Bob co-founded Miramax Films in 1979, a major Hollywood studio behind such diverse hits as Pulp Fiction, There Will Be Blood, and Shakespeare in Love.

-With additional reporting from - © AFP 2024