California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger may have plenty of long standing ties to the film industry but he’s not letting that influence his treatment of fugitive admitted rapist Roman Polanski. Schwarzenegger was asked in a CNN interview if he would grant Polanski a pardon if he was ultimately extradited to California and the answer was “no,” along with a clear statement that he thought Polanski deserved no special treatment because of his status as a filmmaker:
During an interview on CNN’s Situation Room, the actor-turned-politician excluded the possibility of an advance pardon should the film director, 76, return to the U.S. Polanski, who made Rosmeary’s Baby, Chinatown and The Pianist, was arrested Sept. 26 at Zurich airport on a warrant related to a l977 child rape case and his subsequent flight from justice.
“It doesn’t matter if you are a big-time movie actor or a big-time movie director or producer,” Schwarzenegger said. “I think that he is a very respected person, and I am a big admirer of his work.
“But nevertheless, I think he should be treated like everyone else,” he added. As California’s governor, with one year remaining in office, the Austrian-born actor has the power to grant clemency to the director. Said Schwarzenegger: “One should look into all of the allegations, not only his allegations but the allegations about his case. Was there something done wrong? You know, was injustice done in the case?”
Polanski’s lawyer has vowed his client will fight extradition to California.
[From People]
The guy was on the lam for over 30 years after violating a little girl. He plead guilty, fled the country and needs to go to prison. End of story. Good for Schwarzenegger for standing up for justice. That reminds me of this editorial by the author of The V*gina Monologues, Eve Ensler. She asks about the Polanski case “Does Roman Polanski’s undeniable brilliance as a filmmaker somehow not make him a rapist?” Schwarzenegger’s answer is probably “no.”
Polanski’s attorneys have filed a request that he be allowed bail in order to be let out of jail in Switzerland, with the promise that he won’t leave the country. The guy owns a chalet in Switzerland and it’s not like it’s going to be a hardship for him. Prosecutors in Zurich say it’s highly unlikely that he will be granted the option to post bail, and that “in most cases the imprisoned person has to remain in detention for the whole process.” I hope the guy is extradited soon. The jails in the US are likely to be much worse than in Switzerland. At least he’s finally locked up after living the high life for so long.
Polanski is shown in the 70s with Natassja Kinski, who he dated when she was just 15 and he was in his 40s. He is also shown with Jack Nicholson, who has not spoken out on his behalf. Look at the chick behind them freaking out. Credit: Fame Pictures
sick!
why is that chick so freaked out???
at least ONE hollywood person gets it.
For this alone, Arnie would get my vote if I lived in CA.
The way so many Hollywood elites are demanding leniency for a sexual predator who drugged and sodomized a 13 year-old girl reveals the absolute emptiness at their core.
There’s no there there.
Is it the same Arnie who admitted to engaging in group sex with prostitutes?
Not to mention sexual harassment? Oh.. right..these were different times. He’s a paragon of morality now..
Nicholson isn’t making any statements because it’s rumoured that he and Polanski participated in orgies with underage girls back in the 70-ties.
He’s just as pervert as Polanski.
And, btw, your choice of photos, which have nothing to do with the case, is a great example of how his trial will be handled in the U.S. He doesn’t stand a chance of a fair trial. This country LOVES nothing more than a good sex scandal, the dirtier the better (with an exception of a brutal murder featuring a celebrity). It will feed on it for at least a year. What the victim wants nothing to do with it (what does she know anyway..), it’s about exploiting a great media story.. oh, sorry, meant to say it’s about “justice”. Enjoy the coverage.
GO ARNOLD!!! Sounds like Roman was trying to get off the hook 30 yrs ago, doing the same thing now. He needs to be brought back and serve his time and additional prison time should be given him because he ran away. Send the message to Hollywood that your awards and recognition and filmmaking DOES NOT make you successful!
minx, you sound very delusional… no matter how the media portrays something like this, the fact remains, he raped an underage girl… there’s no denying the truth….
A voice of reason.
I figured this matter would be cut n’ dry since he admitted to wrong doing. All this haggling seems to be over his punishment. I can’t understand why his apologist just gloss over the issue of what he’s being punished for, and obsess over the finer details of a plea deal that the judge was never under any obligation to abide. Aside from that, there is this little matter of obstruction of justice and fleeing the country that still has to be accounted for. Are they not going to address that?
@minx: Prostitutes are hardly the same thing as drugging and raping an under aged girl. i mean come on, hookers sell sex. I didn’t know about the harassment you’re talking about. The Govinator got it right this time.
Go Arnold!
Minx, the issue of a fair trial is moot at this point. He already plead guilty. The issue is that he feld without his entire sentence being determined.
Also, he certainly has a type. In one of the pictures, Kinski looks about 12 years old.
group sex with WILLING, paid participants is hardly the same as drugging and raping a 13 year-old girl. if you can’t see the difference there, you’ve got bigger problems than your outrage at Arnie’s supporters.
as for the sexual harassment claims, I believe the actual act of “harassment” that women accused him of was “groping” them on movie sets. Now, while that behavior is pretty deplorable, it’s still not the same as drugging and raping a 13 year-old girl. To add, Arnold freely admitted what he did was wrong and apologized for his behavior.
Schwarzenegger is hardly a paragon of virtue, but he’s never been accused of drugging and raping a 13 year old girl, or anything even CLOSE to that. also, this is not a “moral” issue, it’s a legal one.
exactly how did he get away with dating Kinksi at the age of 15 when he was i his 40’s? Surely that should have raised a few eyebrows! I realise the era of free love wasnt quite over but a middle age man dating a 15 yr old? come on.
Ewww, he is gross! Why is he such a chick magnet? Yuk!
the 5th picture – Polanski looks like her dad.
I’m glad someone is willing to speak out publicly and call a spade, a spade. A pedophile is a pedophile.
Arnie, once again under the political gun of CA, says the right thing = )
Arnie has a Kennedy wife and Kennedy kids, and accusations of sexual harrassment in the industry.
He wouldn’t dare say otherwise = )
I’m sure he’ll get some nominal sentence for all this and probably end up being able to work in the US again as a nice bonus.
@bored – Yup, that’s how it’ll go.
This doesn’t even seem like the same guy that had his wife and child murdered by the Manson family.
So sick.
He def. should be treated like everyone else. I am sick of celebrities getting away with others. Lock him up and move on.
I know the poor girl wants everything dropped but he deserves his punishment. The sooner this media circus ends the better.
I don’t see a girl “freaking out” in the pictures???
He’s obviously a paedophile. Come on! gross! I didn’t know he dated a 15 year old but that says so much about people with money and power. They get away with murder
Ana, look at the pic with Jack Nicholson in it. Behind the plants, that chick is raging.
He should be held liable for his actions. Having money and fame should not allow you to do things that are illegal and immoral and get you off the hook.
Its the last picture. There is a girl kind of in the tree who looks like she is screaming at them.
Does anyone know how old Sharon Tate was when they got together? I wonder if he started this young girl attraction after she was murdered…
Has anyone else noticed that in the 5th picture, where they are sitting at an awards ceremony or something together, that the girl looks A LOT like Sharon Tate?????
There’s no question that RP deserves to go to prison for what he did. Similarly, there is no question that the mother of the girl who was violated deserves to go to prison as well. You don’t send your minor child to a photo shoot without parental supervision and, if you do and something bad happens, you should be liable for it.
there will be no trial as he plead guilty.
For once, I agree with Ah-nold.
At first in hearing about this case I thought, “meh…the victim wants it dropped, so why doesn’t it just get dropped.” Then I read the court transcript (not for the faint of heart) and I’ve done a 180. While I don’t believe at this point in time that they need to lock him up and throw away the key forever, I do think he needs to do some time. He did rape and sodomize a 13 year old child (who said “no” many times, btw). He needs to answer for that.
Drugging and raping a 13 year old, “dating” a 15 year old… I’m sure his history will reveal numerous under age females who fell victim to his paedophillic tendencies. If a man raped my 13 year old daughter I would seek justice for 20, 30, 40, 50 +++ years. Shame on those Hollywood celebrities who revere and support this sick man. What do you want to bet that they would not leave their 13 year old daughters with him?
Okay thanks! I don’t know how I missed that picture.
I also thought she looked like Sharon. Although Sharon was prettier.
I think Sharon was of age when they dated and married.
I could have done without the pale fish furbody picture. ICK! BELCH!
Without his Hollywood status, this dude couldn’t get laid to save his life. He’s absolutely repulsive.
The Arnold is a manly man. I’m glad he gave a concise, non-ambivalent answer to the question.
Nice short-shorts, Roman! They were clearly a must-have accessory for any self-respecting baby-rapist in the 1970’s.
Ugh. The thought of that guy touching me, even as a 38 year old woman, makes my skin crawl. I can’t imagine the horrors that his multiple victims must have experienced at his hand. (This particular victim just happens to be the one who reported him. Clearly this has been a pattern throughout his life.)
What a disgusting human being. I hope he rots in jail for the very few remaining years of his life.
I don’t know why you need to read a transcript to realize that raping a 13 year old is going to be sick and disgusting… some of you seem a little “slow”… :/
I think people are going a bit overboard with this Hollywood is behind him thing.
Outside of France, only a few directors and actors have signed the petition to free him. You don’t see Tom Hanks, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Matt Damon, Will Smith, Spielberg etc signing.
Disgusted with Harrison Ford, Natalie Portman and Tilda Swinton though, no more of my box office bucks for you guys…ever.
Gov. Schwarznegger is right
The disgusting nature of the crime should have no statute of limitations. It’s wrong that no criminal penalties have been served on this monster
Well, isn’t that calling the kettle black! Jesus… Arnie, aka Mr. Groper, is the LAST person who should be commenting on this issue!!
I agree that he should spend sometime in jail for this horrible crime, but part of me feels sorry for the guy. He was severly messed up after his pregnant wife was murdered by the manson family. This does not absolve what he did, but it kind of puts it in perspective.
“Polanski’s attorneys have filed a request that he be allowed bail in order to be let out of jail in Switzerland, with the promise that he won’t leave the country.”
Yeah, I would trust him not to leave the country given his history.
I’m glad Arnold made this statement, even if it did surprise me. Polanski admitted to committing the crime by pleading guilty, therefore, he should be punished, regardless of how talented he is.
sarah, that is ridiculous… I would be more apt to “put things in perspective” if the guy went on a killing rampage than if he raped a 13 year old… taking ANY anger out on a child or a helpless animal just makes you a monster… I don’t care what the cause is!!
give me an effing break… WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE!!
@ Birdie, agreed. I cannot get over that picture. I can’t get over it…
Sarah – no disrespect whatsoever, but that in no way puts anything “into perspective”. Jennifer Hudson’s family was brutally murdered last year – I doubt we’ll be seeing her shacking up with underage boys because of it. The man is a sick f*ck and no doubt was a sick f*ck long before the Manson family came along.
Sarah….who the F**K cares if he was “f-d up” after his wife was murdered!!!! He cheated on her routinely throughout their whole marriage!!! Besides, there are people who have grown up watching one parent kill another, etc and they don’t rape and SODOMIZE a child. So NO it doesn’t put anything in “perspective”.
I don’t mean to sound so brutal BUT there is nothing worse then robbing a child of their purest of gifts, themselves, their bodies…..and when an ADULT does that, it is totally unacceptable. End of discussion.
***and p.s. the guy STILL had the nerve to behave inappropiately towards other young girls while in exile!!!! Just read Tatum O’Neil’s autobiography.
sarah, usually a screwed up background goes hand in hand with most sex offences. It’s just that his horrors were publicized, and admittedly perhaps a bit more horrific.
Any celebrity minimizing his actions or stating that he should be let off, should also be prepared to fully support the numerous sex offences resulting from incidents that are decades old, and reported as adults…because they too have been outstanding electricians/politicians/teachers/priests/architects….etc. The list goes on.
The way such incidents were dealt with in the 1970’s would be far more lenient than sentences today. He would have done himself a favor by owning up to it fully at the time.
He is a high profile case, and examples are often made of same. Sentencing is not only punitive, but also meant to demonstrate to society that these actions are wrong, and to warn others that if they do the same, they too will face consequence of law.
That was Nastassia Kinski, she does resemble Sharon Tate.
Everything I’ve ever read about pedophiles suggests that they usually don’t strike just once. If he did it to the girl in this case, he probably did it to others. There is no way to support this guy.
Why do you have a star in the word vagina?? Such a prude
i agree with calling polanski a rapist…but he is no pedophile. she was already 13 and in the age of puberty (and also looked a bit older)…that’s why it is not correct to call him a pedophile. he is a rapist.
Um…Donna? Wow, I don’t even know what to say to that. Are you absolutely certain that you’re not in need of some therapy of some kind?
Maybe that girl is raging because she was just raped by both Polanski and Jack N. Polanski is a sicko and so is every person that supports him.
Hello Donna
Hitting puberty has nothing to do with it. So if a child reaches puberty at 9 that means that he or she was not brutalized by a peophile but just some person? Donna, you are clearly a dumbass and you need to open up a fricking law book.
Not a big Arnold fan, but he sure got it right this time.
I’m apalled by the people in here that think Arnold is no better than RP. Arnold didn’t break laws by having group sex with ADULTS. Anyone who thinks the 2 incidents are comparable can’t be very bright themselves.
Thr man is a pedophile and a rapist and the fact that he’s had some hit movies doesn’t alter that one bit.
pedophilia is a sexual preference/attraction to pre-pubescent children. It’s one of a number of paraphilias that include compulsive behaviours, and it is a psychiatric disorder, diagnosed often through phallometrics etc.
So while I do not know donna dot, her comment does not necessarily mean that she needs therapy or is a “dumbass”, it could mean that she understands the psychiatric diagnosis and sexual offending in general.
Abhorrent as sex offences are, they do not all involve paraphilias. And it would be somewhat incorrect to use the term “pedophilia” when the offender’s victims are typically teenagers. Saying so in NO way excuses the behaviour or makes it legal.
Oh please. Donna Dot is not defending Polanski at all. She is simply pointing out the legal distinction regarding rape and pedophilia. Grow a brain and learn some reading comprehension skills.
Oh please, the 13 year old did NOT look older, she actually looked younger than 13. I saw pictures of her from that age and she looked about 10. Sorry but a 43 year old man raping a 13 year old does make him a paedophille. She is no where near a woman at that age. 13 year old girls do not have that mental maturity to have sex, especially when it’s a 43 year old man raping them. Polanski also cheated on Sharon Tate. Sharon was too good for that slimball. He looks creepy as hell.
Minx, let’s see how you would feel if it were your child. Running from authorities for 13 years like a coward doesn’t make it a clean slate, it just means that they’ve finally caught up to him. He has dished out the garbage, now he has to handle it. And Arnold’s case/comments have nothing to do with Polanski…it’s a legal issue of an admitted PEDOPHILE WHO’S FINALLY BEEN CAUGHT.
BRAVO, ARNOLD! BRAVO, AUTHORITIES!
Cindy, I disagree with you (and YOUR reading comprehension skills). Pedophilia is DEFINED as a sexual attraction to children. Donna dot clearly states that she disagrees with calling Polanski a pedophile because the child had reached puberty…(yet she was still, in legal terms, a child, regardless of looks and puberty)…Polanski in turn fell under the definition of HAVING A SEXUAL ATTRACTION TO A CHILD, i.e. PEDOPHILE. Maybe you should brush up on your reading skills?
These CHILDREN in the photographs are made to look older by clothing, hair, and makeup and they still look…like children. He had sex with children=pedophile. And, I’m sure he’ll have a more than fair trial…after all, he’s had over 30 years on the lam to save cash!!
Minx, what photos relevent to the case would you like them to show? The pedophile raping a child? They’re showing very relevent photographs…they’re showing Polanski and Nastassia K., a child he dated…it shows a pattern of behavior relevent to the case. They’re showing Nicholson because it’s related to the celebitchy summary…Nicholson has kept his silence.
LET THIS TROLL ROT IN JAIL.!!!!!
PLUS,ORDER HIM TO SURRENDER HIS FORTUNE TO A CHILDREN’S CHARITY. HE WAS ABLE TO GET RICH BY BECOMING A FUGITIVE.
HE IS ROSEMARY’S BABY FATHER!!!!!
these photos speak thousands of incriminating words. if he wasn’t rich, his ass would have been jailed eons ago. justice delayed is justice denied.
Just read smoking gun’s grand jury “first person” account of what actually happened to the 13 year old girl in her own words…she was helpless and frightened. Sad and disturbing. Hopefully Lady Justice will get her hands on this guy!