NEW YORK: Disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein, 72, was recovering and "out of danger" on Tuesday following emergency heart surgery, a representative told AFP.

Weinstein, who is being held at New York's Rikers Island prison, was rushed to hospital overnight Sunday to Monday for the operation.

"He's resting. He's weak," his spokesman Juda Engelmayer told AFP. "He's out of danger at the moment."

Weinstein is serving a 16-year sentence after being convicted on rape charges by a California court.

He had also been convicted by a New York court in 2020 of the rape and sexual assault of actor Jessica Mann and of forcibly performing oral sex on a production assistant. He was sentenced to 23 years in prison in that case.

An appeals court, however, overturned that conviction in April, a shock reversal in one of the defining cases of the #MeToo movement.

He is now awaiting retrial in that case.

Prosecutors say they may bring new sexual assault charges against him ahead of the retrial, and Weinstein was due to attend a procedural hearing in that case today.

His lawyers have argued for a retrial in the California case, too.

Arthur Aidala, Weinstein's lawyer, said in July that his client's health had deteriorated in prison.

The once-powerful film mogul has made court appearances in a wheelchair, looking frail and pale.

In 2017, the allegations against Weinstein helped launch the #MeToo movement, a watershed moment for women fighting sexual misconduct.

More than 80 women accused him of harassment, sexual assault or rape, including prominent actors Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow and Ashley Judd.

Weinstein says that any sexual relations in question were consensual.

 - AFP