Defending himself, Weinstein went on the record to say, "I came of age in the '60s and '70s, when all the rules about behaviour and workplace were different... That was the culture then. I have since learned it's not an excuse."

Responding to the now-former chairman of The Weinstein Company, Oliver said, "your excuse isn't an excuse."

"His response was infuriating, because he and his attorneys admitted that he needs help, while also denying the charges and threatening to sue the [New York] Times.

Many of his former collaborators, namely Quentin Tarantino, Michael Moore and Gwyneth Paltrow have held their silence, actress Amber Tamblyn was quick to condemn the disgraced producer, before then criticizing those who attacked Hilary Clinton for being photographed with him:

Secondly, leave Hillary Clinton out of this. She’s not responsible for the actions of every man she ever hugged or shook hands with.

— Amber Tamblyn (@ambertamblyn) October 7, 2017

Lena Dunham took the opportunity to condemn Weinstein and the lack of support his co-workers gave to any victims prior to the New York Times report, writing,

"Not only was the report horrifying, it made it clear how hard it is to come forward and the complicity of so many."

A post shared by Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) on Oct 6, 2017 at 9:58am PDT

Easy to think Weinstein company took swift action but this has actually been the slowest action because they always always knew

— Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) October 9, 2017

Finally, and after receiving a backlash from a number of conservative commentators for her previous praise of Weinstein, Meryl Streep issued a press statement, in which she said,

“The disgraceful news about Harvey Weinstein has appalled those of us whose work he championed, and those whose good and worthy causes he supported. The intrepid women who raised their voices to expose this abuse are our heroes."

She continued,

"I didn’t know about these other offenses: I did not know about his financial settlements with actresses and colleagues; I did not know about his having meetings in his hotel room, his bathroom, or other inappropriate, coercive acts... And If everybody knew, I don’t believe that all the investigative reporters in the entertainment and the hard news media would have neglected for decades to write about it."

This is a developing story