Polanski case sparks noisy culture debate
“The arrest of Roman Polanski in a neutral country, where he assumed he could travel without hindrance, … opens the way for actions of which no one can know the effects,” the petition said.
Outspoken celebrities have been caught up in their own skirmishes as the Polanski case has escalated. Comedian and actress Whoopi Goldberg – who remarked on ABC’s “The View” that the incident was not ” ‘rape’ rape” – now has her own critics.
“Just for the record, rape is rape. This is one Hollywood star who does not celebrate or defend Roman Polanski. His art did not rape her,” countered actress Kirstie Alley in a Twitter message to her fans.
Who or rather what is this thing that asserts that an individual who drugs a 13-year-old girl, and then “has sex” with her should take a pass and escape from the consequences of his act, just because he has managed to evade capture for so long?
There is (or at least was…we haven’t found out which yet) a principle of equal justice. If some poor schlub had done this, he would have been in jail doin’ the time. Just because someone is in the Hollywood glitterati, the Chief doesn’t know of any legal exemption from the laws and consequences that the rest of us are subject to.
A growing number of critics do not appear ready to forgive Polanski.
Carol Jenkins, president of the Womens Media Center, an activist group originally founded by Gloria Steinem and Jane Fonda, called on the media “to focus their coverage of Roman Polanskis recent arrest where it belongs: on the crime he committed, the rape of a child.”
“Too often, the media is complicit in misrepresenting or silencing the victims of sexual assault,” she said.
“The rape of a child is at the heart of the case,” Ms. Jenkins added. “That is not disputed, and should not be represented as subjective.”
Dang! Must be pretty cold today down in hell…the Chief agrees with Ms. Steinem’s group?
Even the Frogs have figured this one out:
The French government, which initially expressed outrage over the arrest, has since adopted a more neutral line. “Roman Polanski is neither above nor beneath the law,” government spokesman Luc Chatel said at a press conference on Wednesday.
Prison cell, perv H’wood director:Â some assembly required.