Michael Eisner compared buying Weinstein’s Miramax to “bringing a wolf into the hen house.”

Former Disney CEO calls dealing with Harvey Weinstein worst part of his career: ‘a pig’ who ‘lied about everything’

Michael Eisner compared buying Weinstein's Miramax to "bringing a wolf into the hen house."

Joey Nolfi is a senior writer at *. *Since 2016, his work at EW includes *RuPaul's Drag Race* video interviews, Oscars predictions, and more.

EW's editorial guidelines

February 13, 2026 9:54 a.m. ET

Michael Eisner; Harvey Weinstein. Credit:

George Rose/Getty; Steven Hirsch-Pool/Getty

Former Disney CEO Michael Eisner weathered many a storm as the head of the House of Mouse — including attempting to make movie magic with a person he felt was a maniacal presence in Hollywood.

In a new interview on the *In Depth With Graham Bensinger *show*,* Eisner — who served as Disney's CEO from 1985-2005 — responded to an inquiry about the single hardest moment of his multi-decade career with the company, and it involved disgraced movie mogul and convicted sex offender Harvey Weinstein.

Though Eisner, now 83, replied by noting that "every week there was a hard moment" between managing box office grosses, theme park openings, and high-ranking staffing shuffles, he singled out working with Weinstein as a particularly "horrible" endeavor.**

Harvey Weinstein on trial.

John Angelillo-Pool/Getty

"I think the hardest moment was dealing with Harvey Weinstein. Because he lied about everything. How do you deal with somebody who never tells the truth?" Eisner asked.

He later added that Weinstein "was just a pig" in his view.

"He was rude, but he was a closet intellectual. He looked like a truck driver. He acted like a truck driver," Eisner told Bensinger, noting that he was still proud of purchasing Weinstein's Miramax production company for a relatively low price of $70 million in 1993. "He had great independent film taste and nobody at Disney would deal with him but me. He couldn't tell the truth, he didn't stick to the contracts, but he made* Shakespeare in Love* and all these great movies."

Disney World permanently closes iconic Dinosaur ride for 'Indiana Jones' attraction

'Tangled' live-action star Milo Manheim reveals intense prep to play Flynn Rider

***Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with our EW Dispatch newsletter.***

While Eisner praised Weinstein's intuition for producing major hits and Oscar winners, he noted that he personally (and "stupidly") once passed on Weinstein's offer to make the* Lord of the Rings* franchise "because the budget was so astronomical" in the end.

When asked about what he learned from getting through working with Weinstein for years, Eisner maintained that he "never thought about" what he learned from the situation.

"But I think I would not make [the prior] deal — because I got a good, cheap deal at $70 million to buy Miramax — if I thought that I'm bringing a wolf into the hen house."

** has reached out to a representative for Weinstein for comment.

In recent years, Weinstein, who's currently serving time at Rikers Island prison in New York City, was found guilty of raping and sexually assaulting a woman known only as Jane Doe 1 in 2013. As a result, he was sentenced to 16 years in prison. Later, during another trial, the movie producer was convicted of a criminal sex act in the first degree and rape in the third degree, though he was acquitted on two charges of predatory sexual assault and an additional charge of rape in the first degree. He received a 23-year prison sentence.

The broadcast episode of *In Depth with Graham Bensinger* debuts in syndication across the United States this weekend. Watch a clip from the interview above.

- Celebrities & Creators

Original Article on Source

Source: “EW Celebrities”