On Thursday, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) expelled Bill Cosby and Roman Polanski from their membership. Which was a surprise to me, because I thought it already happened. I remember when Harvey Weinstein was expelled though, and there were some people (not many, but SOME) arguing that Weinstein should only be expelled when he’s convicted of a crime. Still, they expelled him and I guess they waited to see about Polanski and Cosby. Here’s what happened:
The Academy’s board of governors, following its new procedure for enforcing Standards of Conduct that it adopted in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, voted to expel the comedian and the director at its most recent meeting on Tuesday.
“The Board continues to encourage ethical standards that require members to uphold the Academy’s values of respect for human dignity,” the Academy said in a statement announcing their expulsion. A five-time Oscar nominee, Polanski will keep the Oscar he was awarded in 2003 for directing The Pianist, an honor he couldn’t accept in person because he fled the U.S. in 1978 after pleading guilty to unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl.
Best known for his television work on I Spy and The Cosby Show, Cosby never received any Motion Picture Academy honors, although he was active on the big screen in the 1970s, starring in such films as Uptown Saturday Night and Mother, Juggs and Speed. Also on Tuesday, the Television Academy removed Cosby’s name from its list of Hall of Fame honorees on its website, and a statue of Cosby that once was installed in the Academy’s Hall of Fame Plaza, which had been removed during renovations, will not be returned to the site, although Cosby remains a member of the TV Academy itself.
I would imagine that AMPAS will be receiving a word-salady letter from Camille Cosby any day now, screeching about how this move is exactly like… what happened to Medgar Evers! As for Polanski… well, apparently he’s quite upset about it as he sits around his Swiss rape chalet.
Roman Polanski‘s attorney says the director was blindsided by a decision to expel him from the organization that bestows the Academy Awards. Attorney Harland Braun says Polanski will ask the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to conduct a hearing so Polanski can make his case to remain in the prestigious body. Braun says that Polanski’s team was prepared to present academy officials a case for the Oscar-winner to remain in the organization but they were never given the opportunity.
Braun said he plans to ask the academy to reinstate the director, who remains a fugitive after pleading guilty to unlawful sex with a minor in 1977.
In the past year, several of Polanski’s other victims have come forward to tell their stories, one of which involved Polanski assaulting/molesting someone when she was just 10 years old and one of which involved Polanski assaulting someone when she was just 15. It’s not just one case in LA from the 1970s – it’s many cases and many stories and many victims. The fact that Polanski even has a lawyer to fight these kinds of things is… problematic.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
Hahahaha!….but also the Academy apparently didn’t follow its own policy on this. Sigh…so now he gets to appeal.
Oh and before it starts in this thread as it has all over twitter: Woody Allen is not a member…never has been. Ever. He’s turned them down for 40 years. It was depressing to see how little people actually care when all they did on twitter was screech Allen’s name (when he’s not a factor) while failing to mention at LEAST five members who have multiple accusers. Sigh…,do better people.
They should’ve done it ages ago instead of that heinous letter which people signed in support.
Right? And are we supposed to care that a rapist had his feelings hurt???
If they wanted to expel Cosby they had to expel Polanski at this point. Otherwise the optics of that would be…bad, really bad.
I think they knew they would be decreed as hypocrites but this is new ground. Have to start somewhere.
Good grief, the criminality, shamelessness and narcissism. Trumpian levels.
The Academy should say: sure, but you have to come do it in person. Then the LAPD can arrest him and he can finally be sentenced and thrown in jail.
Oh, good one! This.
Yep testify in person. No Skype!
Yes, this.
This was my first thought too!
Finally!!!! They gave an Academy Award and a standing ovation to a rapist in the first place, though, so they’re hardly woke.
I mean, he’d be really dumb if he didn’t have an attorney to deal with this sort of thing, so I guess I don’t really understand your point? Regardless, he’s trash to the extreme.
If Polanski wants a hearing with the Academy, they should tell him it has to be in person, in LA!
Ha ha ha! Brilliant!
Hell, anywhere in the good old U S of A would suffice! lol
Good job on calling that one. Ha ha
He’s mad? Poor baby. I’m mad he raped a child and got to live free out of jail his whole life.
Boo hoo, you and Bill Cosby should go have a beer together … or something.
They can pop ‘luudes together – isn’t it the drug of choice for both of them?
Yes, and good luck to them both … not. The pair of them need to disappear for good.
Eff Polanski and anyone who rode with him. I still hate Kate Winslet over her defense of him. HE. RAPED. A. THIRTEEN YEAR OLD! He gave her drugs and alcohol. He was convicted of this! Then he ran like the little bitch he is.
As bad as Coby is, RP is even worse to me and should have been shunned long ago. Too little too late IMO!
Actually, I hope he will share the same prison cell with Cosby, so they can rape each other for the rest of their lives. This convicted child rapist should be extradited to the United States to serve his lawful prison sentence. The time is up.
No amount of genius can excuse criminal behaviour.
“The fact that Polanski even has a lawyer to fight these kinds of things is… problematic.”
Exactly. Some NGOs I support do not work with lawyers who have represented men accused of sex crimes.
Tiny violin, etc.
When ALL of this horror first came out DECADES ago when I was still a young girl…and I saw the way society reacted to it…that a child rapist could get away with what he did and STILL flourish…that was my one of my FIRST indication that life can be…PRETTY HORRIBLE!
Filth!
oh, poor child rapist. however will he survive.
Boo hoo….
It’s 2018, Polanski was convicted of a sex crime in the 70s….better late than never I guess.
Right?! I hope they’re not expecting a pat on the back for doing what they always should have.
He’s upset? Aww… Roman Polanski is a convicted rapist. I don’t think there are enough people typing this into Google’s search bar so I’m adding it here. When I was still in high school, I read an article describing what he did to that 13 year old girl at Jack Nicholson‘s house, in detail. I had to look up the words “sodomize” and “quaaludes”. Roman Polanski is a sack of hot wet dog shit. This time’s up movement is way way way overdue. Also, Meryl Streep happily supported Roman Polanski, a convicted rapist.
So do Cate Blanchett and a whole bunch of rape-apologists. smdh.
Ah. So once again Streep and Blanchett take the brunt of people’s outrage. So once again the only “apologists” anyone cares to name are the women. Streep most of all seems to wear this (although she did not sign the petition). They have done no more or less than dozens of male celebrities but they get all the ire.
Let me help you out with names of a few male supporters (all of whom signed the petition) so we can at least pretend the world doesn’t want to blame everything on women;
Wes Anderson, Darren Aronofsky, Jeremy Irons, Harrison Ford (by many reports a very close friend), David Lynch, Guillermo Del Toro (and Cuaron, Iñárritu, and Gael Garcia Bernal), Martin Scorsese, Steven Soderbergh, Michael Mann, Mike Nichols, Terry Gilliam…I can keep going for awhile.
It’s depressing, just how much more we hold women to account for male behaviour. Even here, and even with our views (mostly, anyway). I’d not ever heard the male signatories mentioned before. And I’m ashamed to say that I’d not stopped to reflect on the fact, either. So thank you.
thank you for mentioning those names. it’s wild to see people drag meryl streep and then in the same breath gag over a new scorsese, lynch or aronofsky project. and virtually no one brings up harrison ford’s continued support of polanski… smh
The problem is we expect women to be perfect and adamant, and we are so ready to blame other women. In this ugly story, it’s plenty of men to blame too, but we only see the women who supported Polanski. Life is not fair at all.
Well I’m sorry if those perverts feel butt hurt that they got kicked out of that exclusive club. I’m sure the victims didn’t ask for the invasion of their bodies either. I wonder if that a$#hole will file a lawsuit against the Academy? Nah, that means he’d have to come back to testify.
I’m sure meryl streep will be prostrate with grief. smh.
Harrison Ford, Christoph Waltz, Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan, Adrien Brody, and more…all men who worked with Polanski while he was a fugitive from his sex crime charges.
But by all means continue naming only a woman (who didn’t work with him) who had the audacity to be imperfect in her actions. Clearly it’s all on her. 🙄
And I am mad that these rapists got away with their crimes for 50+ years.
HE CAN DIE MAD.
It makes one wonder what may have become of his child had they lived.
Harrison Ford was the one who accepted Oscar for Polanski on stage and then he personally gave this Oscar to him in Europe. Nobody ever asks him about his support. Nobody asked Guillermo del Toro either or all those other directors who supported Polanski.
Samantha Geimer, who was 13 when the director sexually assaulted her in 1977, comments:
“It is an ugly and cruel action which serves only appearance.It does nothing to change the sexist culture in Hollywood today and simply proves that they will eat their own to survive. I say to Roman, good riddance to bad rubbish, the Academy has no true honor, it’s all just P.R.”
Samantha Geimer is a woman I totally admire. She went through so much and she managed to become a strong and wise woman.
Entitled, imperious crybaby.
Only in Hollywood did Polanski, for years, continue to get his films distributed and profits from such films. It’s disgraceful. But blame should also be pointed to all the executives, moguls and distributors who enabled all of this. They’re just as complicit in the molestations, rapes and sexual harassment that goes on.