Academy Expels Bill Cosby and Roman Polanski
by Devan Coggan
May 3, 2018


The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has expelled Bill Cosby and Roman Polanski from its membership. The Academy’s board of governors met Tuesday and voted to expel the two “in accordance with the organization’s Standards of Conduct.”

The Academy released a statement announcing the decision, saying, “The Board continues to encourage ethical standards that require members to uphold the Academy’s values of respect for human dignity.”




The news comes several days after Cosby was convicted of drugging and sexually assaulting a woman. He was found guilty on three charges. The conviction comes after more than 60 women have accused the comedian and former TV star of sexual misconduct, spanning multiple decades.

Polanski fled the United States more than four decades ago, after he pleaded guilty to raping a then-13-year-old girl. The director spent more than a month in prison before fleeing the country, and he has remained a fugitive ever since.

http://ew.com/movies/2018/05/03/academy-expels-bill-cosby-roman-polanski/

I'm not condoning what happened but this statement just cracked me up: “in accordance with the organization’s Standards of Conduct.”

What standards of conduct? Really? You just now have standards of conducts all of the sudden? Laughable.

So it took them 4 decades to expell Polanski? When is the rest of Hollywood going to start denouncing him? Bunch of hypocrites out there.

So it took them 4 decades to expell Polanski? When is the rest of Hollywood going to start denouncing him? Bunch of hypocrites out there.

They wanted to kick Cosby out but knew they'd get slammed for never kicking out Polanski, so they kicked him out too, but you know they didn't want to. They only wanted to kick out Cosby.

Roman Polanksi Threatens to Sue Academy over "Illegal" Expulsion
by Dominic Patten
May 8, 2018


Less than a week after the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences publicly kicked out Bill Cosby and Roman Polanski from its membership, the Oscar winning director says he’ll take the group to court unless he’s reinstated or gets to defend himself.

“I am writing this letter to you to avoid unnecessary litigation,” said Polanski’s attorney Harland Braun in a letter sent to AMPAS president John Bailey today.

“Mr. Polanski has a right to go to court and require your organization to follow its own procedures, as well as California law,” the lawyer adds, detailing his previous statements that the Movie Academy broke its own Standards of Conduct rules when the board of governors voted last week to boot Polanski and Cosby for misconduct.




“The only proper solution would be for your organization to rescind its illegal expulsion of Mr. Polanski and follow its own Standards of Conduct by giving Mr. Polanski reasonable notice of the charges against him and a fair hearing to present his position with respect to any proposed expulsion,” Braun wrote to Bailey Tuesday.

“We are not here contesting the merits of the expulsion decision, but rather your organization’s blatant disregard of its own Standards of Conduct in, as well as its violations of the standards required by California Corporations Code,” the LA-based attorney also points out in the 2-page correspondence.

Previously having cited Polanski and Braun as spotlighting the wrong set of rules that saw the director tossed, AMPAS did not respond today to request for comment on this latest move by the litigious director … yet.

http://deadline.com/2018/05/roman-polanski-threatens-lawsuit-oscar-academy-expulsion-1202385244/

Why doesn't Polanski come back to the U.S. to fight it? lol

Roman Polanski's Wife Emmanuelle Seigner Rejects Academy Membership Invitation, Slams "Insufferable Hypocrisy"
by Joey Nolfi
July 9, 2018


Emmanuelle Seigner — French actress and wife of controversial filmmaker Roman Polanski — publicly rejected her invitation to join the American organization Sunday, penning an impassioned open letter renouncing the Oscars in the European publication Le Journal du Dimanche.

“How can I ignore the fact that a few weeks ago the Academy expelled my husband, Roman Polanski, in an attempt to appease the zeitgeist – the very same Academy which in 2002 awarded him an Oscar for The Pianist! A curious case of amnesia!”





Seigner writes of her decision to decline the offer, further referencing the Academy’s May 3 announcement that it had expelled Polanski — a fugitive since fleeing the United States over 40 years ago after pleading guilty to raping a then-13-year-old girl — and convicted sex criminal Bill Cosby for violating its Standards of Conduct.

“The Academy probably thinks I am enough of a spineless, social climbing actress that I would forget that I have been married for the past 29 years to one of the world’s greatest directors. I love him, he is my husband and the father of my children. He has been cast out like a pariah,” Seigner continues.

“Yet these same nameless academicians think that I should ‘mount the steps of glory’ behind his back? The insufferable hypocrisy! This proposal is one insult too many. I cannot remain silent any longer. You offend me whilst claiming to want to protect women!”





Seigner’s letter goes on to say that “artists are not exempt from justice,” though she blames the press for taking to Polanski’s case with a desire to punish him beyond his initial jail sentence.

“I feel that all his life, from the Nazis of his childhood to the present day, Roman has been condemned to perpetual flight, without the slightest effort by any part of the media to look at his case with an open mind. On the contrary, they only seek to make it worse,” she explains.

“It should be the same justice that exists for all, not a justice that goes back on its word and violates its own principles. That was the case in Los Angeles in 1977, when his first confinement in prison was supposed to be his punishment. Today, Roman has served more than the maximum sentence for the offence committed.”





Having married Polanski in 1989 after working with him on the 1988 film Frantic, Seigner went on to star in four more of the director’s projects between 1992 and 2017.

Though not as prolific a figure on American screens, Seigner has been nominated for two César Awards (the French equivalent to the Oscars) and garnered significant critical praise for her work in internationally renowned pictures like The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and La Vie en Rose.

Representatives for the Academy and Seigner did not immediately respond to EW’s request for comment.

http://ew.com/awards/2018/07/09/roman-polanski-wife-emmanuelle-seigner-rejects-academy-membership/

Roman Polanski Suit To Rejoin Academy Spurned; “Stands By Its Decision” – Update
by Dominic Patten
April 19, 2019


Just under a year after being tossed out of the the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the rape of a 13-year old girl in 1978, Roman Polanski made good today on his threat to sue the Oscars organization.

“The Academy committed a prejudicial abuse of discretion in that the Academy failed to proceed in a manner required by law, the Academy’s expulsion decision is not supported by the findings, and the Academy’s findings are not supported by the evidence,” said a filing in L.A. Superior Court this Good Friday.




Also writing to AMPAS’ attorneys at Quin Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, the Chinatown director’s lawyer Harland Braun is brazenly seeking to see Polanski reinstated “as an Academy member in good standing” ASAP – and he has an distinct angle.

“The Academy failed to comply with its own rules, policies, and regulations in expelling Petitioner without notice, without an opportunity to be heard and deliberately violated California Corporations Code,” the attorney asserted for his equally brazen client.




An Academy spokesperson responded to the suit on Friday afternoon.

“The procedures taken to expel Mr. Polanski were fair and reasonable. The Academy stands behind its decision as appropriate.”

https://deadline.com/2019/04/roman-polanski-oscar-academy-lawsuit-reinstatement-1202599028/