Roman Polanski Denied Request to be Reinstated as a Member of the Academy

On Tuesday, a judge denied the request of convicted child rapist Roman Polanski to be reinstated to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, ruling that the academy had a right to expel him in 2018. Polanski sued the Academy in April 2019, claiming that he had been thrown out without any warning and without a fair process. Honestly, I’m genuinely stunned that this awful predator, who has been accused of rape by at least six women (most recently in 2019), had the audacity to sue the Academy for kicking him out decades after they should have.

Judge Mary Strobel ruled that while the Academy could have given Polanski advance notice before kicking him out, the organization had corrected that misstep by giving him a fair hearing. When asked his thoughts on the ruling, Variety reports that Polanski’s lawyer says he likely won’t appeal.

Polanski’s attorney, Harland Braun, said he would probably not appeal. Asked why Academy membership was important to Polanski, Braun said it was not.

“It means nothing to him,” Braun said. “It’s the idea he’s being thrown out without any due process.”

I understand that wealthy people make very different financial decisions than us regular broke folks, but I can’t imagine Polanski would have gone through all the trouble of a lawsuit if he wasn’t at least mildly perturbed that the academy kicked him out.

USA Today reports that Braun doubled down on his dismissal of the Academy in an email to them.

“The problem in LA is that all the judges stick together and cover for each other’s misconduct,” Braun said by email to USA TODAY. “The Academy membership is actually worthless, so there is no sense spending money to appeal.”

Oh yes, those are the words of a lawyer who is definitely not at all angry that the judge decided to uphold the Academy’s dismissal of his client, the convicted child rapist. And good! Stay mad.