I’m shocked—I shouldn’t be, but I am—shocked at all the Hollywood celebs who are standing up for Roman Polanski. I think Polanski is a truly great film artist, a genius, I really do and I have sympathy for a man who went through what he went through with the Manson murders, but this does not excuse what he did. Towering cinematic great, yes, but he’s also a man who drugged and anally raped a 13-year old child! Time doesn’t really erase a crime like that—or shouldn’t.

I thought it was poor taste when everyone suddenly had amnesia about Michael Jackson, too. Musical genius, sure, but it was the first time I ever found myself 100% in agreement with Bill O’Reilly, I just could not stomach the sight of people lauding this kiddly fiddler like he was fucking Gandhi!!!  It stank to high heaven and so does this Polanski episode. Once again, I find myself in agreement with O’Reilly and even with his guest, the utterly insufferable, Dennis Miller. I don’t like it any more than you do, but they ARE right:

[An old friend of mine, Michael Kurcfeld, introduced Polanski and Miller in Paris. Miller refers to this in the clip.]

Not long after I watched the above segment, I then read an article on the Daily Beast titled Polanski’s Victim And Me by the celebrated novelist Robert Goolrick. It’s a horrifying, eyes wide-open confessional so skillfully written it breaks your heart. Trust me, you won’t be on the fence about Roman Polanski’s fate after you read it. Bravo to Goolrick for the essay. I think it will set a lot of people straight on this one.

Yes! Thank you! Yes! Why is this the first time I’m hearing about this side of the argument? I thought I was sitting here alone, like a nutjob, thinking that rapists should be punished. I’m a New York City, registered democrat who works in the arts - I’m a liberal with a capital “Obama”. But for chrissake, the rapist who makes good movies is still a rapist. It’s a shame to lose such a important director, but if he was Roman Polanski, banker, there would be an entirely different conversation going on.

I couldn’t agree more. Hollywood, like the country as a whole, has lost it’s shine… or maybe it’s marbles. But please Richard…an O’reilly clip first thing in the morning??! Never again!!!PLEASE!

I’d agree with you and the self righteous adulterous pervert O’Reilly et. al. if Polanski’s victim hadn’t come out publicly to say “Let’s put this behind us once and for all”.

As a practical matter, even if the L.A. DA were to succeed in extraditing him, his case collapses if his star witness refuses to testify.

I don’t see why it matters if the victim says “Let’s put this all behind us.”  A crime is still a crime.

“Rosemary’s Baby” is probably one of my top 3 favorite films of all time.  But Polanski is a criminal who committed a crime—and a particularly repellent one at that.  He should not get any special consideration for being a brilliant artist.

Ugh.  It’s so much easier with the Republican sex scandals.  I *hate* being put on the side of O’Reilly & co!  I just don’t understand why the rape or abuse of children isn’t something we can *all* agree on.

I don’t think you are supposed to care about the fact that this argument happened between 2 people you don’t like. O’Reilly and Miller are still human enough to know what is definitely wrong with the world as far as our current views on the subject of rape are.

Now if I were to get personal on my views I would say I’m in full agreement…that “Artist” does not get you off scot free regardless of your contributions to the good of societies. This is torment for the victim, who wants less and less to be recognized as one. The more that face appears before her (which is probably almost everyday)the more victimized and enclosed she might feel. This girl needs healing and closure and bringing this man to the fore front with legions to forgive him his “trespasses” might break her.

Thanks for saying it…
No matter what people are saying in his defense, there’s no such thing as ‘consensual’ where a child is concerned. Ditto - or perhaps doubly so - in the Papa Phillips case (Blech!).
If anyone’s read the circumstance wherein Polanski raped that child it’s even more sleazy and reprehensible.

i’m very supprised that some people [no specific
names] are not as far to the left as I thought,
based on the POLANSKI information and comments.
there are to many people in the hollywood crowd
drinking to much cool-aid, blow in there ear and
they will follow you anywhere.

Thanks Metz:
Especially the M.J comment, Recently I had the displeasure of having a dialog with one of those MJ worshippers. My arguement was and still is, If somone is innocent of a crime they dont pay millions of dollars to have it go away (or skip the continent in the case of Polanski) Thriller was cool when I was five but serioulsy, give me a break, This is CHILD RAPE we are talking about and people just want to look the other way.
Freaking Normals, you can give an asshole a brain but good luck trying to teach them how to use it.
-DSD

Totally Totally agree here, I despise O’Reilly as well, but this hit home as I have a 12 year old daughter. 1000 years is not long enough for a crime such as this to go away. I felt the same way with MJ, who I loved growing up, but please…children are innocent, and after something like this they are scared for life, and NO ONE has the right to do that…good for you!

Alex

There’s a world of difference between Polanski and Michael Jackson.  For one, Polanski pled guilty while Jackson maintained his innocence.  Jackson was also acquitted by a jury. 

Now you could make the argument, as Dog Stardom does, that an innocent man doesn’t pay millions of dollars to make their (alleged) crime go away.  But how about this- if you’re a parent, and you truly believe your child was molested, do you put a price tag on your child’s dignity?  Or would you do your damnedest to make sure that the molester is tried and imprisoned?  Personally, I would never settle for money if I truly thought my kid was raped. 

Let’s not forget that Jackson’s first accuser was doubted by his own mother.  And psychologists who examined Jackson testified that his arrested development didn’t fit the typical personality of a pedophile.  Besides, if you’re Michael Jackson, and $20 million is practically chump change to you (in the early 90s, at least), might you throw money at they problem rather than continue to go through the humiliation and exhaustion of a trial? 

I’ll be the first to admit that Jackson was a weirdo, and enjoyed the company of children a little much.  And I have no preference between him and Polanski as far as their art is concerned.  But I think that there’s good reason that the public ultimately supported Jackson but generally condemns Polanski.  Jackson has a lot of reasonable doubts on his side, and Polanski has none.

Believe it or not, there are people in the world who just don’t much watch films or think about the people who make them, so who or what Roman Polanski is or was in his professional life means almost nothing to me, and this story is one that I have been finding out about only in the last few days.

What I cannot understand is what the USA authorities were doing about this for thirty-plus years. This is hardly a criminal who got lost, went underground, disappeared. Equally, it was hardly a secret crime, it seems, yet the the guy has gone on to be lauded, famed and welcomed. Didn’t anybody ever say, not in my house, thank you, Mr Polanski, not near my children, not working for my company… ?

What a weird world we live in.

I have only one reservation in believing that someone who has raped a child should be punished. I wonder if society does not forfeit its right to impose punishment if it does nothing about it for a very extended period of time.

It is only a reservation. Surely some crimes are so serious that they never expire.

The Michael Jackson pedophile thing is really hard.  On one hand, it looks very incriminating.  On the other hand, let’s be honest, the guy was a target, in the same way any other celebrity is.  I would not be surprised AT ALL if people falsely accused him of things, when doing so could easily result in a multi-million dollar payday.  At the end of it all, we’ll never know whether or not he was guilty, so maybe it’s best to just bury that issue and concentrate on the man’s music.

Mike S.
<A HREF=“http://divorce.avvo.com/”>Divorce lawyer</A>