Oscars Expels Bill Cosby And Roman Polanski
By Ed Biggs in Movies / TV / Theatre on 04 May 2018
The Academy's board of directors voted to expel them, following the new standards of conduct it adopted last year.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has announced that it has expelled Bill Cosby and Roman Polanski from its membership that decides the annual Oscars.
At its meeting on Tuesday (May 1st), the Academy’s board of governors has voted to expel the comedian and the controversial director in line with new procedures for enforcing standards of conduct that it adopted in December in the aftermath of the Harvey Weinstein sexual misconduct scandal last year.
“The Board continues to encourage ethical standards that require members to uphold the Academy's values of respect for human dignity,” the organisation announced in a statement confirming Cosby and Polanski’s expulsion two days later.
Bill Cosby has been kicked out of The Oscars' membership
Cosby was found guilty this time last week by a jury in Pennsylvania, deliberating for 14 hours before convicting him of aggravated indecent assault against a former Temple University employee, Andrea Constand, back in 2004. At the first trial in 2017, a mis-trial was declared after a different jury was deadlocked.
More: Yale rescinds Bill Cosby’s honorary degree following rape conviction
Cosby was never nominated for an Oscar, better known for his television work, but starred in a number of big-screen films in the 1970s.
Polanski, on the other hand, is a five-time Oscar nominee and won for Best Director in 2003 for The Pianist – a trophy he couldn’t collect in person, as he has been a fugitive from the United States since 1978. He fled the country after he feared that the legal system would renege on a plea deal he struck years before for unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13 year old girl.
Roman Polanski has also been expelled
The case has since undergone a number of developments over the decades. The L.A. County District Attorney’s office has tried unsuccessfully to extradite him from Poland and France on multiple occasions, with Polanski also failing in his attempts to resolve the matter.
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