Polanski starts legal action against Oscar organisers’ ban
ROMAN POLANSKI is taking legal action against the body that awards the Oscars, after it announced last week that he was being expelled from its ranks.
Polanski, 84, pleaded guilty in 1977 to statutory rape, and admitted having sex with 13-year-old Samantha Geimer. He fled the country and has been living in exile in Europe ever since.
Last week the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences voted to expel Polanski and Bill Cosby from its organisation, following its decision last year to expel Harvey Weinstein.
Days before, Polanski said in an interview with Newsweek in his native Poland that the #Metoo movement was a form of “collective hysteria” and “total hypocrisy”. He also said people were taking part in it “mostly out of fear,” and compared it to North Korea’s displays of collective mourning for their deceased leaders which, according to Polanski, are so intensive that “you can’t stop laughing.”
Harland Braun, Polanski’s lawyer, said the academy had failed to follow both its own rules and California law in denying the Oscar-winning director a chance to present his case.
He told the Los Angeles Times: “The only thing we’re asking for is a hearing, a chance to present his side.”
“I think they thought this was an easy one: an 84-year-old director is not going to fight it, right?” he added.