The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the group that hosts the annual Oscars awards ceremony, announced on Thursday that they are finally expelling convicted child rapist Roman Polaski from their ranks, along with Bill Cosby, who was convicted this week of criminal sexual conduct.
The Academy told the Hollywood Reporter that it is now following its “new procedure” for handling cases of sexual harassment, and voted May 1 to end its relationship with the director and the television star.
In a statement issued Thursday, the Academy explained its rationale: “The Board continues to encourage ethical standards that require members to uphold the Academy’s values of respect for human dignity.”
Cosby has never won an Oscar. Polanski, who won for directing “The Pianist” in 2003, will be allowed to keep his statuette, which is presumably at his home in Europe, where he sits, avoiding extradition to the United States where Los Angeles County officials say they’d like Polanski to serve out the sentence he received for drugging and raping a 13-year-old girl in the ’70s.
Bill Cosby was convicted just this week of three counts of criminal sexual assault. He has yet to be sentenced but he could receive up to 30 years in prison, which would likely leave him behind bars for the rest of his life.
Cosby and Polanski are only the fourth people ever to be expelled from the Academy. Before Harvey Weinstein, only one person had ever been expelled, for sharing secret footage of a film.
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