Well, Glad We Cleared That Up — Updated
Andy Levy of Fox News’ Red Eye show tweets, “Shocking: Woody Allen signs petition demanding Polanski’s release.”
The Guardian adds the following names to the list:
Woody Allen, David Lynch and Martin Scorsese today added their names to a petition demanding the immediate release of Roman Polanski from detention in Zurich. The director was arrested on Saturday over a three-decade-old underage sex case when he arrived to receive a lifetime achievement award at the city’s film festival.
“Film-makers in France, in Europe, in the United States and around the world are dismayed by this decision,” says the petition, which is co-ordinated by the Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques (SACD), a film industry organisation which also represents performance and visual artists.
“It seems inadmissible to them that an international cultural event, paying homage to one of the greatest contemporary film-makers, is used by police to apprehend him,” it adds.
The petition has now been signed by more than 70 film industry luminaries, including Polanski’s fellow directors Michael Mann, Wim Wenders, Pedro Almodóvar, Darren Aronofsky, Terry Gilliam, Julian Schnabel, the Dardenne brothers, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Wong Kar-Wai, Walter Salles and Jonathan Demme. Actors Tilda Swinton, Monica Bellucci and Asia Argento, as well as producer Harvey Weinstein, have also put their names on the petition. Yesterday, Weinstein stated he was “calling on every film-maker we can to help fix this terrible situation”.
The five members of the jury at the Zurich film festival, headed by the actor Debra Winger, yesterday released a statement protesting that the event “had been exploited in an unfair fashion”.
At least one jury member, producer Henning Molfenter, has now boycotted the festival, with others expected to follow suit. “There is no way I’d go to Switzerland now. You can’t watch films knowing Roman Polanski is sitting in a cell 5km away,” he told the Hollywood Reporter.
France’s Society of Film Directors joined in the chorus of disapproval, voicing concern that the arrest “could have disastrous consequences for freedom of expression across the world”.
Yes! It could mark the slippery slope back to the horrible days of the Hays Office — that neanderthal period when Hollywood made its best movies.
And as “the Arquette Sisters”, also members of the vast Gutfeldian media empire ask, “It raises the question what else do these people believe in if Polanski’s crime is defensible?”
Update: Related thoughts from the Anchoress and Fausta Wertz; meanwhile, film critic/blogger Christian Toto is disapointed that Martin Scorsese is defending Polanski:
Hollywood’s penchant for moral relativism can be tough to swallow, especially for an unabashed movie lover.
As much as I adore Woody Allen’s best films, I’m aghast at how he segued from dating Mia Farrow to stepping out with her step-daughter, Soon Yi. It never stopped actors from signing up to star in Allen’s films, and even taking a pay cut for the honor.
So when some Hollywood heavy hitters signed a petition demanding the release of director Roman Polanski, I knew what to expect. I also guessed a few of the names on said list. (hat tip: Ed Driscoll)
And as PunditReview notes on Twitter, “Diane Sawyer’s hubby, director Mike Nichols, is cool with raping a 13-year old.”
Since, as that left likes to say, “silence equals consent” (or worse), at this point, I sort of assume that anyone in Hollywood who hasn’t spoken up in outrage over Polanski’s crime supports him, at least tacitly.
Something to keep in mind the next time Hollywood slips into one of its frequent puritanical phases.
Related: Would President Obama’s “safe school czar” be cool with Polanski? Certainly sounds that way, if the information in this Washington Times op-ed is correct.
Meanwhile, the Huffington Post goes all-in to defend Polanski.
Update: Welcome Big Hollywood readers clicking in from the site’s headlines — the most complete list of Polanski supporters in the Hollywood and European film communities seems to be this one. It’s also linked in the above post, but I wanted to make it a bit easier to find.
Meanwhile, two rare voices of dissent in an otherwise lockstep artistic community:
“Polanski-admitted raping a 13 yr old-whys every1 in the arts upset hes facing jail? cause hes a gifted director? what am i missing?” asked bewildered singer-songwriter Jewel via Twitter.
Also chiming in was The View‘s Sherri Shepherd.
“Whew…long day at The View…two shows today…hot debate over the Statutory Rapist Polanski. 45 year old man plies a 13yr old w/drugs & Liquor and anally & orally penetrates her w/o her consent is a RAPIST,” she tweeted. “We hunt down 75 year old Nazis. We must protect our children.”
Sadly, Whoopi doesn’t agree.
So what does it take to be shunned in Hollywood? the “Trogolopundit” offers photographic evidence of the quickest route to becoming a Tinseltown pariah.
(Bumped to top.)
Update: After fleeing the US in the mid-1970s, Polanski would of course arrive in Paris, where he quickly resumed his film career, complete with A-list Hollywood stars at his beck and call. It was all part of the, “horrible, soul-wrenching price for the infamy surrounding his actions”, as the L.A. Times recently wrote. In 1979, he told one interviewer:
“If I had killed somebody, it wouldn’t have had so much appeal to the press, you see? But… f—ing, you see, and the young girls. Judges want to f— young girls. Juries want to f— young girls. Everyone wants to f— young girls!”
What a vile little man.
It’s not like he supported Sarah Palin or anything . . .
Unbelieveable! Nothing else to say.
Thanks for the link, Ed.
First they came for the poor rapists, then…. What horror shall we see next on this slippery slope?
Surely no society can long survive once it starts enforcing laws distasteful to such artistic and moral giants as Scorsese, Allen, Gilliam, Weinstein, etal.
Who would have thought that Woody Allen would like a child rapist?
It’s the same story here as we got with Ted Kennedy. He is a liberal, therefore it’s everybody else’s fault. The girl should be honoured that he chose her to express his artistry. After all, if Polanski needs to drug and sodomize little girls in order to make films, then she should stop being selfish and think about the greater good. I’m sure Mary Jo would agree.
Last month we saw that Acorn is OK with setting up 13-year-old girls as hookers, and this month we see that Hollywood is OK with drugging and raping 13-year-old girls. Are the people on this list contributors to Acorn? Was there was an ulterior motive?
Hey, they all probably back ACORN’s underage prostitution deal so why not this?
I would like to counter the “Free Roman!” petition with a petition requesting the authorities to castrate Mr. Polanski with a mallet. (Please note that I am not making a threat. We should work through official channels.) It is not nearly so offensive a suggestion as turning a blind eye to child rape, but watch the libs clutch their pearls over the visceral response of a parent who thinks it is a parent’s job to protect her daughter, not to sell her to the highest bidder. (Why do so many people seem to think this was OK because the girl’s mother might have been aware of it, and might have accepted money in “settlement?” That makes it more reprehensible, not less, and emphasizes why SOCIETY – in the form of police and prosecutors – needs to protect children from these predators.) I am also confused by France’s Society of Film Directors’ concern that “the arrest ‘could have disastrous consequences for freedom of expression across the world.’” RP did not make a film about b*tt-f*cking a child, he DID IT. Are they honestly arguing that this was an instance of artistic expression? Or are they suggesting that no crime is too heinous to be forgiven, so long as the perp has some artistic talent? (I understand Hitler made some lovely watercolors and post-card sketches – until those reactionary Allies stifled his artistic expression and prevented him from re-designing the map of Eurpoe and Asia according to his own vision.)
Please keep my husband in jail.
I have two children with him.
One of them is a sweet young girl…
Please keep him in jail.
No consent = RAPE
Its that f#$%$#ing simple.
Director Luc Besson (Subway, The Professional) has refused to sign on:
“I have a lot of affection for him, he is a man that I like very much … but nobody should be above the law,” Besson told RTL radio.
“I don’t know the details of this case, but I think that when you don’t show up for trial, you are taking a risk, ” he added.
French patriot Jean-Marie Le Pen called Polanski “this criminal paedophile” from “an over-protected cast in show business.”
French support for Polanski stirs unease
Neocons like French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner supports Polansky. So does another supporter of the Iraq war Bernard Henry-Levy.
The film industry has hammered another nail into their own coffin.
Is this another sign of the liberal left imploding? Let’s hope so. Criminy, to see a bunch of people who think of themselves as decent coming to the defense of a child rapist? HUH??!!! I wonder if this will be a “moment of clarity” for some of the people in Hollywood — nah, probably not. As someone once said, have you no decency? At long last, have you no decency? (Isn’t it fun to turn leftist quotes back on them?)
People, if you are angry (and please be angry about this), the only way to hurt them is thru your money – boycott Hollywood! As much as I love movies, boycott Hollywood! Let them know this is not acceptable. If we stop going to the movies, theaters, concerts, they will know we will not tolerate them defending a rapist.
What would Whoopi think if the child had been black? Would it be okay then? Would it be okay if it were her own daughter? Or is just okay to rape SOME 13 year old girls? No?
Apparently Whoopi thinks raping all children is okay then. So do all these liberals in Hollyweird. Raping children is now okay. Period.
That seems to be the reasoning of these idiots.
Supporting Polanski is not a *liberal* thing or a *godless* thing.
This liberal agnostic is aghast at all those who are showing support for Polanski.
Please be angry at the people involved but don’t think that all non-Christian liberals believe the same way.
Just because some guy knows how to yell action while filming Harvey Keitel’s Naughty bits, we should give him a pass for robbing someone of their childhood? How many of these people would read a transcript of the girl’s testimony during the grand Jury trial and still say that was a defensible act?
Read the transcript of the girl’s testimony. Every celebrity should read it before they sign this. Of course most of them would sign it anyway, but there may still be a few decent folks out there. http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/polanskicover1.html
Well Roger Simon kinda sorta thinks that we ought to drop the matter. Hollywood blood is very thick indeed.
On the other hand who could be surprised at Woody Allen. This guy married his long time lover’s daughter. Creepy.
#20.
Their reasoning is that if you are or have ever been “somebody” in H’wood that instantly entitles/makes you are above the law.
No sin or crime is too great in H’wood, the insanity of that place is limitless. It’s an overpaid and overrated cesspool, whose famous inhabitants willfully crawl out from to defend their low-life peers and fellow scumbags.
They have declared Polansky the victim of a crime he committed and pleaded guilty to. They are truly destitute of all reason and morality and cannot be respected and trusted whatsoever.
Equals added to Equals the results are Equal !
If you free Roman you must free Charlie !
How many of “The View” ladies where Manson Girls ?
The older ones…. for sure
There is a lot of talk about Polanski’s crime being a one-off and that due to the circumstances of his life (the Holocaust and his wife being murdered) he should be let off now. It’s important to note that once a man is shown to be capable of crossing a line (in this case the rape of a child) there is a far greater liklihood that he has done it before. I’ve read that shortly after this incident that Polanski had an affair with a 15 year old Nastassia Kinski. This really does show that this man is a serial pedophile. I also suspect that if there was some further (serious) digging that quite a few more cases of this will come out of the woodwork (and the associated payoffs). Really this SOB should get the book thrown at him.
On a lighter note, I did take a look at the list of the supporters of this man. While the list is long I can take heart in the fact that they are mostly EuroTrash.
Quaaludes and sodomy, no place but Hollywood!
Now every pedophile is enrolling in film school so they can pull the “Polanski Card” when they get arrested…no wonder they overlooked ACORN for so long- they don’t see any problems with taking advantage of underage girls anyway, so why would they now?
Pathetic. My list of entertainers I will no longer support keeps getting bigger, and bigger, and bigger…sort of like their heads.
another example of left wing hollywooders defending a pervert.
i wonder if a 75 year old priest was arrested 45 years after molesting a young boy if they would defend him?
or maybe since it’s been 65 years we should stop trying to bring Aushwitz prison gaurds to justice.
or do they need to know how to make a movie?
One has to wonder if Roman Polanski were Father Polanski, a Catholic Priest, would he be garnering all this sympathy and support? I highly doubt it.
It doesn’t surprise me sperm brains from Hollywood and other havens of immorallity couldn’t care less about the poor girl that Pulanski RAPED many years ago. This is something he admitted to in court and agreed to the consequences. However the coward fled the country to live out his life in luxury further slapping the face of justice and the honor of a child. He is a vile person who needs to face justice and this time face CONSEQUENCE! Only slime balls with no moral fiber could be able to justify his release without those consequences he agreed to. God bless America.
I refuse to pay any money for any movie that the current idiots in Hollywood make. There are plenty of great old ones with better actors. Just watched Moby Dick and 12 oclock High with Gregory Peck, Beats the hell out of anything these idiots would make.
No consent = Rape!!!!
1. A child under the age of 16 is not of legal age to consent
2. Any person that is incapacitated and not of sound mind can not consent.
3. He is a pedophile he raped a child! His intentions where to incapacitate her to perform these hanious acts.
4. He stole the innocennce from this child and should be made to pay the price. Just because he fled like a coward does not make it any less of a crime. Castration seems befitting for sick scum such as this pedophile.
People also seem to be forgetting that, “At 15 [Nastassja] Kinski began a romantic relationship with director Roman Polanski.” I suppose his defenders will claim that he didn’t know her age, either?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nastassja_Kinski
As opposed to drugging and raping a 13 year old child.
“The Guardian adds the following names to the list:
Woody Allen,”
Well that shouldn’t surprise anyone. Didn’t he date his daughter?
PLEASE PUBLISH THE WHOLE LIST WHEN THE PETITION IS FINISHED. I WOULD LIKE TO STOP SUPPORTING ANY OF THESE FOLKS WITH MY MONEY FOR MOVIES, MUSIC, BOOKS, ETC. GOOD LORD, WHAT HAS THIS COUNTRY COME TO THAT PEOPLE ARE SO DESENSITIZED. WE REALLY NEED TO LOOK AT WHAT IS CAUSING PEOPLE TO THINK CHILD ABUSE, SLAVERY, ROBBERY, BEATINGS/MURDER, RAPE OR NO BIG THING. YOU THINK SOME OF THESE SO CALLED PETITIONERS ARE INVOLVED WITH THINGS THAT DESENSITIZE OUR YOUTH, ETC BY SLOWLY INTRODUCING THINGS IN MOVIES, MUSIC ETC. AS OK, SO EVENTUALLY THEY ARE ACCEPTED…..
Well, I have been disgusted with Hollywood for a long time. This outrage is the final straw.
I’m just one person living in rural Mississippi, so my voice won’t be heard on this But, I can vote with my wallet.
I will be watching no more movies where I have to pay to watch the movie. Hollywood will not get another penny from me.
Protect the Children
Hollywood is so disgraced – this is just one more nail in their coffin – like ABC, MSNBC, CBS, NEW YORK TIMES…etc! Normal, decent people have been jarred to action. Silent no more. Complacent no more. A world without morality, belief in a higher power, is not a world worth living in.
How do we go about getting a list of advertisers for The View? Perhaps we need to send a message to them – like they did Glenn Beck for his comments – they we do not agree with the notion that somehow adults who have sex and sodomize children, particularly after they’ve drugged their prey, is not “rape-rape” and that we do not support any television show that does support this view.
I’m not big on forcing morality on others, but this is WAY out of line.
“France’s Society of Film Directors joined in the chorus of disapproval, voicing concern that the arrest “could have disastrous consequences for freedom of expression across the world”.”
Oh, well, that’s okay then.
Rape is now freedom of expression? Why wasn’t I notified?
Maybe we should just release all child rapist in the country and have them live next door to all the fools that signed the petition.
I wonder how all of the “celebrities” coming to Polanski’s defense would feel if someone gave their 13 year old daughter drugs and alcohol and then had sex with her? Something tells me they would have a different reaction. if not they should have their children removed from their custody. there is no defense here. If this was all as innocent as so many people claim why did Polanski run? he would’ve just faced the charges and put it behind him. I hope he gets the maximun possible sentence, and also pays the price for fleeing justice. If it were my daughter he’s have more to worry about than jail time.
I’m done. Their true nature has been revealed and I cannot stomach this another minute. They’ve made their statement, now I make mine. If their name is associated with a movie, I won’t see it. If their name is associated with a product, I won’t buy it. If their names come up in conversation, I will relentlessly denounce them for supporting this rapist pedophile. I will encourage all to join me sending OUR message. No one gets a pass on this. Not Polanski or his supporters.
“Mr. Weinstein, have you now or have you ever been a rapist sympathizer?”
I see Harrison Ford also supports the rapist of a 13 y/o girl. Didn’t see that one coming. That makes me sad, I was a fan. Emphasis on the past tense.
“Great artistic talent in any direction… is hardly inherent to the man. It comes and goes; it is often possessed only for a short phase in his life; it hardly ever colors his character as a whole and has nothing to do with the moral and intellectual stuff of the mind and soul. Many great artists, perhaps most great artists, have been poor fellows indeed, whom to know was to despise. “” –Hilaire Belloc
Hey, you know who’s not on any list I’ve seen? Uwe Boll. Good for him.
What a vile little man. Hollywood, what a vile little community.
“Would President Obama’s “safe school czar” be cool with Polanski?” She would have a smile on her face after talking to him.
what planet are these creatures from? I am a former abuse victim. It happened many years ago and I have moved on, but it scarred me for life. I am sickened by what I am hearing and reading about the Hollywood elite, et al supporting this animal. Polanski’s victim may have moved on as well, but the state has an obligation to prosecute any and ALL child predators – regardless of their accomplishments (not that this gem has made any meaningful contributions to humanity). Shame on anyone supporting this fugitive, and charges should be filed against anyone harboring or aiding him. We are a nation of laws, remember? Or should all our children now accept that rape and abuse are just parts of life?
Is that the Jonathan Klein of CNN on the list?
I also saw Harrison Ford, Mike Nichols (Diane Sawyer’s husband), Jeremy Irons, Natalie Portman, Diane Von Furstenburg, Kristin Scott Thomas, Salman Rushdie, Steven Soderbergh.
Some of these I am familiar with, others only vague name recognition
#10 TeaHag.
I said the same thing about Hitler to a friend of mine yesterday. I just bet RP wouldn’t be in favor of excusing the “bad” choices that Hitler made all in the name of artistic talent. And gee, let’s face it,the guy was just brilliant. When you weigh his accopmlishments against the small problem he had with racism can’t you just forgive the guy?(that’s sarcasm for all you libiots)
Terry Gilliam hearts child molesters. How disappointing.
It’s MacKenzie Phillips whom I feel sorry for at the moment. She wanted all the “child rapist” attention directed at her father in order to sell her books. Now her “look at me I’m a victim of a child rapist” scheme to sell books has been trumped by yet another child rapist, but one still alive who can be punished. Her story has been pushed off the front page as Hollywood, who didn’t defend her father when she accused him, now lines up to defend Polanski. (Anyone know if Oprah has sided with R.P.?)
Moment passed: I can now return to feeling sorry for Samantha Gailey.
> France’s Society of Film Directors joined in the chorus of disapproval, voicing concern that the arrest “could have disastrous consequences for freedom of expression across the world”.
I’m sorry, WTF?????
WTF does this have to do with “freedom of expression”?
Are we now to accept RAPE of a woman as “an expression of free speech”?
Are we now to accept the rape of a CHILD just barely past MENARCHE as “an expression of free speech”?
This equivalence is just flat out INSANE.
This should really be of no surprise. The callous attitude they have shown toward the crime, and the selfish and criminal act of not standing trial and give the poor young girl closure, has been present for 30 years.
I am just thankful that a police organization in Europe has finally held the scumbag to account for his drugging, rape and 30 YEARS OF MENTAL TORTURE he put this girl through.
check this article of 10/1977 http://bit.ly/tGDix and this one http://bit.ly/SVDH5 (about the unsane habits of Hollywood)
Hmm, according to the article of october 1977, seems that Samantha was more near 14, and not virgin, and already addicted to drugs
and that her step-mother (I believe) had the bad habit to sell her “nude” images for money !
now, this is the whole Hollywood business that should be under this kind of investigation, how many young girls were preys of insanes productors ? some of them ended badly, ie the “black dahlia”, lots of them became whores, and never could print their step on sunset boulvard !
even Marilynn had this “sorry” experience of alchoolised and drugs parties !
otherwise,
that lawer Steve Dooley, is he jumping on the case to get some fame ?
is there any political agenda behind ? does one want that Obama interven ? and thus be labelled as a children sexual abuses supporter ?
All this affair smells !
why Swiss didn’t arrest Polanski before, he owns a luxuous Chalet among the jet-set society there, and passes a few months a year in it ?
I don’t care of Polanski’s fate, seems he had quite his part of life in this world.
Though someone should do something for the next teens that are going to be trapped in Hollywood armbush !
This whole affair (no pun intended) has truly redefined ‘double standard’.
Be a Hollywood icon and rape a 13 year old (despite how Whoopi sees it – it’s still statutory) and get warmth and accolades from your peers.
Be an average pedophile and rape a 13 year old and get a prison term, a huge fine, and permanent registration as a sex offender.
Let’s try this again.
Purchase, make, or distribute child pornography and get a prison term, a huge fine, and permanent registration as a sex offender.
Perform an act that, if recorded, would be an act of child pornography – and get off scot-free because you’ve a Hollywood icon with a loving support group of peers.
OK, one more time:
Reset the standard and allow the Hollywood icon to go free after raping a 13 year old.
Now to keep things even for all others within the new standard, you have to:
Overturn Child Pornography laws
Eliminate Amber Alerts
Release from prison all convicted statutory rape defendents and wipetheir records clean
Release predator teachers and priests from prison and wipe their records clean
Eliminate all predator/sex offender databases
Yeah – being a Hollywood icon means not having to follow the laws the rest of us have to follow – or so they think.
Well since the child rapist Polanski acts like a little girly man I say we throw him in prison. With a cellmate. A cellmate named “Butch” who stands 6’4″ and weighs in at 280 pounds of solid muscle. And who is fascinated and sexually attracted to the child rapist Polanski. After a few months in the cell with “Butch” we’ll have the child rapist Polanski appear on “The View” to express his feelings about the act of rape. You know, to see if they’ve changed any.
Every elitist pervert you list, I’m gonna posterize if my stamina (and bile) holds out.
Here’s to you, you First Scumbag Roman Rapinski.
http://scottthong.wordpress.com/2009/10/02/demotivational-posters-hollywood-lowlifes-approve-of-drugging-raping-sodomizing-13-year-old-girls/
Mr. Polanski’s gentle manliness and thoughtfulness are getting short shrift in nearly all the media. People overlook his concern for his date. Not wanting to impregnate the little angel, Polanski denied himself the sublime pleasure of seeding the girl’s vagina and was disciplined enough to deliver the depth of his aesthetic and sexual appreciation for this young beauty in her rectum.
Presently reading a book on the Manson clan, the author paints the Polish director as a cynical nihilist. Supposedly, he had no interest in having children, the world being too dark and dismal. Sharon Tate was supposed to have put off telling Mr. Polanski of his approaching fatherhood for as long as possible because she feared that he would coerce her into having an abortion.
It is also suggested by the author Adam Gorightly that even during the courting of Ms. Tate, Mr. Polanski was unable to be faithful to her. Marriage didn’t tame Mr. Polanski’s thirst for conquest either. Mr. Polanski apparently adhered to philosophy of the Kennedy men: If it moves screw it, if it doesn’t move screw it anyway– it might be sleeping.
@thegreatbeast: You spoke the truth – knowingly or not. I am Polish, from Cracow and I know people from Polanski’s family and some of his friends. What you describe is unfortunately a typical Polish male of those times – and these times too. Selfish, narcissistic and abusive. He just forgot he was not in Poland… Nobody would touch him there – he was an idol, a male, an ultimate human being. Gosh – I can’t believe this fairy tale is not bought all over the world. People, I think you are the best for speaking up against this crime and calling spade a spade – I thank you from the bottom of my heart.