The Academy released the following statement:
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Board of Governors met on Tuesday night (May 1) and has voted to expel actor Bill Cosby and director Roman Polanski from its membership in accordance with the organization’s Standards of Conduct. The Board continues to encourage ethical standards that require members to uphold the Academy’s values of respect for human dignity.
It’s not the time to have any sort of conversation about this because who wants to be chased by an angry mob? I’ve had my fill of those to last a lifetime, thanks. I will say this: Chinatown will always be a masterpiece. Rosemary’s Baby remains one of the best horror films ever made. Roman Polanski, Adrien Brody deserved their Oscar wins for The Pianist. Frantic will always be one of the best thrillers ever made. Nothing can erase those things. But I suppose that the Academy doesn’t want to keep fighting this fight, to keep having to answer for what Roman Polanski did in 1977, 41 years ago.
I see nothing wrong here. If the Academy doesn’t want to endorse convicted rapists, or child rapists who have fled prosecution, it doesn’t have to. Simple as that. If you want to keep watching and supporting Polanski’s art – that’s fine. China Town’s great. But I don’t see why the Academy needs to be obligated to reward them. To push the argument to its extreme, for heuristic reasons – would the Academy be obligated to award a convicted serial killer? A child murderer? If the answer is no, then that establishes a baseline – the Academy isn’t obligated. How to establish criteria for moving forward is, of course, very tricky, and messy – but life’s tricky and messy. As far as I’m concerned, though, this is reasonable … and in Polanski’s case ought have been done a long time ago. A person can be both reprehensible and a great director – and they don’t need an Academy award to prove the latter.
I don’t think either men care.
“What Polanski did was reprehensible.
Polanski is one of the greatest living Directors.
BOTH can be true.”
That’s some major wisdom right there. Everyone wants it to be black and white, but guess what… it isn’t. A guy who’s done some awful shit in his life can also in fact be a goddam cinematic genius.
But you know what really pisses me off? The Bill Cosby thing surfaced not that long ago, same goes for Weinsteen, Spacey and so on. But Polanski? This case has been known to literallly everyone since 1978. It’s not pretty, actually it’s fucking disgusting, but it’s out there and has been for 40 years. The public has known every single little detail of this case. The academy had the exact same knowledge of Polanski’s deeds in 2002, when they have given them an Oscar, as they do today, when they kick him the fuck out. I guess that’s what pisses me off.
Even if Woody Allen gets tossed out and even if the Academy ripped him off his Oscars, Mr. Allen wouldn’t give a single damn fuck. His best films like Annie Hall, The Purple Rose of Cairo, Husbands and Wives, Blue Jasmine, and many more will always be great films. I still refuse to believe accusations against him until proven guilty not because he is THE Woody Allen, but because he wasn’t proven by the court of law a long long long long long long long long long long time ago. And just like what Sasha said, Polanski’s Chinatown will always be a great film and expelling him of a membership will not expel the greatness of his films. Persecute him as a criminal, yes please, but the greatness of his art will continue to stand the test of time.
Now Bill Cosby, why was he even an Academy member? And shouldn’t he be rotting in jail by now?
I think the Academy is good to do this – STOP ENABLING AND ENDORSING RAPISTS. I hope his Oscars get given to someone else.
Dwayne Johnson, Jonah Hill and Chris Prath = Academy members.
Polanski expelled.
And how do we expect the Academy to be adequate?
Polanski is probably a rapist but he’s not an Academy member because of his virtuous personality. He’s an Academy member because of his great gift.
And the Academy is slowly turning into a hypocrite bunch of mediocre people. Salieri’s dream.
You don’t have to be an Academy member to make films or even win awards. This is about saying what is valued by artists and really just decent human beings in determining who should be welcomed into organized groups of them. Hitler was an artist too just for hyperbole’s sake since you went there. What has been happening isn’t hypocrisy, it has been a double standard. You are allowed to sexually abuse woman or children so long as some people feel you are gifted. If not, then you are merely a criminal. But perhaps you can equate how heinous a crime can be committed by someone based on their stature? Can Spielberg be a serial murder and cannibal due to his contributions to film in your eyes?
talking about Spielberg, the more I think about the political undertones of his career… the more I despise him as a person.
Dwayne Johnson is growing to be a fine comedic actor (really good in Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and in that crap that Be Cool was… only watchable when he’s on screen). Jonah Hill is a 2 times Academy Awards nominee (arguably he could have won for The Wolf of Wall Street). Chris Pratt is another example of great comedian, this time also becoming an action star… I can see why all three could be Academy members, beyond their OBVIOUS Star power and Box-Office appeal. The AMPAS is part of the INDUSTRY, and film is not only an art.
“expel (…) director Roman Polanski”. So, does that mean that actor, writer and producer Roman Polanski is still accepted?
What Polanski did was reprehensible.
Polanski is one of the greatest living Directors.
BOTH can be true.
Cosby? He’s one of those figures who should never been in the Academy in the first place. He’s a TV star, not a feature film star with a long distinguished career.
Exactly! I was almost more shocked to learn that Bill Cosby had been an Academy member than that Polanski had been kicked out.
One of the interesting things I learned from AMPAS’s reforms a few years ago was that a ton of TV actors were in the Academy, even though their film track records were fairly insignificant. You could say that the same is true today, since a lot of people primarily known for TV are getting in, but TV is on a lot stronger ground these days as a legitimate art form, and a lot of people who do TV have strong overlap in the film world. Also, back in the 70s/80s, when Cosby got in (assuming that’s when it was), it was so much easier to do so. I know PLENTY of old-timers who shouldn’t have gotten in and got in anyway because of this.
I understand and agree. While Cosby did do a handful of films, let’s face it – if he was “Bill Smith” and had never done TV, Records and Stand-Up – there is no way in hell that his filmmography would have gotten him into the Academy. And, recall, that Lost in Space’s Bill Mumy is in, too!
Yes, Mumy was the case that immediately sprung to mind here. TV Academy, yes – motion picture Academy, no.
Mumy pitched a major fit when they changed the rules and it appeared as though his voting rights in the Academy might be stripped away even though his last film appearance was in Three Wishes from the mid-90s (he’s like the 20th billed as “The Neighbor”).
Cosby produced movies back in the day. He’s starred in movies; how dare you say he was not a movie actor.
I’d like to see MY quote where I said that Cosby didn’t act in movies.
So I guess I’m just here to talk about movies with the AD faithful now. There’s no telling what the Academy will do next. I remember the crowd’s reaction when he won for THE PIANIST. How far we’ve fallen. Having to flee the Holocaust. Having your wife murdered. I guess, relatively speaking, being booted out of the Academy is not that bad.
Yes, you get to talk here with other rape apologists. How cute.
I like to think of myself as mystifying but I’ll take cute. Thanks.
And then there’s Mel…
So toss Woody Allen out for sure. At least Roman Polanski was not raping his adopted daughters. What was an underaged girl doing at that Polanski/Nicholson party in the first place? The mother should be the one to blame.
Allen has never been an Academy member.
no
Why toss Woody Allen out (even if he is in, which i don’t think he is)?
He has never been charged with, still less convicted of, an offence (as opposed to Polanski and Cosby) What he did with Soon Yi is seems pretty gross and inappropriate, but Soon Yi never complained or took the matter to the authorities. That whole situation is pretty complicated. Allen may be an awful human being. So boycott his films if you want. But what relevance is Allen’s bad conduct to the Academy? It’s a slippery slope to start booting people out for conduct the Academy chooses to judge negatively. Being convicted of an offence is a different thing.
The idea that the girl’s mother in the Polanski case is “the one” to blame is just idiotic. Maybe she was irresponsible and a bad parent. But Polanski administered the drug and had sex with her. I think the mother is not the “one” to blame.
The rapist is the one to blame primarily.
The Academy really jumped the shark on this one.