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| Roman Polanski will keep his Oscar Photo: UniFrance |
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that it was expelling Roman Polanski and Bill Cosby from its ranks. The decision relates to Polanski's 1977 conviction for unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor (with stronger charges withheld following a plea bargain) and Cosby's conviction last month on three counts of indecent assault.
The two were expelled following a vote by members of the Board of Governors, who said in a statement that the decision was necessary in order to uphold its standards of conduct, which were introduced in January this year.
It is understood that Polanski will get to keep the Best Director award that he won for The Pianist in 2003. He has not returned to the US since he fled in 1979.
Polanski's victim, Samantha Geimer, was dismissive about the decision, writing in her blog: "It does nothing to change the sexist culture in Hollywood today and simply proves that they will eat their own to survive. I say to Roman, good riddance to bad rubbish, the Academy has no true honour, it’s all just PR."
Previously, the only people to be expelled from the Academy have been Harvey Weinstein, following multiple sexual harassment allegations made against him, and Carmine Caridi, who was found to have enabled copyright violation.
