Oscars academy boots Cosby, Polanski
LOS ANGELES — The organization that bestows the Academy Awards announced Thursday that it has voted to expel two prominent members convicted of sexual offenses, Bill Cosby and Roman Polanski, from its membership.
It’s the first major decision since the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences implemented revised standards of conduct for its over 8,400 members following its expulsion of disgraced mogul Harvey Weinstein in October. In Polanski’s case, the expulsion comes more than 40 years after he was accused of raping a 13- year- old girl he plied with champagne and Quaaludes during a photo shoot, and 15 years after he won a best director Oscar.
The academy wrote in a statement that its board of governors met Tuesday night and voted on Polanski and Cosby’s status in accordance with the new standards. Polanski’s membership dates back to 1969, and Cosby’s to 1996.
Polanski, who won a best director Oscar for 2002’ s “The Pianist,” remains a fugitive after pleading guilty to unlawful sex with a minor in 1977 and fleeing the United States the following year.
Before Weinstein, only one person is thought to have been previously expelled from the academy: Carmine Caridi, a character actor who had his membership revoked in 2004 for lending DVD screeners of films in contention for Oscars that ended up online.