The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has expelled Harvey Weinstein, it said on Saturday, amid mounting sexual harassment, assault and rape accusations against the disgraced Hollywood mogul.

An emergency meeting of its board "voted well in excess of the required two-thirds majority," it said in a statement.

"We do so not simply to separate ourselves from someone who does not merit the respect of his colleagues but also to send a message that the era of willful ignorance and shameful complicity in sexually predatory behavior and workplace harassment in our industry is over," the statement read