Roman Polanski, Bill Cosby booted from Motion Picture of Academy

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 and Bill Cosby, who was convicted of criminal sexual conduct – i.e. drugging and raping women.

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.

Academy explained its rationale in a new statement: “The Board continues to encourage ethical standards that require members to uphold the Academy’s values of respect for human dignity.”

Polanski won an Oscar for directing The Pianist in 2003 and will be allowed to keep his statuette. Polanski is 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 named Samantha Jane Gailey in 1977.

Cosby was convicted on three counts of criminal sexual assault, facing 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.

photo/ screenshot