Polanski wants reinstatement after film academy gives him, Cosby the boot

THE organisation that bestows the Academy Awards said this week it had expelled two prominent members convicted of sexual offences, Bill Cosby and Roman Polanski.

It is the first major decision since the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences implemented revised standards of conduct for its over 8 400 members after 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.

Polanski’s attorney Harland Braun said on Thursday the decision had “blindsided” the director, who learnt of his expulsion from media reports.

Braun accused the academy of failing to follow its rules and give Polanski’s team a chance to respond to efforts to expel him. He and Polanski’s agent would ask for the director to be reinstated next week and want a hearing before a new vote on his membership is taken.

The academy said its board of governors had met on Tuesday and voted on Polanski’s and Cosby’s status in accordance with the new standards. Polanski’s membership dates back to 1969, 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 US the following year.

Cosby was convicted last week of sexual assault in Pennsylvania, for drugging and molesting Temple University employee Andrea Constand.

A spokesperson for Cosby did not return a message seeking comment.

The film academy said its board “continues to encourage ethical standards that require members to uphold the academy’s values of respect for human dignity”.

Adopted in December, the code of conduct stipulates the academy is no place for “people who abuse their status, power or influence in a manner that violates standards of decency”.

The academy’s board may now suspend or expel those who violate the code of conduct or who “compromise the integrity” of the academy.

Before Weinstein, only one person is thought to have been expelled from the academy – Carmine Caridi, a character actor who had his membership revoked in 2004 for lending footage of films in contention for Oscars that ended up online.

The film academy came under intense scrutiny following Weinstein’s expulsion and the rise of the #MeToo movement for some of its active members, like Cosby, Polanski and Mel Gibson.

And since then, many others have faced new allegations, like Kevin Spacey, Brett Ratner, John Lasseter and Paul Haggis. – AP