Weinstein may get kicked out of the Oscar club

The academy's 54-member board will meet at the group's mirrored-glass offices to discuss what to do about Weinstein in the wake of the recent allegations of sexual harassment levelled against him

Ninety years ago, Louis B Mayer created an elite club that would become the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Membership, granted for life, quickly turned into the ultimate indicator of status — moviedom’s equivalent of the mob’s “made man.”

Offscreen malfeasance mattered not. Perhaps contributing to the film industry’s willingness to tolerate sexual harassment, bullying, drug abuse and worse, the academy has long insisted that professional achievement is what counts. Bill Cosby is still a member. So is Roman Polanski. Mel Gibson was never kicked out, even after his 2006 anti-Semitic tirade was followed by a 2011 no-contest plea