According to multiple former employees and business associates, he was a volatile and bullying executive
“In his element, he’s a really funny guy and people just want to be liked by him,” said Michael Neithardt, a former assistant of Mr. Weinstein’s. “But he was really socially awkward. The way he dealt with it was by just being a bully.”
.. People who have known both Weinsteins say they had a complicated relationship dating back to childhood that often involved Harvey belittling Bob, who frequently sought his older brother’s approval. As Bob’s Dimension unit became successful, he “became more confident and he’d stand up to Harvey more,” said a former Miramax executive.
After “Scary Movie 5” performed poorly in 2013, Harvey said to Bob, “Why would anyone make that movie?” recalled a person who witnessed the conversation.
“F— you,” this person recalls Bob responding. “I don’t work for you.”
Nonetheless, Bob would brook no criticism of his brother in his presence. Richard Potter, a former assistant of Bob Weinstein’s who rose to become a key executive at Dimension in the late 1990s, said that when he once went to tell Bob of what he considered threatening and unfair behavior by Harvey, Bob grew angry and said, “No one gets in between me and my brother.”
.. Bob Weinstein was less likely than his brother to blow his top, people who worked with the pair said.
“Bob didn’t yell the way Harvey did,” said Brendan Deneen, a former Miramax, Dimension and Weinstein Co. executive. “He was more snarky and cutting.”
.. At the 2000 premiere of “Scary Movie,” a Dimension executive attempted to introduce his wife to his boss. Bob Weinstein stuck out his arm and shoved the woman back
.. As Weinstein Co. has fallen apart in the past two weeks, some former employees have sought to distance themselves from Bob as much as Harvey. Others say Bob Weinstein had a softer side that only people who worked closely with him got to know.
.. “Bob was a tough taskmaster and a challenging boss, but also humane, with a great sense of humor,
.. Bob and Harvey Weinstein feuded on-and-off for many years, said people who worked with them. During one period around 2003, the two communicated only through handwritten notes, which assistants passed between them, according to a former employee. “It was literally an equivalent of a father saying, ‘Please tell your mother to pass the salt’,” the former employee said.
.. Their offices, once next door to one another, moved farther apart—first to separate floors and then to different buildings in Weinstein Co.’s Manhattan headquarters. In recent years, their families have rarely gotten together for holidays or other occasions outside of work, said one person familiar with the matter.
.. In about 2011, after an argument over how to allocate the studio’s resources between their respective movies, Harvey Weinstein punched his brother in the face in front of about a dozen other Weinstein Co. executives, knocking him to the ground, said two people who were present. “I’ve been assaulted!” Bob yelled, according to those people. Bob, who was bloodied, wanted to press charges, but was talked out of it, according to a person familiar with the incident.
.. “He had the pulse of what Americans wanted at one time,” said a former Dimension executive. “Can you get that back?”