'Thank you to all the brave victims,' Patricia Arquette tweeted following the news.
Hollywood is reacting to news that Harvey Weinstein has been sentenced to 23 years in prison after being found guilty of rape in the third degree and of criminal sexual assault in the first degree.
Journalist Ronan Farrow, who helped uncover allegations of sexual abuse against Weinstein, was one of the first to speak out on Wednesday. "A lot of news underlines how hard it is to hold wealthy and connected people accountable. Today's shows the power of people who speak up, from a position of far less power, at great personal risk," he tweeted. "The Weinstein sentence reminds us of the importance of those sources and of leaders at news organizations who refused to kill the story -- including the editors at the New Yorker who published the first allegations of rape and assault about Weinstein."
"In a letter to the judge this week, Weinstein's attorneys said that reporting 'destroyed' his life," he continued. "In fact, it fairly parsed a mountain of evidence suggesting Weinstein's actions accomplished that. I hope it encourages more people to speak and more outlets to back tough stories."
Patricia Arquette also weighed in, thanking the brave women who came forward and shared their stories about Weinstein. "Thank you @RoArquette @rosemcgowan @MiraSorvino and all the Whistleblowers in the Weinstein case who put their careers and reputations at risk to help clear the way to know the horrible acts Harvey has done," she wrote on Twitter. "Thank you to all the brave victims."
"23 years. Harvey Weinstein has been sentenced to 23 years in prison for his crimes of rape and sexual assault," Mira Sorvino, who was one of the women who spoke out publicly against Weinstein, added in her own tweet. "I literally cried tears of amazement, gratitude that the justice system has worked on behalf of all of his victims today."
See more reactions below from celebs and public figures like Monica Lewinsky and Asia Argento.
As ET previously reported, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance thanked Weinstein's accusers for speaking out following the sentencing on Wednesday.
"We thank the court for imposing a sentence that puts sexual predators and abusive partners in all segments of society on notice," Vance said in a statement to ET. "We thank the survivors for their remarkable statements today and indescribable courage over the last two years. Harvey Weinstein deployed nothing less than an army of spies to keep them silent. But they refused to be silent, and they were heard. Their words took down a predator and put him behind bars, and gave hope to survivors of sexual violence all across the world."
A rep for Weinstein also shared a statement to ET, which read, "This was a miscarriage of justice from the beginning of the process until now. His sentence doesn't commensurate with the conviction and we believe on appeal, the court's prejudice and the Prosecution's looseness with evidence and procedures, along with the extreme biases that faced Mr. Weinstein before he walked into the courtroom, the evidence will show that this case had no merit."
Weinstein's sentencing comes two weeks after a jury determined his fate in a sexual assault trial, during which he was facing two counts of rape, one count of a criminal sexual act and two counts of predatory sexual assault after being accused of raping one woman in 2013 and forcing oral sex on a production assistant named Mimi Haleyi in 2006.
While the New York trial has drawn to a close, Weinstein's legal troubles are far from over. In January, on the first day of the Manhattan proceedings, Los Angeles prosecutors announced new charges of "raping one woman and sexually assaulting another in separate incidents back in 2013" against the disgraced mogul.
"We believe the evidence will show that the defendant used his power and influence to gain access to his victims and then commit violent crimes against them," L.A. County District Attorney Jackie Lacey said in a statement. If convicted, he faces up to 28 years in prison. Weinstein has maintained that his sexual encounters with the women were consensual and pleaded not guilty to those charges.
Hear more in the video below.
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