The Academy defends decision to expel Roman Polanski
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have filed court documents in California explaining their decision to expel Roman Polanski.
In 2018, Polanski’s lawyer, Harland Braun, appealed the decision to remove the director’s membership, and in April this year, the legal team filed a lawsuit formally contesting the move.
In a court filing yesterday, the Academy challenged the assertion that Polanski wasn’t given a “fair hearing”.
Their attorney John Quinn wrote that the director “presented a 10 page letter from his lawyer advocating his position, over four hundred pages of supporting documents, a copy of a documentary titled Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired, an e-mail from his counsel, and a recorded video statement by Petitioner addressing the Board”.
“All of these materials were presented to the Board of Governors, who voted on January 26 2019 to uphold [Polanski]’s expulsion by a more-than-two-thirds supermajority,” the filing read.
In 1978, Polanski was sentenced in a case that involved allegedly drugging and raping a 13-year-old girl. After serving just 42 days, he fled the US to avoid further prison time. Despite living as a fugitive in Europe, Polanski was awarded an Oscar by the Academy for directing The Pianist in 2003.
The director was expelled in May 2018 alongside Bill Cosby. Both men were deemed not to meet the institution’s new standards of conduct. They followed Harvey Weinstein, cast out in October 2017 on similar grounds.
Carmine Caridi was the only previous member to be expelled. He lost his Academy membership in 2004 after being accused of copyright infringement.
