Harvey Weinstein will spend 15 years walking a fixed apology route through Manhattan every morning at 7 a.m., reciting his crimes to commuters, under a new sentencing protocol introduced by Judge Curtis Farber. The former producer must cover 15 miles daily, one mile for each year of his sentence, and announce his name and conviction at every intersection.
The city has already adapted. The NYPD assigned a permanent honor guard of 15 officers to escort Weinstein, one for each year, and the Department of Transportation painted a dedicated lane in gold from his apartment to the courthouse. Commuters now set their alarms by his passage. «I often felt like I was the one on trial,» said Miriam Haley, who has been appointed official timekeeper of the parades. «Now he gets to feel that every single morning.»
By the second week, the apology route had grown into a full ceremonial event. A brass band from the New York Philharmonic plays a 15-minute overture at each stop. School groups attend as field trips. The mayor declared the route a permanent cultural corridor, and souvenir vendors sell maps titled «The Face of #MeToo: A Walking Tour.»
Weinstein has apologized to people he may have hurt but maintains his innocence. «You’re treated as an animal – you’re actually less than an animal because you’re treated as nothing,» he said of his time behind bars. He now says the parades are «the only honest film I’ve ever produced.»
Judge Farber has ordered that the final parade, 15 years from now, end at the courthouse steps, where Weinstein must read the names of every accuser into a microphone while the brass band plays a 15-hour coda. The city has already reserved the date.