The power that Harvey Weinstein wielded—the power he abused for the entirety of his Hollywood career, according to dozens of allegations of harassment, rape, and assault—was wrapped up in his name. He made sure of that even before co-founding his own studio, The Weinstein Company, in 2005, encouraging his image in the press as that of a movie mogul pushing indie darlings to Oscar success and box-office triumph through sheer force of will. Though the earliest alleged incident goes as far back as 1980, before he was a famed mega-producer, Weinstein appears to have used his growing clout as a shield and a cudgel over the years, threatening to ruin his victims’ careers if they exposed him.

Weinstein’s fall from grace has been rapid after stories from The New York Times and The New Yorker detailed a wave of allegations against him two weeks ago. He was fired by The Weinstein Company (TWC), and, in an unprecedented step taken this past weekend, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voted quickly and overwhelmingly to expel him from its ranks. He is also now under criminal investigation by the Metropolitan Police in London. Weinstein’s downfall was brought about by dogged reporting, witnesses and victims having the bravery to come forward, and genuine changes in public attitudes toward such crimes, as my colleague Alex Wagner noted. His legacy, after decades of the producer burnishing his own reputation, has been obliterated.