“Saturday Night Live” fans who wondered why its comedians were silent last weekend on sexual harassment allegations against movie mogul Harvey Weinstein have an answer: “It’s a New York thing.”

A bombshell story last week by the New York Times on decades of harassment claims against a Hollywood power player seemed ready-made for NBC’s roast masters. Instead, the show’s talent went silent. Creator Lorne Michaels was asked about the decision after exiting an after-party at 4 a.m. when he explained the decision.

“It’s a New York thing,” Mr. Michaels told a reporter for The Daily Mail Sunday morning.

Mr. Michaels, whose cast regularly excoriates fellow New Yorker Donald Trump, then ducked into a vehicle without additional comment.

The newspaper was later informed that a joke tested during dress rehearsal was cut from the live broadcast.

The Weinstein Co announced Sunday that Mr. Weinstein, 65, was terminated by its board of directors “in light of new information about misconduct … that has emerged in the past few days.”

Bob Weinstein, the mogul’s brother, and chief operating officer David Glasser will continue to lead the company.

“I came of age in the ‘60s and ‘70s, when all the rules about behavior and workplaces were different,” Mr. Weinstein said Thursday in a statement to the New York Post via attorney Lisa Bloom. “That was the culture then. I have since learned it’s not an excuse, in the office — or out of it. To anyone. I realized some time ago that I needed to be a better person and my interactions with the people I work with have changed. I appreciate the way I’ve behaved with colleagues in the past has caused a lot of pain, and I sincerely apologize for it.”

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